United States. Bureau of Economic Analysis. "Metropolitan Area Personal Income, OBE 68-42," Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) News Releases (August 26, 1968). https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/6148/item/594531, accessed on May 8, 2025.

Title: Metropolitan Area Personal Income, OBE 68-42

Date: August 26, 1968
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image-container-0 ^J N I T E D S T A T E S D E P A R T M E N T O F C O M M E R C E O F F I C E O F B U S I N E S S E C O N O M I C S W ASH IN GT ON , D. C. 2 0 2 3 0 POE RELEASE MONDAY A.M. AUGUST 26 , 1968 Robert E. Graham, Jr.: 343- 6 5 6 7 OBE 68-42 Edwin J. Coleman : 343-8793 METROPOLITAN AREA PERSONAL INCOME Metropolitan area dwellers in the United States had an average personal income in 1966 half again as large as that of the rest of the population, the U.S, Department of Commerce reported today. ^ The 133 million inhabitants of the Nation*s standard metropolitan statistical areas ™SMSA's) received $438 billion in personal income during 1966. On a per capita basis, this amounted to $3»314 as compared with a $2 , 2 3 6 average for individuals outside those geographical units. In relative terms — three-fourths of the Nation’s personal income went to two-thirds of its population working and living in one-eighth of its land area. These findings are part of a new and expanded regional economic series providing estimates of personal income in 223 standard metropolitan statistical areas of the country. The new data cover both total and per capita personal income for seven selected years from 1929 through 1966, Prepared by the Department's Office of Business Economics as part of its regional economic information system, the series are designed to reflect the current level and long-term changes in economic activity and purchasing power in SMBA's, They measure the broad economic base of each metropolitan area and illustrate how it has changed "'over the last four decades. Through a breakdown of income by type and by industrial origin for each SMSA, economic progress or deterioration can be traced and the economic ^factors directly responsible, identified. This information reveals the structural balance or imbalance of the area's economy in terms of its industrial composition. The regional data are useful in preparing economic and business development plans, anti-poverty programs, sales campaigns, and for many other purposes. The series also Include personal income estimates for all counties lying outside of metropolitan areas. An analysis of the income flow of each SMSA by major type of payment and broad Industrial sector appears in the August issue of OBE's Survey of Current Business. j N o r e f
image-container-1 Metropolitan Area Incomes, 1966 On the average, standard metropolitan statistical areas in 1966 had a population of about 6 0 0 ,0 0 0 , and a personal income total of $2 billion as well as a per capita income of $3,314. But these averages conceal extremely wide variations0 Population ranged from about 70,000 in the Midland (Texas) SMSA to more than 11 million in the New York SMSA; total income varied from $109 million in the Laredo (Texas) SMSA to more than $46 billion in the New York SMSA; and per capita income was slightly under $1,300 in the McAllen-Pharr-Edinburg (Texas) SMSA, but over $4,000 in the Paterson- Passaic-Clifton (New Jersey) SMSA. Next largest in economic size to New York were the SMSA's of Los Angeles-Long Beach and Chicago, each with more than $26 billion in personal income. Following were Philadelphia and Detroit, with approximately $15 billion each, and San Francisco- Oakland and Boston, with $12 billion each. Together, these seven largest SMSA's accounted for nearly one-fourth of all income In the Nation in 19 6 6 . With a little more than one-fifth of the population, these SMSA's as a group had an average income of about $3,800, nearly 25 percent more than that in other SMSA's and 70 percent more than in non-SMSA's, Other large SMSA's — each with more than $5 billion in personal income in 1966 — included Washington ($9.3 billion), St, Louis ($7.6 billion), Pittsburgh ($7.5 billion), Cleveland ($7.4 billion), Newark ($7.2 billion), Baltimore ($6.3 billion), Minneapolis- St. Paul ($6,0 billion), and Houston ($5.1 billion), Of the 15 SMSA's with largest personal income aggregates, seven were in the North east, four in the Great Lakes area, two on the West Coast, and one each in the Midwest and Southwest. Per Capita Personal Income Wide differences in average incomes among SICA® s are evident from the accompanying table. In general, the lowest incomes are found in the Southern areas and the highest ones in the Northern and Western parts of the country. Geographic differences in average incomes are strikingly illustrated by a compari son of per capita incomes in the 25 SMSA's in which they are highest with the 25 in which they are lowest. In 1966, the 25 SMSA's with highest average incomes were scattered among 15 States; the 25 SMSA's with the lowest per capita incomes were spread among 12. Only one State, Texas, included SMSA's in both groups. The high-income SMSA's were located in all regions except the Southeast and Rocky Mountain areas. The SMSA with the highest per capita income in the Southeast (Richmond, Virginia), ranked 48th nationally; the top SMSA in the Rocky Mountain States (Denver, Colorado), ranked 54th. Highlighting the geographic disparity in per capita incomes is the fact that only four of the 25 SMSA's with highest incomes (Midland, Texas; Las Vegas, Nevada; Salinas-Monterey and Los Angeles-Long Beach California) were in the southern two-thirds of the country, i.e, , south of the line drawn from Wilmington, Delaware to San Francisco. jl&ovef
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Date: August 26, 1968
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