US per Capita Disposable Income (2010–2022)
Recent data indicates that the average consumer in the United States earns $65,470 annually, with individuals in Massachusetts and Connecticut, the states with the highest annual income, earning over $80,000 a year.
What about the country’s per capita disposable income? In other words, how much disposable income does the average American have? We delve into the average disposable income per capita in the US over the past decade.
US disposable income per capita (2010–2022)
The latest disposable income data from the US Bureau of Economic Analysis shows that the amount of money an individual receives after income taxes has generally been rising over the past decade.
In 2010, the average disposable income per capita stood at $36,562. In other words, individuals in the US had a net income of around $3,047 per month. Over the following two years, this figure experienced an average annual increase of 3.9%, reaching $39,442 in 2012. However, a marginal decline of 0.8% in 2013 resulted in the average per capita disposable income edging down slightly to $39,109, equivalent to $3,259 per month.
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Over the span of eight consecutive years, the average disposable income in the United States experienced robust growth, achieving an average annual growth rate of 4.6%. By 2021, this figure surpassed $55,000, translating to a monthly disposable income of $4,681. In 2022, there was a slight contraction, as per capita disposable income fell by 0.2% to $56,062—the first annual decline observed in nine years.
From 2010 to 2022, the annual disposable income rose by an overall $19,500, or 53.3%, and at an average annual growth rate of 3.7%. The largest yearly increase came in 2021, when per capita disposable income rose by 7.3%, to $56,175 from $52,353.
Disposable income per capita: top three states
The state with the highest per capita disposable income is Massachusetts. This should come as no surprise, considering it’s also the state with the highest average income. In 2022, individuals in the Bay State registered an annual disposable income of $68,874, which is $12,812 (or 22.9%) higher than the nationwide average.
Following Massachusetts, Connecticut and Washington secure the second and third positions, with average disposable incomes of $67,460 and $65,087, respectively.