United States. Bureau of Economic Analysis. "Metropolitan Area Personal Income, OBE 70-31," Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) News Releases (May 27, 1970). https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/6148/item/595057, accessed on May 8, 2025.

Title: Metropolitan Area Personal Income, OBE 70-31

Date: May 27, 1970
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image-container-0 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF C O M M E R C E O FFIC E 0 F B U SI N ESS EC O N O M IC S W A SH I N G T O N , D . C . 2 0 2 3 0 FOR RELEASE WEDNESDAY A.M. MAY 27, 1970 QBE 70-31 Robert E. Graham, Jr.: 343-6567 Kenneth P. Berkman : 343-2789 Metropolitan Area Personal Income Personal income increased at a faster rate in metropolitan areas than in nonmetropolitan areas in 1968, according to an article in the May issue of the Survey of Current Business, published by the Commerce Department's Office of Business Economics. The article — " Metropolitan Area Personal Income, 1968"— contains the latest estimates which show: _Per capita income of metropolitan area residents amounted to $3,811 in 1968, up $294 or 8.4 percent from 1967. — In nonmetropolitan areas, per capita personal income was $2,614, up $195 or 8.1 percent from 1967. ——Personal income in metropolitan areas totaled $517 billion, accounting for three-fourths of the national total. Although the 1968 per capita income in metropolitan area was 46 percent higher than in nonmetropolitan areas, the growth rate in per capita personal income in nonmetropolitan areas -- 5.6 percent — was slightly faster than in metropolitan areas — 5.1 percent — in the 1959-68 period.
image-container-1 2 Total personal income Personal income earned in nonmetropolitan areas grew at an average annual rate of 6.6 percent from 1959 to 1968, compared to a 6.7-percent growth rate in metropolitan areas. The near equality in rates of income growth in SMSA's and non-SMSA's in the 1960's contrasts significantly with the experience of the 1950's. From 1950 to 1959, personal income in SMSA's increased 6.5 percent per year — about the same as in the 1959-68 span -- but income in non-SMSA's grew at an average rate of only 4.8 percent. Effect of farm income The comparatively slow growth of non-SMSA income during the 1950's stemmed from two major interrelated factors. First, personal income derived from farming declined substantially whereas income from all other major industries grew rapidly. The decline in farm income had an especially large impact on overall income growth in non-SMSA's because farm income accounted for 20 percent of total income in non-SMSA's in 1950, but for only 2 percent in SMSA's. The second factor was the substantial population shift from nonmetropolitan to metropolitan areas. Differentials narrow in the 1960's There was a substantial narrowing of the metropolitan-nonmetropolitan growth rate differential in the 1959-68 period, as the income growth rate in non-SMSA's increased much more than in SMSA's. In the Southwest, Rocky Mountain, and Far West regions, income growth rates in non-SMSA's still lagged significantly; in the other five regions, growth rates in SMSA's and non-SMSA's were about the same. As in the 1950's, developments in farm income were the main factor holding the national rate of income growth in non-SMSA's below that in SMSA's. However, the effect of farm income behavior was much milder in the 1959-^8 period for two reasons. First, although farm income grew far less rapidly than nonfarm income, that was an improvement compared to the decline in the earlier period. Second, farm income in 1959 was only half as important an income source in non-SMSA's as it had been in 1950. The slightly faster rate of nonfarm income growth in non-SMSA's than in SMSA's helped to narrow the growth-rate gap in the 1950's. Earnings derived from manufacturing grew much faster in non-SMSA's than in SMSA's, though this was nearly offset by a lag in the trade and service industries. This lag was mainly a reflection of the smaller retail markets for goods and services in non-SMSA's resulting from the slow growth in farm income and population. /More/
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Date: May 27, 1970
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