economy_personal_income_county_year
BEA per-capita personal income by county and year (A1). Tier A. History 1969-present.
tier —admin_record
overview
overview
All 3,144 counties x 56 years. BEA produces a complete county-level personal income series.
current vintage — 2024 (released November 2025)
history — BEA county personal income: 1969 to present
provenance
source & licensing
authority
U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
dataset
Regional Personal Income (CAINC)
source url
license
—
citation
U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Personal Income by County (CAINC1, CAINC4), 1969-2024.
schema
fields
| name | type | definition |
|---|---|---|
| country_id | string | ISO alpha-2 country code (always 'US' for domestic tables). |
| county_idkey | string | 5-character FIPS code identifying the county.Joins dim.counties on county_id. |
| county_name | string | Human-readable county name corresponding to county_id. |
| note_ref | string | Reference code or identifier linking to a source footnote or annotation that qualifies, explains, or flags a data quality issue for the associated value. |
| per_capita_personal_income | float64 · dollars (nominal) | Total personal income of county residents divided by total midyear population for the given year, as reported by the BEA. Higher values indicate greater average individual income in that county. |
| state_id | string | 2-character FIPS code identifying the state.Joins dim.states on state_id. |
| unit_label | string | Human-readable label describing the unit of measurement for the associated data value (e.g., 'Dollars', 'Thousands of dollars'). Used for display and interpretation. |
| unit_multiplier | string | Scaling factor to apply to the reported value to derive the true magnitude (e.g., '1', '1000'). Multiply the data value by this factor to obtain the actual quantity in the units described by unit_label. |
| yearkey | int64 | Reference year of the observation. |
relationships
joins
primary key
county_id, year
common joins
dim.geographies on geo_id
demographics_population_county_year for cross-checking population denominator
economy_household_income_distribution_county_year on (county_id, year)
usage
how to use this table
method
BEA combines wages and salaries (QCEW), proprietors' income, dividends/interest/rent, and personal current transfer receipts (SSA, VA, Medicare, etc.). Per-capita = total / PEP population.
do not use for
Sub-county geography; high-frequency tracking (annual only); GDP comparison (personal income measures residents' incomes; GDP measures production).
known issues
Periodic revisions to historical series; check unit_label and unit_multiplier (some vintages report in thousands).
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last updated · May 5, 2026