Monday, May 12, 2008

Local Area Personal Income

From the Hill Library:

When the BEA says "personal income" they mean wages, health insurance benefits, investments and a bunch of other stuff. Looking at a flat-out personal income figure for a location, comparing locations, or tracking income over time can offer much insight into a place's economy and consumers.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis recently released new estimates on personal income in counties and metro areas across the U.S., with data from 1969 to 2006. This site walks you through the steps of accessing that data. Follow these steps by first selecting a table - or topic - and then selecting a geography and date range.

When the BEA says "personal income," you might say "holy cow this site is overwhelming." If so, check out BEA Regional Facts, where this data is simplified and presented in paragraph form.


Personally, I prefer the tabular form of LAPI to the narrative form of the BEAR Facts.

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