Connecticut Tops Per Capita Income; Oil States Slump

Connecticut and New Jersey overtook Alaska to become the nation’s highest income states last year, as workers in Alaska and six other energy-dependent states saw lower oil prices reflected in their paychecks, the government reported Thursday.

The Commerce Department’s annual survey of per capita income figures for the states put Connecticut on top, a position oil-rich Alaska had held since 1973.

Connecticut, the nation’s largest defense contractor on a per capita basis, and home to giant insurance and financial services companies, earned an average of $19,208 for every man, woman and child in 1986, an increase of 6.1% over its 1985 level.

New Jersey Ranks Second

The District of Columbia would have been second if it were a state, with a 1986 per capita income of $18,980. Among the 50 states, the No. 2 position went to New Jersey, which registered a per capita income of $18,284, up 6.2% from 1985.

All three passed Alaska, which had held the top spot since its North Slope oil boom in the early 1970s. Its per capita income fell by 2.2% last year, the department said. The $396 drop to $17,744 meant that Alaskans, per capita, made less money last year than they did in 1983.

And while Alaska’s decline was the most severe, six other oil-producing states failed to keep pace with even the modest inflation during 1986, the department said.

The smallest percentage gains in per capita income generally were in the Rocky Mountain region and the Southwest. California’s per capita income rose 4.4% to $16,778, ranking sixth nationally.