PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island residents’ personal income grew 4.8 percent in 2007, well below the 6.2-percent growth rate for the entire nation, according to preliminary estimates released today by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

BEA statistics show that the total personal income of all Ocean State residents increased to $41.75 billion last year from $39.84 billion in 2006.

The state ranked 47th in terms of the percentage of growth in that category. By comparison, Louisiana ranked first, with a 10.7-percent increase in personal income year over year, boosted in part by subsidies from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to people whose homes were destroyed or damaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

In New England, only New Hampshire had lower personal income growth between 2006 and 2007 – 4.7 percent, according to the BEA. Connecticut fared best in the category with a 6.8-percent increase. Massachusetts posted a 6.3-percent growth rate.

Rhode Island fared better in the per-capita personal income calculations, matching the national average growth rate of 5.2 percent year over year. The state’s per-capita income – Rhode Island’s total personal income divided by the state population – increased to $39,463 last year from $37,523 in 2006, the BEA said.

Rhode Island is still ahead of the national per-capita personal income of $38,611 at the end of 2007. But its neighbors again did better. Connecticut per-capita income increased 6.6 percent to $53,117, while Massachusetts’ per-capita income rose 6 percent to to $49,082.

Between 2005 and 2006, Rhode Island lagged the national average in the two personal-income categories, BEA statistics show. Rhode Island’s per-capita personal income increased 4.3 percent compared with the 5.6 percent national average; the Ocean State’s total personal income grew 3.8 percent in that timeframe, compared with the 6.7 percent growth rate nationally.

More information on the 4Q 2007 personal income report is available from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis at www.bea.gov.