LOCAL ECONOMIC SNAPSHOT | WAGES Personal income growth Personal income grew in 2010, after a general contraction in 2009. Personal income is a measure of all income, including net earnings (wages), earnings from property (rent, dividends and interest income) and transfer payments (unemployment insurance payments, Medicaid and Social Security payments) minus social insurance payments. Per capita personal income is derived from taking all net earnings and dividing that number by all residents of a county. So these are the average personal incomes for every man, woman and retiree in a county. By BILL BOWEN Staff Writer [email protected] The richest counties tend to be resort communities or centers of finance and industry, including government. Of the country's 10 poorest counties, eight are in the South and two are in Texas. Georgia has three and Florida has two. Of the country’s 3,113 counties, residents in the 281 largest, or only 9 percent of the total number, account for 68 percent of the nation’s personal income. Smaller counties by population and rural characterisics get less income from net earnings and more from Social Security, Medicare and unemployment insurance. The nation’s wealth Local per capita income United States Southwest U.S. Texas Collin County Dallas County Denton County Tarrant County Harris County Tr avis County Bexar County 2.81% 4.90% 3.42% 1.09% 2.59% 2.69% 3.06% 3.05% 2.42% 3.07% Area Percent growth Per capita income $39,937 $36,719 $37,747 $48,229 $43,178 $40,474 $38,581 $44,757 $41,462 $34,946 LARGE COUNTIES MEDIUM COUNTIES SMALL COUNTIES Transfer payments: 17% Net earnings: 66% Holdings: 17% Transfer payments: 21% Net earnings: 63% Holdings: 16% Transfer payments: 26% Net earnings: 58% Holdings: 16% NOTES: Net earnings: Mostly wages and salaries minus payments to government social insurance. Holdings: Income from property , including stock dividends, personal interest and rent. Transfer payments: Government social program income, including Social Security, Medicare, unemployment insurance. Richest counties Poorest counties New York $111,386 Alexandria $76,362 Teton $94,672 Marin $82,963 Sully $80,165 Nantucket $73,654 Arlington $79,967 Pitkin $76,318 Westchester $73,159 Fairfield $71,768 Crowley $16,299 Telfair $16,614 Wheeler $17,253 Zavala Charlton $18,392 Union Madison $18,651 Elliott $18,753 WYO. IDAHO S.D. GA. KY. VA. N.Y. CONN. MASS. CALIF. TEXAS COLO.