Income and Wages

The US Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) maintains income and wage records for the United States.

An area's Per Capita Personal Income is the sum of all reported individual income divided by the estimated population. It includes income from social security, public assistance, inheritance, and other sources.

This is the standard measure of income for counties and states. State and federal governments revise these figures annually and use them to compare the economic security of different regions. Generally, the higher an area's per capita income, the more financially secure the region is as a whole. Historically, Central Valley counties have had relatively low per capita incomes.

The Average Earnings Per Job is calculated by adding an area's total wage and salary income and dividing that figure by the area's number of full and part time jobs. These numbers are useful for measuring how well local jobs sustain the work force. At the national level, wages and salaries account for approximately 57 percent of personal income.

Economic Overview of Kern County 1995-1999 (including Per Capita Personal Income and Average Earnings Per Job)
Economic Overview of California 1995-1999 (including Per Capita Personal Income and Average Earnings Per Job)


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