R.I. personal income pushed up 2.4% in 2017

THE TOTAL PERSONAL income earned in Rhode island increased 2.4 percent in 2017 year over year to $53.3 billion. / COURTESY BUREAU OF ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
THE TOTAL PERSONAL income earned in Rhode island increased 2.4 percent in 2017 year over year to $53.3 billion. / COURTESY BUREAU OF ECONOMIC ANALYSIS

PROVIDENCE – Per capita personal income in Rhode Island in 2017 was $51,503, an increase from $50,373 in 2016, according to a Bureau of Economic Analysis report released Thursday.

The per capita income in the Ocean State was the 18th highest reported in the United States and fourth in New England behind Connecticut (No. 1), Massachusetts (No. 2) and New Hampshire (No. 7). Rhode Island edged out Vermont, which ranked No. 19 in the U.S., while Maine ranked No. 31 in the nation.

Total personal income in Rhode Island increased $1 billion, or 2.4 percent, year over year to $54.6 billion. Rhode Island had the 35th largest year-over-year percentage increase in the country in 2017. Massachusetts’ total personal income increased 3.3 percent year over year to $452 billion, the 15th largest percentage increase in the nation.

The increase in personal income for Rhode Islanders was largely driven by the finance and insurance sector, which increased earnings by $539 million year over year, accounting for 1.01 percentage points of the entire 1.94 percentage point increase in earnings for the year. The total earnings of the finance and insurance industry in Rhode Island in 2017 was $3.5 billion.

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The second-largest increase in an industry’s earnings in Rhode Island was in the professional, scientific and technical service industry, which increased $129 million year over year to $2.9 billion, accounting for 0.24 percentage points of the total yearly increase in earnings.

However, the arts and entertainment industry saw the second-highest industry earnings growth rate in the state at 6.3 percent, thanks to an added $31 million in earnings, bringing the total for the year for the sector to $522.8 million, although the total for the sector was less than the increase that finance and insurance made over the year.

Chris Bergenheim is the PBN web editor.

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