Personal income in New York State increased faster than the national average last year -- and Wall Street accounted for a disproportionate share of the growth, according to the latest federal data.

Finance-sector earnings, which represent 14 percent of all personal income in New York, accounted for fully 27 percent of income growth in the Empire State last year, the data show. The trend was quite different in the U.S. as a whole, where the finance sector accounted for 5 percent of total personal income growth -- slightly less than the sector's 6 percent share of total income.

Even in a relatively strong year for the state and national economies, income growth couldn't keep pace with the growth of the state budget, which increased 11 percent in fiscal 2006-07.  Governor Spitzer and legislative leaders have tentatively agreed to a 2007-08 budget deal that would push up state-funded spending by another 9 percent -- which is far beyond any forecast of personal-income growth for the year ahead.

Total personal income in New York increased 6 percent in 2006, which was roughly on par with the national growth rate of 6.3 percent.  But adjusted for population, the Empire State income grew faster than the nation as a whole.

Per-capita income in New York was $42,392, fifth highest of any state overall.  This represented an increase of 6.1 percent from the previous year's state per-capita income of $39,697.  For the nation as a whole, per-capita income in 2006 was $36,276, up 5.2 percent from 2005.  

The Empire State's per-capita income growth rate from 2005 to 2006 ranked sixth among the 50 states -- and was the fastest of any state in the relatively wealthy northeast region.

For a breakdown of per-capita income totals for all states from 2005 to 2006, see the table in our Databank section.