Oregon's Per Capita Personal Income Ranked 25th Highest in 2018

Oregon’s total personal income ranked 26th in the nation in 2018, one spot below the 2017 rank. Data on personal income comes from the Bureau of Economic Analysis – a division of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

State personal income captures total income within a state and is the sum of three main components: net earnings (wages, salaries, employer contributions); personal current transfer receipts (retirement, Medicare, unemployment insurance); and dividends, interest, and rent.

The size of a state’s population plays a predominant role in the size of its personal income. By dividing a state’s total personal income by its total population, we obtain per capita personal income (PCPI). This gives us a number that is more easily compared with other states. For instance, Oregon’s total personal income was just over $209 billion in 2018, while Texas had income of more than $1.4 trillion. Per capita personal income, however, was $49,908 for Oregon and $49,161 for Texas.

Oregon’s PCPI relative to the U.S. showed a slow upward trend from 2011 to 2018. In 2011, Oregon’s PCPI was 88.3 percent and by 2018 it had reached 92.9 percent of the U.S.’s PCPI. Population growth works to drive PCPI downward, while income growth works to drive PCPI upward. Oregon’s 2018 population growth rate was 1.1 percent, in the top 12 of the nation. The 2018 total personal income growth rate was ninth in the nation. Oregon’s PCPI growth rate was 19th in the nation.

To learn more about Oregon's per capita personal income, read economist Anna Johnson's full article here.