Articles and Updates
Personal Income Estimates for 2008: How Arizona Compares
March, 2009
By Valorie Hanni Rice
The Bureau of Economic Analysis released the 2008 personal income data on March 25th, 2009. These data showed that Arizona experienced only a 2.7% increase in personal income from 2007 to 2008. The good news is that EBR was right on target with our forecast…the bad news is that we were right. And that really is bad news for the state. Only three other states had smaller growth in personal income and they were Connecticut (2.6%), Florida (2.4%) and Michigan (2.1%).
The states that showed significant change in income were North Dakota (9.6%), Alaska (9%), Wyoming (7.6%) and Oklahoma (6.4%). These are all states that benefited from higher oil prices in 2008 or have maintained a high level of employment and in some cases, such as Wyoming, have seen both.
The nation as a whole had a 3.9% increase, which was not as rosy as the 2007 figure in which the US saw a 6% increase. In fact, the only state that did better in 2008 than they did in 2007 was Alaska. Arizona’s increase in 2007 had been 4.6% and had put us near the bottom of the pack then as well.
Per Capita Personal Income
Arizona fares even worse when it comes to change in per capita personal income. We did have an increase between 2007 and 2008, but it was a very small one at 0.4% which puts us in very last place when comparing how all states did. It also drops us one more rung lower when looking at current per capita personal income. In 2008, Arizona’s per capita income is $32,953 which ranks 42nd out of all states. Arizona was 41st in 2007 with $32,833.
Per capita personal income $
State |
2007r |
2008p |
Rank in the U.S. |
|
2007r |
2008p |
|||
| Connecticut | 54,981 | 56,248 | 1 | 1 |
| New Jersey | 49,511 | 50,919 | 2 | 2 |
| Massachusetts | 48,995 | 50,735 | 3 | 3 |
| Wyoming | 47,047 | 49,719 | 4 | 4 |
| Maryland | 46,471 | 48,091 | 5 | 5 |
| New York | 46,364 | 48,076 | 6 | 6 |
| Alaska | 40,042 | 43,321 | 15 | 7 |
| Virginia | 41,727 | 42,876 | 8 | 8 |
| New Hampshire | 41,639 | 42,830 | 9 | 9 |
| Minnesota | 41,105 | 42,772 | 12 | 10 |
| California | 41,805 | 42,696 | 7 | 11 |
| Illinois | 41,012 | 42,397 | 13 | 12 |
| Colorado | 41,192 | 42,377 | 11 | 13 |
| Washington | 41,203 | 42,356 | 10 | 14 |
| Rhode Island | 39,829 | 41,008 | 17 | 15 |
| Delaware | 40,112 | 40,852 | 14 | 16 |
| Hawaii | 39,242 | 40,490 | 18 | 17 |
| Nevada | 39,853 | 40,353 | 16 | 18 |
| Pennsylvania | 38,793 | 40,265 | 19 | 19 |
| United States | 38,615 | 39,751 | -- | -- |
| North Dakota | 36,082 | 39,321 | 26 | 20 |
| Florida | 38,417 | 39,070 | 20 | 21 |
| Vermont | 37,483 | 38,880 | 21 | 22 |
| Texas | 37,083 | 38,575 | 22 | 23 |
| Kansas | 36,525 | 37,978 | 23 | 24 |
| Nebraska | 36,372 | 37,730 | 24 | 25 |
| South Dakota | 35,760 | 37,375 | 27 | 26 |
| Wisconsin | 36,272 | 37,314 | 25 | 27 |
| Oklahoma | 34,997 | 36,899 | 30 | 28 |
| Iowa | 34,916 | 36,680 | 31 | 29 |
| Louisiana | 35,100 | 36,271 | 29 | 30 |
| Oregon | 35,143 | 35,956 | 28 | 31 |
| Ohio | 34,468 | 35,511 | 32 | 32 |
| Maine | 33,991 | 35,381 | 34 | 33 |
| Michigan | 34,423 | 35,299 | 33 | 34 |
| Missouri | 33,964 | 35,228 | 35 | 35 |
| North Carolina | 33,735 | 34,439 | 36 | 36 |
| Tennessee | 33,395 | 34,330 | 38 | 37 |
| Montana | 33,225 | 34,256 | 39 | 38 |
| Indiana | 33,215 | 34,103 | 40 | 39 |
| Georgia | 33,499 | 33,975 | 37 | 40 |
| Alabama | 32,419 | 33,643 | 42 | 41 |
| Arizona | 32,833 | 32,953 | 41 | 42 |
| Idaho | 31,804 | 32,133 | 43 | 43 |
| New Mexico | 30,706 | 32,091 | 46 | 44 |
| South Carolina | 31,103 | 31,884 | 44 | 45 |
| Kentucky | 30,824 | 31,826 | 45 | 46 |
| Arkansas | 30,177 | 31,266 | 47 | 47 |
| West Virginia | 29,385 | 30,831 | 49 | 48 |
| Utah | 29,831 | 30,291 | 48 | 49 |
| Mississippi | 28,541 | 29,569 | 50 | 50 |
| *r = revised, p = preliminary | ||||
Source: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and Bureau of the Census (Released March 25, 2009)
For additional information, please contact us.
