Today, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis released experimental real, or inflation-adjusted, estimates of personal income for states and metropolitan areas. The inflation adjustments are based in part on regional price parities (RPPs), which provide a measure of differences in price levels across each state and region relative to the national price level for each of the years 2007–2011. When RPPs are applied in conjunction with BEA’s national Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index, which measures price changes over time, personal income comparisons can be made across regions and time periods. These prototype statistics are being released for evaluation and comment by data users.
Growth in real state personal income from 2010 to 2011 ranged from 1.3 percent in Mississippi to 10.4 percent in South Dakota. These growth rates reflect the year-over-year change in the state’s nominal personal income, the change in the national PCE price index, and the change in the regional price parity for that state. After South Dakota, the states with the largest growth rates of real personal income are North Dakota (9.5 percent), Iowa (6.1 percent), Nebraska (6.0 percent), and Texas (4.3 percent). The states with smallest growth rates after Mississippi are Maine (1.4 percent), Rhode Island (1.5 percent), Vermont (1.6 percent), and New Mexico (1.6 percent). Four states—Arizona, Indiana, North Carolina, and Oregon—had growth rates equal to the national average of 2.7 percent.
Growth in real metropolitan area personal income from 2010 to 2011 ranged from a decline of 0.7 percent in Rochester, MN, to an increase of 11.9 percent in Odessa, TX. After Odessa, TX, the metropolitan areas with largest growth rates of real personal income were Midland, TX (10.7 percent), Hanford-Corcoran, CA (6.7 percent), San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA (6.4 percent), and Madera-Chowchilla, CA (6.2 percent). In addition to Rochester, MN, four metropolitan areas had declining or flat growth rates. These are Ocean City, NJ (–0.3 percent), Anniston-Oxford, AL (–0.2 percent), Gadsden, AL (–0.2 percent), and Cape Girardeau-Jackson, MO-IL (0.0 percent).
To learn more, read the full report.