The Bureau of Economic Analysis has released data on personal income growth in 2009. Nationally, after growth of 4.0% in 2008, personal income shrank 1.7% in 2009. Big counties—those with more than a quarter-million people—seemed to take the recession hardest: personal income shrank in 254 of the 255 big counties.
Take a look at South Dakota, and you'll see that in most counties, personal income grew more slowly in 2009 than it did in the rest of the country. The map gets its colors backward: "gold" counties actually experienced the smallest increases (or more accurately, the largest decreases).
If you dig into the data (BEA provides breakdowns by county here), you find that while a majority of South Dakota counties saw personal income declines greater than the national average, the statewide decline of 2.6% matched the national average for 2009. See that cluster of blue counties in southeast South Dakota? That's Lake County and our neighbors picking up the slack. Lake County's per capita personal income (PCPI) increased 2.7% in 2009 (an economic feat for which I, alas, can claim no credit). Lake County's PCPI in 2009 was $37,500, just 2% below the state average of $38,374 and 5% below the national average of $39,635.
Lake County had the twelfth highest PCPI growth in South Dakota in 2009. The county with the fastest-growing income? Miner! 10.8%! Of course, that 2009 growth probably had something to do with the Knight & Carver wind turbine blade plant, which advantage the county lost last year. Here's the full table of PCPI growth for all counties in South Dakota in 2009, sorted by percentage growth from best to worst:
| Area Name | 2008 | 2009 | growth | rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Dakota state total | 39415 | 38374 | -2.6% | |
| South Dakota (Metropolitan) | 40205 | 39442 | -1.9% | |
| South Dakota (Non-Metro) | 38740 | 37446 | -3.3% | |
| Miner | 40488 | 44867 | 10.8% | 1 |
| Sanborn | 42036 | 46525 | 10.7% | 2 |
| Hanson | 43714 | 47123 | 7.8% | 3 |
| Turner | 43059 | 45738 | 6.2% | 4 |
| Douglas | 41985 | 44465 | 5.9% | 5 |
| McCook | 39104 | 41152 | 5.2% | 6 |
| Clay | 38803 | 40522 | 4.4% | 7 |
| Hutchinson | 42145 | 43843 | 4.0% | 8 |
| Grant | 38890 | 40278 | 3.6% | 9 |
| Lincoln | 48528 | 50022 | 3.1% | 10 |
| Dewey | 27135 | 27924 | 2.9% | 11 |
| Lake | 36520 | 37500 | 2.7% | 12 |
| Shannon | 17826 | 18260 | 2.4% | 13 |
| Todd | 19313 | 19582 | 1.4% | 14 |
| Day | 36075 | 36463 | 1.1% | 15 |
| Roberts | 32430 | 32776 | 1.1% | 16 |
| Charles Mix | 36079 | 36298 | 0.6% | 17 |
| Custer | 33983 | 34078 | 0.3% | 18 |
| Yankton | 35956 | 36028 | 0.2% | 19 |
| Buffalo | 17783 | 17732 | -0.3% | 20 |
| Kingsbury | 44949 | 44508 | -1.0% | 21 |
| Davison | 42389 | 41924 | -1.1% | 22 |
| Bon Homme | 33456 | 33055 | -1.2% | 23 |
| Butte | 30434 | 30063 | -1.2% | 24 |
| Hamlin | 35644 | 35116 | -1.5% | 25 |
| Pennington | 38080 | 37481 | -1.6% | 26 |
| Fall River | 32819 | 32244 | -1.8% | 27 |
| Lawrence | 35138 | 34518 | -1.8% | 28 |
| Brookings | 36742 | 36060 | -1.9% | 29 |
| Moody | 42401 | 41491 | -2.1% | 30 |
| McPherson | 36593 | 35744 | -2.3% | 31 |
| Codington | 38368 | 37297 | -2.8% | 32 |
| Walworth | 35646 | 34609 | -2.9% | 33 |
| Hughes | 42851 | 41603 | -2.9% | 34 |
| Deuel | 40933 | 39696 | -3.0% | 35 |
| Minnehaha | 38523 | 37129 | -3.6% | 36 |
| Meade | 38083 | 36693 | -3.6% | 37 |
| Corson | 28606 | 27484 | -3.9% | 38 |
| Gregory | 42840 | 41140 | -4.0% | 39 |
| Brule | 41312 | 39540 | -4.3% | 40 |
| Aurora | 43528 | 41603 | -4.4% | 41 |
| Brown | 47302 | 45078 | -4.7% | 42 |
| Union | 55394 | 52435 | -5.3% | 43 |
| Perkins | 33887 | 31932 | -5.8% | 44 |
| Clark | 42576 | 40071 | -5.9% | 45 |
| Beadle | 46604 | 43802 | -6.0% | 46 |
| Mellette | 28240 | 25987 | -8.0% | 47 |
| Spink | 59495 | 54366 | -8.6% | 48 |
| Tripp | 39058 | 35583 | -8.9% | 49 |
| Edmunds | 55092 | 49874 | -9.5% | 50 |
| Jackson | 30847 | 27918 | -9.5% | 51 |
| Jerauld | 55808 | 50080 | -10.3% | 52 |
| Bennett | 30962 | 27082 | -12.5% | 53 |
| Marshall | 38776 | 33823 | -12.8% | 54 |
| Hand | 53188 | 46102 | -13.3% | 55 |
| Potter | 67970 | 58882 | -13.4% | 56 |
| Ziebach | 23887 | 20549 | -14.0% | 57 |
| Stanley | 47788 | 40991 | -14.2% | 58 |
| Faulk | 56188 | 47944 | -14.7% | 59 |
| Harding | 42167 | 35427 | -16.0% | 60 |
| Haakon | 56920 | 47175 | -17.1% | 61 |
| Lyman | 40501 | 32615 | -19.5% | 62 |
| Campbell | 51001 | 39795 | -22.0% | 63 |
| Jones | 50744 | 37209 | -26.7% | 64 |
| Hyde | 43551 | 29698 | -31.8% | 65 |
| Sully | 107664 | 58412 | -45.7% | 66 |
Boy, I don't know what five rich cattle barons moved away from Sully County, but they sure took a hit in 2009. Even so, Sully still had the second-highest per capita personal income in the state, behind only their northerly neighbors in Potter County.
One fascinating number from the BEA: in 2009, total personal income in Lake County was $449,771,000. That's how much money we make (or made two years ago) and have available to support county government, four school districts, one major municipal government, and various townships, road districts, and sewer districts. Think about that number when the Madison Central school board comes asking for its next bond issue... or when the county comes asking for funds to fix our dissolving county roads.
Do higher grain prices account for the income growth in small, rural counties such as Sanborn? I can't think of any economic growth there causing a sudden increase in personal income.
Bingo! The BEA summary says farm prices are responsible for much of the swing in small counties like ours.
C.H . right as usual do you think Beresford wants the meat plant or did they figure this out before.
Considering that the years in question are 2008 and 2009 grain prices are responsible for the income loses in the small counties at the bottom of the list. Early 2008 saw record prices and then when the recession hit prices dropped drastically. Grain price wise 2009 was no where near as good a year as 2008.
There was an interesting editorial in the argus, wish I could remember what day, about Union co. folks not wanting the beef plant. in fact, they are having a tough time finding anyone willing to even sell land to them.
Apparently they don't want the jobs.