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Hadn't seen the income data released in the past week from BEA posted yet. I think it's an important measure to balance with GDP, which tends to get a lot of attention on this forum. However, personal income is arguably much more reflective of true wealth of the "masses" and spending power.
Growth over the past year is clearly mixed and not necessarily based on slow vs. fast population growth, since this takes inflation into account. It's really interesting to see the results.
I've excerpted the Top 25 Metro areas, just for brevity. Ranking is by total volume of real personal income as of 2021.
Any surprises? One that sticks out to me: the Bay Area. Despite the constant talk of high and rising COL in California, both SF and San Jose come out strong in real growth.
Most surprising thing to me on that list is Philadelphia getting close to passing DC. That's definitely against the narrative you hear about those two cities.
Looking at the real personal income per capita for the 56 1 mill+ metros...
San Jose $106,026
San Francisco $89,632
Boston $73,050
Seattle $67,654
New York $64,511
Nashville $63,642
Philadelphia $63,342
Washington $63,025
Denver $62,160
Austin $61,940
Minneapolis $60,276
Indianapolis $60,124
Pittsburgh $59,975
Milwaukee $59,752
Hartford $59,711
Chicago $59,294
Raleigh $59,104
St. Louis $58,427
Richmond $58,373
Baltimore $58,281
Cincinnati $58,085
Miami $58,072
Los Angeles $57,836
Cleveland $57,094
Kansas City $56,925
Tulsa $56,556
Birmingham $56,483
Houston $56,440
New Orleans $56,394
Portland, OR $56,337
Louisville $56,195
Dallas $55,786
Charlotte $55,775
Salt Lake City $55,533
Providence $55,393
Atlanta $55,379
Detroit $55,074
San Diego $54,768
Columbus, OH $54,700
Memphis $54,198
Sacramento $53,888
Oklahoma City $53,493
Las Vegas $52,956
Jacksonville, FL $52,122
Rochester, NY $51,995
Buffalo $51,857
Grand Rapids $51,783
Tampa $51,160
Phoenix $51,045
Hampton Roads $50,356
Tucson $49,467
Honolulu $48,362
San Antonio $48,330
Orlando $46,190
Fresno $43,961
Inland Empire $41,452
Most surprising thing to me on that list is Philadelphia getting close to passing DC. That's definitely against the narrative you hear about those two cities.
Pleased to see the large % increase for the Philadelphia metro.
And yea, looks like if rates remain similar going forward, Philadelphia will inch closer to DC and Houston. But agree, contrary to the narrative you read from some on this site.
Pleased to see the large % increase for the Philadelphia metro.
And yea, looks like if rates remain similar going forward, Philadelphia will inch closer to DC and Houston. But agree, contrary to the narrative you read from some on this site.
*Thanks Duderino, love these stats.
You're welcome. Any yes, this is a metric where Philly has performing very strongly, especially against perceptions amongst some.
Looking at the real personal income per capita for the 56 1 mill+ metros...
...
I'm a bit surprised at Phoenix being so low.
I thought I'd add the numbers for Albuquerque, and New Mexico's other 3 MSAs, to this per capita list and overall thread:
Albuquerque - $52,263 per capita | $47,990,680,000 total
Las Cruces - $45,045 per capita | $9,977,874,000 total
Santa Fe - $69,528 per capita | $10,790,792,000 total
Farmington - $41,735 per capita | $5,049,661,000 total
Also in the Southwest:
El Paso - $44,058 per capita | $38,384,749,000 total
Albuquerque holds its own against all its Southwestern peers and neighbors. Only Las Vegas is higher. And Santa Fe is up there with the big guys, behind only San Jose, San Francisco and Boston in per capita terms.
Here also is Los Alamos County, which is the wealthiest community in New Mexico. It's behind only San Jose and San Francisco in per capita terms:
Los Alamos - $81,306 per capita | $1,571,643,000 total
Looking at the real personal income per capita for the 56 1 mill+ metros...
San Jose $106,026
San Francisco $89,632
Boston $73,050
Seattle $67,654
New York $64,511
Nashville $63,642
Philadelphia $63,342
Washington $63,025
Denver $62,160
Austin $61,940
Minneapolis $60,276
Indianapolis $60,124
Pittsburgh $59,975
Milwaukee $59,752
Hartford $59,711
Chicago $59,294
Raleigh $59,104
St. Louis $58,427
Richmond $58,373
Baltimore $58,281
Cincinnati $58,085
Miami $58,072
Los Angeles $57,836
Cleveland $57,094
Kansas City $56,925
Tulsa $56,556
Birmingham $56,483
Houston $56,440
New Orleans $56,394
Portland, OR $56,337
Louisville $56,195
Dallas $55,786
Charlotte $55,775
Salt Lake City $55,533
Providence $55,393
Atlanta $55,379
Detroit $55,074
San Diego $54,768
Columbus, OH $54,700
Memphis $54,198
Sacramento $53,888
Oklahoma City $53,493
Las Vegas $52,956
Jacksonville, FL $52,122
Rochester, NY $51,995
Buffalo $51,857
Grand Rapids $51,783
Tampa $51,160
Phoenix $51,045
Hampton Roads $50,356
Tucson $49,467
Honolulu $48,362
San Antonio $48,330
Orlando $46,190
Fresno $43,961
Inland Empire $41,452
I'm a bit surprised at Phoenix being so low.
Phoenix doesn't look that bad, it is lower COL afterall. Just look at Fresno and the Inland Empire with them being situated in high COL CA. I'm just grateful my own personal income is much higher than that.
Phoenix doesn't look that bad, it is lower COL afterall. Just look at Fresno and the Inland Empire with them being situated in high COL CA. I'm just grateful my own personal income is much higher than that.
Real personal income does take COL into account. Otherwise Tulsa/Birmingham/New Orleans and the like would probably not be beating Charlotte/Salt Lake City/Atlanta. So Fresno/Inland Empire numbers are already taking the COL into account. No need to make them look even worse off. But it's more a testament of how much silicon valley/Boston really gets paid when its COL is so high already
I was basing it off of this, so the NM numbers look a bit off, too.
Albuquerque $49,181
Las Cruces $45,401
Santa Fe $64,637
Farmington $40,504
Santa Fe's still really impressive, especially for a small metro. It's the 19th highest metro overall, after, in order, Midland, TX; San Jose, CA; Bridgeport, CT; Naples, FL; San Francisco, CA; Sebastian, FL; Boulder, CO; Boston, MA; Barnstable Town, MA; Napa, CA; Santa Cruz, CA; Seattle, WA; Sioux Falls, SD; Charlottesville, VA; Casper, WY; Trenton, NJ; Ocean City, NJ; and Fayetteville, AR. And right ahead of number 20, New York, NY. (Smaller metros just look like they fare worse on this metric. Even Huntsville is lower than Birmingham. Portland is the last metro in the top quintile of metros. So 30/77 of the top metros are all 1 mill+. Jacksonville, FL is the last in the second quintile. The last in the third is Staunton, VA, which is lower than Tucson/Albuquerque and above Honolulu. The fourth ends with Warner Robins, GA, which is in between Orlando and Fresno.)
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Any yes, this is a metric where Philly has performing very strongly, especially against perceptions amongst some.
