Sioux City MSA Ranked #1 for Income Growth

The Sioux City metropolitan statistical area has been identified as having the largest personal income growth in the nation, according to data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis and 24/7 Wall St.

Unlike most other areas with strong income growth, Sioux City incomes are both fast-growing and relatively high. The area’s per capita income of $45,500 was well above the national figure of $41,706. Area residents also benefited from a relatively low unemployment rate of 4.4% last year. Sioux City’s population is also booming. While the U.S. population grew by 0.7% in 2013, Sioux City’s grew by 16.8%, the 16th fastest growth rate in the country. The manufacturing sector employed 18.3% of the area’s workforce, one of the highest shares in the nation.

Growth rates were calculated based on total real personal income — this includes compensation, income from property, minus contributions to the government — for all people in each city. Since growth rates were based on aggregate incomes, an increase in a city’s working-age population and economic expansion were major drivers of growth.

To identify the cities where incomes are growing (and shrinking) the fastest, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the highest and lowest real personal income growths in 2013 among the nation’s 381 metropolitan statistical areas (MSA) from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). Real personal income, per capita income, GDP, and industry contributions to GDP growth in each MSA also came from the BEA. The BEA’s income figures for each year starting in 2008 — when regional data became available — were reviewed as well, all adjusted for inflation, chained to 2009 dollars. The share of an MSA’s workforce employed by each area’s industry in 2012 and 2013 came from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2013 American Community Survey (ACS). Population growth, median household income, poverty rates, the percentage of households earning at least $200,000 and less than $10,000, and educational attainment rates also came from the ACS. Annual unemployment rates are for 2014 and came from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

Find additional information here: http://247wallst.com/special-report/2015/07/14/10-cities-where-incomes-are-growing-and-shrinking-the-fastest/