California, New York, Illinois incomes decline in first time since 2009

[October 05, 2023]  By Kenneth Schrupp | The Center Square

(The Center Square) – America’s three largest Democratic states, along with Rhode Island, Mississippi, Louisiana and the District of Columbia experienced income declines in the last year while the nation as a whole saw incomes rise by 2%. New York incomes suffered the worst, declining 1.6%, while California incomes declined the least, at just 0.2%.  

These figures come from the Bureau of Economic Analysis’s revised numbers for 2022, which also reduced national growth from 2.1% to 1.9%, a cut in reported growth of roughly 10%.

The last time incomes declined for this group of states was 2009, during the Great Recession. The only exception among these was the District of Columbia, which exited the recession one year earlier.

Until the governor significantly cut and delayed other spending, California was projected to have a nearly $32 billion deficit for the coming fiscal year, a move that will be more difficult to repeat again next year. New York faces similar budget pressure, with FY 2025 and FY 2026 facing budget gaps of $9.1 billion and $13.9 billion, respectively. Illinois also faces budget deficits of $3 billion per year starting in FY 2025.

The top three states for personal income growth were Delaware — the president’s home state — North Dakota and Idaho, coming in at 8.8%, 7% and 6.5% respectively.