Visualization: Per Capita Personal Income in Metropolitan and Micropolitan Areas

An interactive visualization of Per Capita Personal Income in urban areas in the United States from 1969 to 2020, with differences from the nation.

This interactive visualization presents Per Capita Personal Income for Metropolitan Statistical Areas and Micropolitan Statistical Areas. The United States Office of Management and Budget defines these areas. (1)“Metropolitan Statistical Areas have at least one urbanized area of 50,000 or more population, plus adjacent territory that has a high degree of social and economic integration with the core as measured by commuting ties. Micropolitan Statistical Areas have at least one urban cluster of at least 10,000 but less than 50,000 population, plus adjacent territory that has a high degree of social and economic integration with the core as measured by commuting ties.” See *Revised Delineations of Metropolitan Statistical Areas, Micropolitan Statistical Areas, and Combined Statistical Areas, and Guidance on Uses of the Delineations of These Areas. 0MB Bulletin No. 20-01. Available here. Metro areas have a population of over 50,000, and micro areas from 10,000 to 50,000. As of 2020, OBM lists 384 metro and 543 micro areas in the United States. There are more in Puerto Rico.

The source of the original data is Bureau of Economic Analysis, an agency of the United States Department of Commerce. I’ve gathered this data, performed some calculations, and present it in an interactive visualization.

This data ranges from 1969 to 2020. Of note, this data series is not adjusted for inflation. This is an important consideration, as to convert 1969 dollars to 2020 dollars, one must multiply the 1969 dollars by 7.052. BEA publishes other series of data adjusted for regional price parity and the national personal consumption expenditures price index; BEA will release these on December 14, 2021.

One of the calculations I performed is determining the difference between the value for a metro area and the nation. (2)Strictly, the value I use for the nation is just for the metropolitan statistical and micropolitan statistical areas. This lets us place values in context: If per capita personal income for the Wichita MSA in 1985 was $15,142, what does that mean? The value for the nation that year was $15,056, so Wichita was a little above the nation. In 1995, Wichita was at $22,071 while the nation was at $22,986, meaning Wichita slipped from above the nation to below.

I also calculate the cumulative difference between an area and the nation.

BEA offers these definitions:

  • Personal income is the income received by, or on behalf of, all persons from all sources: from participation as laborers in production, from owning a home or business, from the ownership of financial assets, and from government and business in the form of transfers. It includes income from domestic sources as well as the rest of world. It does not include realized or unrealized capital gains or losses. Personal income is measured before the deduction of personal income taxes and other personal taxes and is reported in current dollars (no adjustment is made for price changes).

  • Per capita personal income is calculated as the total personal income of the residents of a given area divided by the population of the area. In computing per capita personal income, BEA uses Census Bureau midyear population estimates.

The news release from BEA for this data is Personal Income by County and Metropolitan Area, 2020.

You can access the interactive visualization and create your own charts here: Visualization: Per Capita Personal Income in Metropolitan and Micropolitan Areas.

For more visualizations, click here.

Example from the visualization. Click for larger.
Example from the visualization. Click for larger.

References

References
1 “Metropolitan Statistical Areas have at least one urbanized area of 50,000 or more population, plus adjacent territory that has a high degree of social and economic integration with the core as measured by commuting ties. Micropolitan Statistical Areas have at least one urban cluster of at least 10,000 but less than 50,000 population, plus adjacent territory that has a high degree of social and economic integration with the core as measured by commuting ties.” See *Revised Delineations of Metropolitan Statistical Areas, Micropolitan Statistical Areas, and Combined Statistical Areas, and Guidance on Uses of the Delineations of These Areas. 0MB Bulletin No. 20-01. Available here.
2 Strictly, the value I use for the nation is just for the metropolitan statistical and micropolitan statistical areas.