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Buffalo Area Ranks 51st in Personal Income

by G. Scott Thomas

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

   Residents of Erie and Niagara counties earned a total of $43.43 billion last year, putting Buffalo in 51st place among the nation’s metropolitan areas.

The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis released new total personal income (TPI) data on Tuesday morning. TPI is defined as the income received by all people from all sources (everything from wages to welfare payments) in a given year.

Click here for a database of TPI figures for 366 U.S. metros.

The New York City area is the clear leader in total personal income, generating $1.03 trillion in 2010. The runners-up are Los Angeles ($565.37 billion), Chicago ($435.41 billion), Washington ($323.54 billion) and Houston ($281.84 billion).

A total of 23 metropolitan areas posted TPI of more than $100 billion last year.

All but four metros increased their total personal incomes between 2009 and 2010. The exceptions were three Nevada areas (Carson City, Las Vegas and Reno), as well as Grand Junction, Colo.

Elizabethtown, Ky., enjoyed the sharpest year-to-year increase, 10.14 percent. The biggest improvement by a major metro (one with at least $100 billion of TPI) was San Jose’s jump of 6.69 percent.

Buffalo’s growth rate of 3.14 percent ranked 137th among the 366 metro areas