Report: Per capita personal income up 2.9% in Rome
Rome ranks 10th among Georgia’s 14 Metropolitan Statistical Areas for per capita personal income for 2017. The report from the Bureau of Economic Analysis within the U.S. Department of Commerce claims that per capita income in Rome and Floyd County was $37,304 at the end of 2017.
Per capita income is based on measures the amount of money earned per person in a certain area. It can be calculated for a political jurisdiction by dividing the income by its population. Obviously, not all within that population are actually earning reportable income.
All 14 of Georgia’s MSA’s were below the national figure of $51,640.
Rome Mayor Bill Collins said he hoped the changes made to Rome’s industrial recruiting effort, switching from a chamber-led effort to a solely dedicated development specialist working under the Rome
Floyd County Development Authority might help close the gap in the future.
The Rome numbers were up 2.9% from 2016. The rate of growth in Rome also ranked 10th among the 14 MSAs. Columbus grew the most, up 4.3%, while Hinesville grew the least, at 2.4%.
Ken Wright, director of business and industry services at the Rome Floyd Chamber, said he was pleased to see the growth locally.
“Obviously we try to recruit companies that bring in jobs that pay higher wages,” Wright said.
The report also examined some cost-of-living factors and shows that in general, the cost of living in Rome was 19.1% below the national average in 2017. Rental living costs were 39.8% below the national average, the most positive factor for Rome in the report.
Rome’s sister city on the Coosa River, Gadsden, Alabama had a cost of living that was 17.7% below the national average, but rental housing costs were even lower in Gadsden, at 50.4% below the national average.
“Per capita income is higher in Seattle and parts of California, Massachusetts and Connecticut, but the cost of living in those places is triple,” Wright said. “Our quality of life and relative cost of living compares well with the rest of the nation.”
As one might imagine, Atlanta reported the highest per capita personal income in Georgia, at $49,657. The rest of the MSA’s in Georgia include: Albany — $36,805 Athens — $38,428 Augusta — $40,302 Brunswick — $38,477 Columbus — $40,247 Dalton — $35,118 Gainesville — $41,219 Hinesville — $32,425 Macon — $39,460 Savannah — $44,204 Valdosta — $34,739 Warner-Robins — $39,954 Wright said that slow, steady growth in per capita income without increasing the cost of living, “just increases discretionary income for our residents.”