Tuesday graphic: slide of Washington GDP vs. the West vs. the U.S.
This graphic works well with the item below, which looks at the 2008-2009 slight increase in Spokane County's total personal income.
This chart shows the historic rate of Washington's gross domestic product per capita, through 2009, measured against the GDP of the United States and the Far Western states as a whole.
In 2009, per capita real GDP for Washington was $45,881, which was 10.2 percent more than the U.S. per capita real GDP. Washington per capita real GDP declined 3.1 percent from the previous year.
As the chart illustrates, the West did better than Washington, and both surpassed the rest of the country significantly. Notable: in 2002 the Western states (solid gold line above) overtook Washington's GDP and has not relinquished the lead since. The Far West states are the top line in this graphic; U.S. data is the broken yellow line on the bottom.
