useful stats

North Dakota led the country in per capita personal income gains between 2010-2015, according to data released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). While average (mean) incomes rose 18.4 percent around the U.S. during that time, North Dakota incomes rose by 26.8 percent from $42,964 in 2010 to $54,376 in 2015. Changes in mean income can obscure discrepancies between demographic groups and concentration of wealth, but demonstrate some of the key economic trends of the last few years.

More than three-quarters of U.S. venture capital dollars went to companies in California, New York and Massachusetts in 2015, according to data from the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)/National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) Moneytree Report. California companies received over 57 percent of all U.S. investment, about 0.5 percent down from the state’s peak in 2014. Both New York and Massachusetts received about 10 percent of U.S. dollars. Washington, the state with the fourth highest share, trailed far behind at 2.1 percent.

Despite a small decrease in venture capital deals last year, the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont metropolitan area remains the most active investment regions on a per capita basis, according to data from the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)/National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) MoneyTree Report. San Francisco led all other MSAs in both total dollars and per capita activity, with its $21 billion in 2015 investment averaging about $4,500 per metro resident.

Last year, the venture capital investment hit a 15-year high, with total dollars topping every year since 2000. A slow fourth quarter brought the remarkable trajectory of the year back down to earth, but with a total of $11.3 billion invested, 2015 became the second highest year on record since PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) began the Moneytree Report in 1995. Much of this growth was due to larger deals, and, in fact, the total number of deals was down from the previous year.

California-based companies performed about $81.7 billion in research and development (R&D) in 2012, according to the latest data available from the National Science Foundation (NSF). That figure represents about 27 percent of all private R&D funding in the U.S. Not all of that funding, however, derived from the companies themselves. The federal government provided about 9.3 percent of the funds for California-based company R&D in 2012.

Economic conditions across the country continue to improve, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis’ (BEA) latest release of gross state product (GSP) data. GSP is derived as the sum of the gross domestic product originating in all the industries in a state. The period between 2008 and 2009, where the U.S. GDP decreased by 2 percent, marked a transition for many states, where their gross state product either decreased from the year before or where their growth rate was subdued.

In FY 2013, the federal government obligated $25.9 billion for science and engineering research and development (S&E R&D) at colleges and universities, a decrease of $1.6 billion from FY 2012 (5.7 percent). Eight states (California, New York, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Texas, North Carolina, and Illinois) each received more than $1 billion in funding during FY 2013, though each state also experienced a decrease from their FY 2012 total.

California-based companies received about 56 percent of all U.S. venture capital dollars in 2014, the state's highest share of venture activity since the dot com boom of the early 2000s. Over the past 15 years, investment activity has steadily become more concentrated in California and a few other states. In 2009, about 67 percent of all deals and 74 percent of venture capital dollars flowed to the top five states. By 2014, those states' share of venture dollars grew to 80 percent, according to NVCA/Pricewaterhouse Coopers data.

Following the massive uptick in venture capital activity last year, California has solidified its place as the epicenter of investment activity, according to data from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA). Since the beginnings of the industry, Silicon Valley has dominated the venture capital landscape. Due to California's large overall population and economy, however, Massachusetts has outperformed the state in terms of per capita investment and venture dollars as a share of state GDP.

U.S. venture capital investment hit $48.3 billion in 2014, its highest level since 2000, according to data from the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). Investments jumped 61 percent over the previous year in terms of dollars. Deals were up as well, but by a more modest 4 percent to 4,356 deals in 2014, indicating the growth of deal size and the presence of a number of “megadeals.” NVCA also noted that investments were dispersed throughout the country, with 160 U.S. metros receiving some venture capital.