Regional

BEA’s statistics on GDP by metropolitan area can be used to answer a variety of questions, and also to inform business and policy decision makers. These estimates have many potentially important uses, including determining the overall size and growth of metropolitan economies, assessing the impacts of natural or man-made disasters on cities, and analyzing comparative industrial growth across metropolitan America.

A location quotient (LQ) is an analytical statistic that measures a region’s industrial specialization relative to a larger geographic unit (usually the nation). An LQ is computed as an industry’s share of a regional total for some economic statistic (earnings, GDP by metropolitan area, employment, etc.) divided by the industry’s share of the national total for the same statistic. For example, an LQ of 1.0 in mining means that the region and the nation are equally specialized in mining; while an LQ of 1.8 means that the region has a higher concentration in mining than the nation.

We currently do not have plans to produce GDP data for the smaller, micropolitan areas, or the rural parts of the country. If user feedback indicates a need for county-level GDP and the necessary additional resources become available, we may undertake research to release county-level GDP estimates in the future.

Differences in production schedules and the timing of revisions to source data underlying the state and national statistics, as well as concepts, usually cause some differences between BEA’s estimates of national and state level GDP. Usually these differences are not significant, however, sometimes revisions to reported financial profits result in larger than normal differences between the various vintages of national and regional estimates for states with significant financial activities.

Earnings is the sum of wage and salary disbursements, supplements to wages and salaries, and proprietors' income. When proprietors' income is negative and larger in absolute value than the sum of wage and salary disbursements and supplements to wage and salary disbursements then earnings will also be negative. Proprietors' income can be negative, representing a loss, when production expenses are greater than gross output. For example, a drought which reduces gross farm output to zero would make proprietors' income (i.e. loss) equal to their expenses.

The following Bureau of the Census site lists several publications regarding estimates for early years--http://www.census.gov/population/www/censusdata/hiscendata.html 

The following publication exists in PDF form at the Bureau of the Census, Bicentennial Edition: Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970- http://www.census.gov/prod/www/abs/statab.html

The quarterly estimates of state personal income are adjusted, where appropriate, to remove from the time series of the source data the average effect of variations that normally occur at about the same time and in about the same magnitude each year-- for example, weather and holidays. After seasonal adjustment, cyclical and other short-term changes in the economy stand out more clearly. For the income components for which no state-level quarterly source data are available, the quarterly series are estimated from the trend in the annual state estimates.

Disposable personal income is total personal income minus personal current taxes.

Personal current taxes is tax payments (net of refunds) that are made by persons and that are not chargeable to business expense and certain other payments by persons to government agencies (except government enterprises) that are treated like taxes.

Personal current taxes includes taxes on income, including realized net capital gains, and on personal property. Also included in personal taxes are personal licenses. Contributions for government social insurance are not included.

Unemployment estimates are available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).