Fueled by gains in state and local government, professional services and health care, Maryland?s per capita personal income grew 5.1 percent in 2007.
The state?s per capita income increased from $43,788 in 2006 to $46,021 last year, the fifth-highest total in the nation and 19 percent above the national average of $38,611, according to information released Wednesday by the Department of Commerce?s Bureau of Economic Analysis.
“Maryland?s a very affluent state because we have a highly educated work force, so it?s not surprising,” said Richard Clinch, economist at the University of Baltimore. “We have a very large middle class, and that?s why our average income is so high.”
Maryland?s gains were in line with what happened across the country, with professional services, health care and state and local governments the leading industries for most states, according to BEA data.
On the other end, the construction industry contributed almost nothing in the state and throughout the country in 2007 after contributing nearly a half percentage point to growth in each year from 2004 to 2006, the BEA reported. Real estate earnings declined 2 percent in 2007, the only industry to register a decline nationally in the wake of the current subprime crisis and housing downturn.
A high per capita income is nothing new to Maryland, said Gene Bracken, communications director for the Greater Baltimore Committee. The GBC?s recent State of the Region Report showed Baltimore?s regional per capita and household incomes ranked in the top five when compared with 19 other similar U.S. metro regions, including Atlanta, Boston and Washington, D.C.
“Maryland has consistently been in the high end of personal incomes,” Bracken said.
Maryland posted the 26th-highest per capita income growth rate among the 50 states from 2006 to 2007, according to the BEA. Louisiana ranked first with a 9.2 percent increase, and Tennessee and Arizona tied for last with a 3.4 percent increase.
Connecticut led all states with a per capita income of $54,117 in 2007. Mississippi was last with $28,845.
