Per Capita Income (PCI) is one of the most widely used indicators for gauging the economic performance and changing fortunes of local economies. It is used as a yardstick to assess the economic well being of a region's residents and the quality of consumer markets. It serves as a barometer for calibrating the economic performance of a region over time and to judge differences in relative economic prosperity between regions. Shifting trends in local per capita income growth have important social and political ramifications and significant implications in formulating local economic development strategies and initiatives.

Personal income is measured as a flow throughout the year, while the measurement of population is at one point in mid-year. Therefore, per capita income is distorted if a significant change in population occurs during the year.

For smaller counties in particular, per capita income in any given year may be exceptionally high or low for the short run because of unusual local conditions, such as a bumper crop, a catastrophe, or a major construction project as the building of a dam or nuclear power plant.

Farm incomes are notorious for being especially volatile year-to-year, owing to changing weather, commodity market conditions, and alterations in government programs. Therefore, the per capita income of farm-dependent counties may exhibit sharp fluctuations over time.

The presence of large institutional populations--such as residents attending a local college or the residents of a local prison or state mental institution--can significantly lower the per capita income estimates of an area. Such results may not reflect the relative economic well being of the non-institutional population and may mislead if care is not given to their interpretation.

Figure 1 depicts the Skagway Borough's annual per capita personal income over 2009-2022 in current and constant (2017) dollars. Constant dollar measurements remove the effects of inflation. They allow for comparison of changes in the real purchasing power of the Skagway Borough over time.

When measured in current dollars, the Skagway Borough's per capita personal income increased 7.88%, from $70,027 in 2009 to $75,545 in 2022. When measured in constant 2017 dollars to adjust for inflation, it declined -17.33%, from $78,752 in 2009 to $65,101 in 2022.

Figure 2 shows the Skagway Borough's real per capita personal income growth in a broader context by offering direct comparisons across time with Alaska, the United States. The growth indices shown here express each region's real per capita personal income in 2008 as a base figure of 100, and the real per capita personal incomes in later years as a percentage of the 2008 base figure. This method allows for more direct comparison of differences in real per capita personal income growth between regions that may differ vastly in size.

The Skagway Borough's overall real per capita personal income growth was -22.43% over 2008-2022 trailed Alaska's increase of 10.34%, and fell below the United States' increase of 23.14%.

Figure 3 displays the trends for per capita personal income relative to the national average by tracing the Skagway Borough and Alaska per capita personal income as a percent of the national average over 2008-2022.

In 2008, the Skagway Borough's per capita personal income amounted to 183.18% of the national average; in 2022, it approximated 115.39%. Similarly, in 2008, Alaska's per capita personal income totaled 117.00% of the national average; in 2022, it consisted of 104.84%.

Figure 4 highlights the short-run pattern of the Skagway Borough's real per capita personal income growth by tracking the year-to-year percent change over 2009-2022. The average annual percent change for the entire 14-year period is also traced on this chart to provide a benchmark for gauging periods of relative high--and relative low--growth against the backdrop of the long-term average.

On average, the Skagway Borough's real per capita personal income contracted at an annual rate of -1.34% over 2009-2022. The burough recorded its highest growth in 2021 (11.75%) and posted its lowest growth in 2020 (-25.46%). In 2022, the Skagway Borough's real per capita personal income grew by 5.16%

Over the past five decades some buroughs have experienced extreme swings in growth, and often such swings have tended to coincide with the decades themselves. Figure 5 again shows the annual percent change in the Skagway Borough's real per capita personal income since 2009, but this time they are overlayed with average growth rates for the decade of the 2010s, and 2020-2022.

During the 2010s, the Skagway Borough's annual real per capita personal income growth rate averaged -0.41%. It averaged -2.85% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 6 compares the decade average growth rates for the Skagway Borough noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for Alaska and the nation. As the chart reveals, the Skagway Borough's average annual real per capita personal income growth trailed Alaska's average in the 2010s (-0.41% vs. 1.01%), and amounted to less than Alaska's average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (-2.85% vs. 0.37%).

Finally, relative to nationwide real per capita personal income growth trends, the Skagway Borough trailed the nation throughout the 2010s (-0.41% vs. 1.97%), and fell under the nation over 2020-2022 (-2.85% vs. 1.78%).