Good question flu, and that may be part of the disconnect here. I am using BEA per capita personal income, which includes all sources of income, including investment income. (As it should… after all the point is to measure people’s ability to purchase).
If you want to get into the weeds, here’s the official definition:
Personal income is the income received by all persons from all sources. Personal income is the sum of net earnings by place of residence, property income, and personal current transfer receipts. Property income is rental income of persons, personal dividend income, and personal interest income. Net earnings is earnings by place of work (the sum of wages and salaries, supplements to wages and salaries, and proprietors’ income) less contributions for government social insurance, plus an adjustment to convert earnings by place of work to a place-of-residence basis.
