Personal income has continued to steadily tick upward in recent years, according to the most recent data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

But inflation is outpacing median income in California, Arizona, Colorado and Nevada.

In July, the BEA released statistics looking specifically at how disposable personal income is distributed across households in each state and the District of Columbia.

“Disposable personal income is the personal income that’s left after paying taxes,” Connie O’Connell, chief of public affairs and outreach at the BEA, said. “So it is income available for spending or saving.”

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As concerns about inflation grow, the data shows that average income is consistently outpacing the rate of inflation.

Yet, throughout President Joe Biden’s administration, those increases were only coming for the top income earners in America.

According to data looking at real median wages, from 2021-2023, personal income was consistently decreasing.

Real wages means the actual purchasing power of wages, taking into account inflation. Median wage looks at the middle income, meaning the top earners do not affect it. This makes real median income often more representative of the average American’s economic situation.

Data shows California, Colorado, Arizona and Nevada saw declines of median personal income.

The report found California ranked second nationally in average personal income in 2023, coming in at $225,539 and beat out by Massachusetts at $231,183. This is up from third nationally in 2022, but down from its first place ranking in 2020 and 2021.

Yet, in the Golden State, median personal income has decreased every year since 2021. In 2021, it peaked at $114,211. Two years later, it is $100,355, coming in 15th nationally.

The other states saw similar trends in median personal income.

• Colorado also peaked in 2021 at $107,814. In 2023, that number was $99,915, or 16th nationally.
• Arizona saw the slightest decrease between those years, dropping from $90,546 to $89,213. This made it 40th nationally.
• Nevada had a more sharp drop, peaking in 2021 at $98,032. In 2023, it came in at $90,962, or 36th nationally.

All these states have seen significant improvement in their rankings since 2012, when California’s median personal income ranked 22nd; Colorado, 28th; Arizona, 49th, and Nevada, 48th.

The rankings for disposable personal income nearly all very closely mirror the rankings for median personal income.

The exception to that is Colorado, where the median personal income in 2023 was 16th nationally, but its ranking for median disposable personal income was 21st at $92,090.

This means that the amount of taxes that are being withheld is having a significant impact on the disposable income Coloradans are bringing home to spend.

All of the numbers in this article are in 2017 dollars.