Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, May 5, 1995                   TAG: 9505050063
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-11   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

ROANOKE-AREA INCOME GROWTH CONTINUES TO OUTPACE NATION'S

From 1990 through 1993, per-capita personal income grew 3.5 percent in the region, compared with 2.4 percent for the nation as a whole, the Department of Commerce said. Those figures were adjusted to account for inflation.

Although data for 1994 won't be released until next year, one bank economist said he believes the trend continued last year.

Personal income is the sum of pre-tax wages or salary plus investment income and government benefits. Per-capita income is the total for a metropolitan area divided by the region's population.

The Roanoke area's average income growth has exceeded the national figure since at least 1982, although the gap has narrowed in recent years, the Commerce report said.

"The standard of living has increased more in Roanoke than it has in the country as a whole," said First Union National Bank economist Mark Vitner.

Still, few would consider the income growth robust. Richard Sorensen, dean of the Pamplin College of Business at Virginia Tech, called the nation's income growth rate "anemic" and said the Roanoke region's is not much better.

Economists consider a healthy economy one in which income rises 1.5 percent to 2 percent a year, Sorensen said.

But Vitner said Roanoke appears to be an exception to the often-repeated claim that living standards have stagnated across the board.

He added: "Most metro areas do not have per-capita income above the nation."

Roanoke has steadily gained ground over other cities. Its per-capita income ranked 128th nationally in 1983 and 66th in 1993.