Recession reduces Iowans’ personal income

Iowans' personal incomes took a hit from the recession in 2009, according to data released Thursday by the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Iowa's average per capita personal income was estimated at $36,647 in 2009, down 1.5 percent from 2008. The Bureau of Economic Analysis estimated that average per capita personal income in Iowa rebounded in 2010 to $38,281, based on data from the April 1, 2010, decennial census population counts.

Personal income is a measure of the income of all people from all sources. In addition to wages and salaries, it includes employer-provided health insurance, dividends and interest income, Social Security benefits, and other types of income.

The per capita personal income of Cedar Rapids metropolitan statistical area residents, which includes Linn, Benton and Jones counties, was $39,022 in 2009, down 1.3 percent from 2008. Net earnings in the Cedar Rapids MSA fell 2.4 percent from 2008 to 2009, compared with a 4 percent drop nationally.

Residents of the Iowa City MSA, which includes Johnson and Washington counties, experienced a 1.6 percent drop in per capita personal income to $38,299 in 2009 from the previous year. Net earnings in the Iowa City MSA were unchanged in 2009 from 2008.

Other Iowa MSAs experiencing a decline in per capita personal income from 2008 to 2009 were Dubuque, down $1.3 percent to $35,635; Des Moines/West Des Moines, off 2.3 percent to $42,012; Davenport-Moline-Rock Island, down 1.4 percent to $38,670, and Waterloo/Cedar Falls, off 0.5 percent to $36,376.

At the county level, Linn County per capita personal income was $40,282 in 2009, down 1.3 percent from 2008. Johnson County per capita personal income fell 1.4 percent to $38,330.

Other Iowa counties experiencing a decline in per capita personal income from 2008 to 2009 were Benton, off 1.7 percent to $36,444; Black Hawk, down 0.4 percent to $35,445; Iowa, off 4 percent to $37,747; Jones, down 1 percent to $29,456; Polk, off 2.6 percent to $42,381, and Washington, down 2.4 percent to $38,107.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis, a division of the U.S. Department of Commerce, said changes in per capita personal income from 2008 to 2009 ranged from an 8.1 percent decline in Oakland County, Mich., to a 4.2 percent gain in Loudoun County, Va.

Growth slowed in all but one of the nation's 255 large counties (those with a population of more than 250,000). For the nation, personal income fell 1.7 percent in 2009 after growing 4.0 percent in 2008.