The PCPI is adjusted by differences in the cost of living, called "regional price parities" by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
PCPI "includes wages, benefits, proprietor income, dividends, interest, rent, and transfer payments" such as Social Security, veteran's benefits, farm subsidies, welfare, and food stamps.
In 2019, the U.S. Census Bureau calculated a per capita income of the United States as 34,103 dollars.
To put it another way, the purchasing power of a dollar compared to the U.S. average is $1.13 in Birmingham and $0.79 in San Jose.
There are three commonly used definitions: The population and per capita personal income estimates of metropolitan statistical areas are used in the following table.