Glossary

Per Capita Income | Demographic Glossary

Written by Adelle Wood | Jun 23, 2025 1:17:34 AM

Definition

The average amount of money income earned per person in a specific geographic area, calculated by dividing the total aggregate income by the total population.

Why It Matters

Provides a simple average of income per individual, often used as a general indicator of economic prosperity and living standards within a region. It normalizes income across varying household sizes.

Specific Relevance for Professionals:

Marketers
Useful for broad-stroke comparisons of economic health across regions, especially when considering markets for individual consumption. It can serve as a quick gauge of overall spending capacity in an area.

Researchers
A standard economic indicator used for comparative studies of economic development, living standards, and the impact of economic policies at a per-person level.

Consultants
Employed for high-level economic assessments or for understanding the general economic output of a region for clients. It can inform decisions related to regional investment or labor market analysis.

Public Policy Workers
A key metric for assessing economic health, allocating federal or state aid programs (which often use per capita income as a criterion), and informing general economic development strategies at a per-person level.

Explore this dataset in Cambium AI