The average purchasing power in the United States of €35,179 per person is relatively high compared to other countries. This is due to the fact that the population must make private contributions to many social services using purchasing power funds, including health insurance and unemployment insurance. According to GfK’s recently released study, there are also substantial regional differences in the distribution of purchasing power in the United States.

The average purchasing power of the approximately 319 mil. inhabitants of the United States is €35,179 per person. Connecticut has more per-capita purchasing power than any other state: Residents have an average of €45,548 per capita, which is almost 1.3 times the national average.

Twenty-nine states lie below the national average, while twenty-one are above it. With €35,129 available per person, Texas falls almost exactly at the national average. With €27,491 per person, Mississippi is the state with the least purchasing power. This amounts to around 22 percent below the national average.

GfK provides the current purchasing power in per-capita values, as a total and as an index (comparison to the US average) for the country’s 3,142 counties, 99 two-digit ZIP Codes and the very detailed 40,968 five-digit ZIP Codes.

The more detailed the regional level, the greater the purchasing power differences. At the level of the states, purchasing power values range from 30 percent above the average to 22 percent below the average; but at the level of the five-digit ZIP Codes, purchasing power ranges from 6.7 times the average in the wealthiest ZIP Code to just a quarter of the average in the poorest ZIP Code.

Applications
Purchasing power data gives companies a valuable basis for carrying out regional analyses to support strategic decisions such as marketing campaigns and expansion endeavors.

Calculated by the global market research institute GfK, purchasing power provides an up-to-date, accurate and internationally applicable benchmark for evaluating consumer potential at very detailed regional levels. GfK validates and links various data sources with its own geostatistical model to deliver prognoses of consumer potential at the granular level. The data is also available in digital map form and can be used in GIS applications, including RegioGraph, GfK’s geomarketing solution.

GfK has been calculating purchasing power for more than 80 years, initially only for Germany, but now for more than 60 of the world’s top markets.

Additional information on GfK Purchasing Power can be found at
www.gfk-geomarketing.com/market_data.
Print-quality illustrations can be found here.

About GfK
GfK is the trusted source of relevant market and consumer information that enables its clients to make smarter decisions. More than 13,000 market research experts combine their passion with GfK’s long-standing data science experience. This allows GfK to deliver vital global insights matched with local market intelligence from more than 100 countries. By using innovative technologies and data sciences, GfK turns big data into smart data, enabling its clients to improve their competitive edge and enrich consumers’ experiences and choices.

Additional information can be found at www.gfk.com.
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GfK GeoMarketing GmbH
Public Relations
Cornelia Lichtner
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Gebäude 6508
76646 Bruchsal; Germany
T+49 7251 9295 270
cornelia.lichtner(at)gfk.com

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