Money doesn't actually talk. We do.

Income Stats to Chew On

For those who just couldn’t get enough of taxes and are anxiously killing time before receiving stimulus payments, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis satiates the need more government info about money (or lack thereof). Today the BEA released Personal Income Statistics for 2006. Data nerds rejoice!

Some of this stuff can be a total yawnfest, but here are some of the most interesting bits. Or, dive into the full findings here.

-That thumbnail image might look like Microsoft Excel barfed on America, but it actually indicates the percent change in personal income from 2005-2006. Income is generally lower in the middle of the country (get it? they used a corn color!) and higher on the coasts, which are aptly blue-hued. See a closer image in the PDF file.

- Personal income declined in 2006 in 227 counties, according to the BEA. In all but 5 of these counties farming can account for the entire decline. The largest percentage losses in personal income were in counties in the Dakotas and Texas.

-The earnings gap is still massive. Per capita personal income (personal income divided by population) ranged from $110,292 in New York County, New York to $9,140 in Loup County, Nebraska.

- One of the handiest features about this set of BEA stats is how localized the results are. Search by county here. Data is available for 3,111 counties from 1969 to 2006.

-The percent change from 2005 to 2006 in county personal income ranged from 648 percent in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana to –43 percent in Slope County, North Dakota, according to the BEA. For the nation, personal income grew 6.7 percent.

So although the data was just released today, it reflects 2006 . Things have lately taken a turn for the recession, but the data does provide some insight into the broader contours of wealth distribution in America. Not to mention a glance into a simpler time - when Gnarles Barkley united people with his “Crazy” jams, Britney and K-fed were still together and people thought Pluto was a planet.

-Mary Pilon