N.H. per capita income rose 4.3% in 2011

It may not feel like it, but New Hampshire's personal income per capita rose some 4.3 percent in 2011, to $45,881, ahead of the rate of inflation.

But the state actually lagged a bit compared to the nation as a whole, which boasted an increase in per capita income of 5.2 percent from 2010 to 2011.Per capita income is all income, divided by total population. It is not adjusted for inflation, but the consumer price index only went up 2.4 percent, half the national personal income growth.

The county with the highest per capita income was Rockingham, with $52,861, but the biggest increase was seen in Carroll, where per capita income climbed 4.9 percent, to $42,612, followed by Rockingham's 4.7 percent increase.

Hillsborough, the state's largest county, had the second-highest per capita income, $47,981, a 4.4 percent increase. Coos had both the lowest income: $35,019, and the lowest annual growth rate, 3.4 percent.

Over 2010-2011, the state's per capita income as a whole grew by 8.8 percent. Rockingham's growth rate was the highest — 10.2 percent — followed by Grafton's 8.8 percent. The per capita income there was $45,522 in 2011. The lowest growth rate over that period was in Strafford County, at 5.91 percent, with an income of $37,442, the second-lowest statewide.