Income & Saving

A blog post from BEA Director Vipin Arora

Mackinac Bridge—which connects the Upper and Lower parts of Michigan—is a marvel. So much so that I find it difficult, if not impossible, to appreciate the scale and grandeur of the bridge from just one vantage point. Driving on it, for example, offers a different experience than looking at it from nearby St. Ignace. And the view is awe inspiring from the water. We are looking at the same bridge from each vantage point, yet each gives us a different perspective.

Personal income increased $57.1 billion (0.2 percent at a monthly rate) in October. Disposable personal income —personal income less personal current taxes—increased $63.4 billion (0.3 percent). Personal outlays—the sum of personal consumption expenditures, personal interest payments, and personal current transfer payments—increased $43.8 billion (0.2 percent) and consumer spending increased $41.2 billion (0.2 percent). Personal saving was $768.6 billion and the personal saving rate—personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income—was 3.8 percent in October.

In 2022, personal income, in current dollars, increased in 1,964 counties, decreased in 1,107, and was unchanged in 43. Personal income increased 2.1 percent in the metropolitan portion of the United States and 1.3 percent in the nonmetropolitan portion.

Personal income increased $77.8 billion (0.3 percent at a monthly rate) in September. Disposable personal income — personal income less personal current taxes— increased $56.1 billion (0.3 percent). Personal outlays—the sum of personal consumption expenditures, personal interest payments, and personal current transfer payments—increased $175.1 billion (0.9 percent) and consumer spending increased $138.7 billion (0.7 percent). Personal saving was $687.7 billion and the personal saving rate—personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income—was 3.4 percent in September.

Statistics for every state and the District of Columbia were added today to BEA’s prototype statistics on the distribution of U.S. personal income. This provides a new tool for assessing how households share in each state’s economic growth. 

For example, the share of state personal income received by the top 20 percent of households in 2021 ranged from lows of 43.1 percent in Maine and 43.7 percent in Maryland to highs of 53.8 percent in Connecticut and 54.1 percent in Wyoming, according to the prototype statistics.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis updated its prototype measures of economic well-being and growth today and for the first time released open-source code that allows users to tailor the charts and tables to meet their needs. 

The prototype measures package some of BEA’s headline statistics with data from other statistical agencies to spotlight trends in well-being and the drivers of economic growth.

Nationally, personal consumption expenditures (PCE), in current dollars, increased 9.2 percent in 2022 after increasing 12.9 percent in 2021. PCE increased in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, with the percent change ranging from 11.8 percent in Idaho to 6.4 percent in Louisiana.

Personal income, in current dollars, increased in 49 states and the District of Columbia in the second quarter of 2023, with the percent change ranging from 6.1 percent in New York and the District of Columbia to –2.7 percent in Maine.

Personal income increased $87.6 billion (0.4 percent at a monthly rate) in August. Disposable personal income (DPI)—personal income less personal current taxes— increased $46.6 billion (0.2 percent). Personal outlays—the sum of personal consumption expenditures (PCE), personal interest payments, and personal current transfer payments—increased $86.0 billion (0.4 percent) and consumer spending increased $83.6 billion (0.4 percent). Personal saving was $794.1 billion and the personal saving rate—personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income—was 3.9 percent in August.

Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 2.1 percent in the second quarter of 2023, according to the “third” estimate. In the first quarter, real GDP increased 2.2 percent (revised). The increase in the second quarter primarily reflected increases in business investment, consumer spending, and state and local government spending that were partly offset by a decrease in exports. Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, decreased.