UF Report: Two Florida Cities’ Per Capita Income Rank In Nation’s Top 10

September 15, 1998

GAINESVILLE — Two South Florida metro areas rank in the top 10 nationally in per capita personal income, according to the latest University of Florida report on income that indicates a gap between city and rural wealth.

According to the report released today, the West Palm Beach-Boca Raton metropolitan statistical area, with a per capita personal income of $38,081, ranks the highest in Florida and third in the nation, behind San Francisco and the Connecticut metropolitan area of New Haven, Bridgeport, Stamford, Danbury and Waterbury. The Naples area, with a per capita income of $34,830, captured the nation’s sixth spot.

The 1996 figures are part of a document titled The Florida Personal Income Handbook 1998, compiled by UF’s Bureau of Economic and Business Research.

The report shows the national ranking in per capita personal income for Florida’s 20 metropolitan statistical areas, or MSAs. Ocala, with a per capita personal income of $18,975, is the lowest-ranking Florida MSA, at 278th among the nation’s 315 MSAs.

Florida’s per capita personal income of $24,198 continued to keep pace with national growth in 1996, outpacing the Southeast’s gain of 4.4 percent and matching gains of the national 4.6 percent increase, the study shows. Per capita income in the metropolitan portion of Florida grew at a slightly faster rate, 4.7 percent, than that for Florida as a whole.

The report also lists per capita personal income adjusted for cost of living in each of Florida’s 67 counties. The per capita personal income rankings for some counties change when adjusted for cost of living because a certain income in one county may buy more goods and services than the same income in another county where prices are higher.

Florida’s five wealthiest counties for 1996 are Palm Beach ($38,081), Martin ($35,503), Sarasota ($35,062), Collier ($34,830) and Indian River ($34,374). But when per capita income is adjusted for prices, Sarasota slides from third to fifth, and Indian River rises from fifth to third. These also are the five counties with the largest portion of personal income from dividend, interest and rental income.

The next highest five counties, all with per capita personal income above the state average, are St. Johns ($29,345), Monroe ($28,959), Pinellas ($27,311), Broward ($27,129) and Manatee ($25,669). But when per capita income is adjusted for cost of living, Monroe slips from seventh to eighth and Pinellas rises from eighth to seventh. In addition, Broward falls from ninth to eleventh, Manatee rises from ninth to tenth and Lee rises from eleventh to tenth.

Union County has the lowest per capita income with $10,314. Also among the lowest ranks, from the bottom up, are Glades, Hamilton, Calhoun, Dixie, Liberty, Gilchrist, Holmes, Lafayette and Madison.

Personal income is income received by people from all sources, including private and government wages and salaries, personal dividends, interest, rental earnings and transfer payments.

Differences in property income, also referred to as dividends, interest and rent income, account for most of the faster income growth in the state as a whole.

Earnings by place of residence in Florida increased by 5.8 percent; dividends, interest and rent rose 8.1 percent; and transfer payments climbed by 5.5 percent. The United States saw gains of 5.6 percent, 6.3 percent and 5.2 percent in these components, respectively.

These strong property income gains affect Florida’s wealth even more since 25.5 percent of all personal income is from this source, compared with 18 percent for the nation.

The per capita income figures are from the U.S. Department of Commerce. The figures are adjusted using the Florida Price Level Index, which is prepared each year by the Governor’s Office of Planning and Budgeting for distributing state funds equitably to local school districts. The index is computed from a sample of prices in five categories: food, housing, apparel, transportation and a composite category of health, recreation and personal services.