Income in Coastal States Continues to Lead Other Regions

Regional disparities in personal income widened in 1987, as booming coastal states continued to outstrip wage gains in much of the rest of the nation, the government reported Thursday.

The Commerce Department said all 10 of the states with the highest average personal income last year were on the nation’s coasts, eight along the Atlantic and Alaska and California on the Pacific.

Connecticut ranked No. 1, with residents earning $21,266 for every adult and child last year, an increase of 8.8% over 1986.

For the nation as a whole, income rose 6% to an average of $15,481 last year, the best overall performance since a similar 6% gain in 1985. Income had risen 5.1% in 1986.

Seven of the 10 states with the lowest incomes were in the South, with Mississippi ranked last. The per-capita income in that state was $10,292, an increase of 5.2% over the previous year.

The new figures, which were revised from a report issued four months ago, confirmed other studies that have shown wide geographic differences in how the country has benefited from the current economic expansion.

Economically Divided

While Republicans hoping to hold onto the White House are stressing the record peacetime economic expansion, Democrats have charged that President Reagan’s economic legacy has turned the United States into a “bicoastal economy.”

They depict America as divided between healthy economies on both coasts and a problem-plagued heartland afflicted by hard times in agriculture, oil and declining smokestack industries.

In contrast to most recovery periods, regional differences have widened rather than narrowed, the report said.

The Southwest and Rocky Mountain regions were farther behind the national income average in 1987 than they were in 1982 at the depths of the recession, while New England and the Mid-Atlantic regions were farther ahead.

This marked the first recovery period since that of 1958-60 in which regional disparities have widened instead of narrowed, said Rudolph DePass, a Commerce Department analyst.

“This has been a somewhat unusual economic expansion,” he said. “Regions like New England have benefited from rapid growth in high-tech industries and relatively slow increases in population, while the Southwest and Rocky Mountain states have been hit by a slump in the oil industry.”

New England was the top-earning region in 1982, with income 9% above the national average. By 1987, it had increased its lead with income now 20% above the national average. The Mid-Atlantic region, which had income 10% above the national average in 1982, had income 14% higher last year.

Some Income Declined

By contrast, the Southwest and Rocky Mountain regions saw their income fall to 12% below the national average in 1987, compared to 4% or less in 1982.

This drop put these two regions close to the Southeast, which still came in last with income 13% below the national average. The Southeast had been 14% below in 1982.

The Great Lakes region was unchanged, with income still 2% below the national average in 1987. The West had income 11% higher than the national average last year, compared to 12% higher in 1982.

Thursday’s report was based on revised figures that showed income overall grew at a stronger pace than estimated when the original report was released in April. At that time, the government said national per-capita income rose 4.8%, barely ahead of the 4.4% rise in consumer prices last year.

After Connecticut, New Jersey--with an average income of $20,352--had the second-highest income. They were followed by Massachusetts, with an average of $19,142; Alaska, $18,230, and Maryland, $18,124. Rounding out the top 10 were New York, California, New Hampshire, Delaware and Virginia.

In addition to Mississippi, states with the lowest income were West Virginia, with an average of $11,020; followed by Utah, Louisiana, Arkansas, Idaho, New Mexico, Alabama, South Carolina and Kentucky.

THE PACE OF WEALTH

The 10 states where average per-capita income grew fastest in 1987, followed by the states where personal income grew slowest.

State Income % Chg. Connecticut $21,266 8.8 Maine 13,954 8.6 Massachusetts 19,142 8.5 Dist. of Columbia 20,457 8.4 New Jersey 20,352 8.3 Delaware 16,696 7.7 Tennessee 12,880 7.5 Vermont 14,302 7.4 North Carolina 13,314 7.2 Virginia 16,517 7.1 California 17,821 6.1 10 Slowest Growing Wyoming 12,709 -0.1 Alaska 18,230 -0.8 Louisiana 11,473 2.1 Oklahoma 12,551 2.5 Texas 13,866 2.8 Colorado 15,584 3.1 Utah 11,366 3.6 New Mexico 11,875 3.6 Michigan 15,393 4.0 West Virginia 11,020 4.1