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EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: 8:30 A.M. EDT, Thursday, October 3, 2019

BEA 19—50

Personal Consumption Expenditures by State, 2018

State personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased 5.1 percent in 2018, an acceleration from the 4.4 percent increase in 2017 (table 1), according to statistics released today by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The percent change in PCE across all states ranged from 7.3 percent in Utah to 3.6 percent in West Virginia.

map: PCE by State: Percent Change, 2017-2018

PCE by state highlights

Expenditures on health care, and on housing and utilities increased 4.9 and 4.6 percent, respectively (table 2), and were the leading contributors to growth nationally (table 3).

Expenditures on housing and utilities, other nondurable goods, and health care increased 5.2, 10.6, and 5.0 percent, respectively in Utah, the fastest growing state, and were the leading contributors to growth.
Expenditures on health care, and housing and utilities were the leading contributors to the increase in PCE in Idaho, Washington, California, and Arizona.
In West Virginia and Iowa, PCE expenditure growth was below the U.S. in every expenditure category.

Across all states and the District of Columbia, per capita PCE was $42,757 (table 4). Per capita PCE by state ranged from a high of $55,095 in Massachusetts to a low of $31,083 in Mississippi. Per capita PCE in the District of Columbia was $63,151.

Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Jersey had above average per capita spending on housing and utilities, and health care.
Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, and Oklahoma were among the states with the lowest per capita spending on housing and utilities, and health care.

Updates to Personal Consumption Expenditures by State

Today, BEA also released revised estimates for 2014 to 2017 (table 5). The update incorporates revised source data that are more complete than previously available. The update also includes the results of the July 2019 annual update of the National Income and Product Accounts and the results of the September 2019 annual update of the state personal income statistics.

Next release: October 8, 2020
Personal Consumption Expenditures by State, 2019

Full Release & Tables (PDF)

Tables Only (Excel)

Highlights (PDF)

Technical

Steve Zemanek

(301) 278-9578

PCEbyState@bea.gov

News Media

Jeannine Aversa

(301) 278-9003

Jeannine.Aversa@bea.gov

Resources

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Historical time series for these estimates can be accessed in BEA's Interactive Data Application.
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For more on BEA's statistics, see our monthly online journal, the Survey of Current Business.
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Definitions

PCE by state is the state counterpart of the Nation's personal consumption expenditures (PCE). PCE by state measures the goods and services purchased by or on behalf of households and the net expenditures of nonprofit institutions serving households (NPISHs) by state of residence for the 50 states and the District of Columbia. PCE by state reflects spending on activities that are attributable to the residents of a state, even when those activities take place outside of the state.

Per capita PCE by state measures average PCE spending per person in a state and it is calculated as PCE in a state divided by the population of the state.

Current-dollar PCE by state statistics are unadjusted for price changes and reflect variation in both prices and quantities.

Statistical Conventions

Year-to-year percent changes are calculated from unrounded data.

BEA Regions

BEA groups all 50 states and the District of Columbia into eight distinct regions for purposes of presentation and analysis.
New England (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont)
Mideast (Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania)
Great Lakes (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin)
Plains (Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota)
Southeast (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia) Southwest (Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas)
Rocky Mountain (Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming)
Far West (Alaska, California, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington)

Relationship of PCE by state to national PCE. The U.S. PCE by state differs slightly from the PCE in the national accounts because PCE by state excludes the net expenditures abroad by U.S. residents, which consist of government and private employees' expenditures abroad less personal remittances in kind to nonresidents. PCE by state, however, does include the travel expenditures abroad by U.S. residents.

List of News Release Tables

Table 1. Total Personal Consumption Expenditures by State and Region, 2016-2018

Table 2. Percent Change from Preceding Period of Personal Consumption Expenditures by State, 2017-2018

Table 3. Category Contributions to Percent Change in Total Personal Consumption Expenditures by State and Region, 2018

Table 4. Per Capita Personal Consumption Expenditures by State and Region for Select Categories, 2018

Table 5. Revisions to Total Personal Consumption Expenditures by State and Region, 2014-2017