Is the “ka-ching” making a comeback in Colorado? That’s likely, since residents have more cash in their pockets and purses this year.
Coloradans pulled down $10.84 billion more income in 2005 than they did in 2004, marking the state’s sharpest annual jump since 2000, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.
The state’s per-capita personal income rose 5.1 percent last year to $37,946, beating the 4.6 percent pace measured nationally. The strongest contributors to higher income from wages, by industry, were professional and technical services, construction and health care employers.
Colorado moved from ninth to eighth place among U.S. states, with per-capita personal income that was 110 percent of the national average.
Between 1990 to 2000, Colorado moved from the 19th highest per-capita personal income among states to seventh. Incomes stayed fairly flat from 2001 to 2003 before gaining traction again in 2004.
Colorado’s growth in personal income outpaced consumer inflation, which rose at a moderate 2.1 percent in the Denver-Boulder area last year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Personal income includes wages and individual business income, rents, dividend and interest payments, and government transfers to individuals.
In dollar terms, personal income in the state rose 7.6 percent, or $10.84 billion, from the $166.2 billion made in 2004.
For every extra $1 of income earned in the state last year, 85.5 cents came from net earnings, which includes wages, bonuses and the money sole-proprietors made.
Government payments to individuals, primarily retirees, represented 9.1 cents of each extra $1 in income. Rents, dividends and interest payments accounted for another 5.4 cents.
Although incomes are rising, Colorado lagged its Rocky Mountain neighbors. Wyoming ranked first nationally, with a 7.3 percent growth rate in personal income, and Montana came in third, with a 6.3 percent rate of growth.
Staff writer Aldo Svaldi can be reached at 303-820-1410 or asvaldi@denverpost.com.
