Rise of personal income in the U.S.

Alexander Fishkov, Ph.D. student Computer Science

Personal income in the U.S. has been constantly rising in recent years — personal income per capita increased by 3.5 percent in 2015, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. We used this data, along with CPI data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, to calculate inflation-adjusted personal income changes for different areas. The dollar amounts in this post correspond to 2016 dollars.

Personal income includes income received by a person from any sources: wages, rent, financial assets, business income and more. Personal income per capita was calculated by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis using the Census Bureau’s ACS population estimates.

Personal income grew in every state except North Dakota, where it decreased by 3.5 percent, and Wyoming, where it didn't change. The highest growth in personal income occurred in California, which saw an increase of 5.3 percent from 2014. In Delaware, personal income increased by 5.1 percent, while in Massachusetts and Oregon it grew by 4.9 percent. The lowest growth rates of personal income were found in Nebraska (0.3 percent), Oklahoma (0.9 percent) and Kansas (1.5 percent).

The highest per capita personal income was found in Washington, D.C., reaching $74.238.The lowest personal income per capita in 2015 was found in Mississippi, at $35,215.

The largest increase of personal income occurred in Kearney County, Nebraska: 29.7 percent, followed by a 29 percent increase in Turney County, South Dakota and a 28.1 percent increase in Sherman County, Texas.

The largest decreases in personal income also occurred in Nebraska and South Dakota: -30 percent in Sully County, SD and -26.1 percent in McPherson County, NE. Both of these states are relatively sparsely populated, and small changes in the business and job markets can produce these types of effects on per capita income.

The highest dollar amount of personal income was found in Teton County, Wyoming: $197,351. This amount is even greater than that found in New York ($158,710). The lowest personal income per capita ($16,211) was found in Wheeler County, Georgia, followed by Union County, Florida ($18,488).

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About Alexander Fishkov

Alexander Fishkov, Ph.D. student Computer Science

Alexander is a Ph.D. student in Computer Science. He currently holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Applied Math. He has experience working for industry major companies performing research in the fields of machine learning, data mining and natural language processing. In his free time, Alexander enjoys hiking, Nordic skiing and traveling.

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