A series of ASCII text files located in a multitude of directories. Text files describe sources and methodology of study, definitions of terms used, a users' guide, glossary, variable labels and layout, and supporting documentation on BEA's activities.

Data are available as a set of archive files in comma delimited ASCII format which were compressed using PKZIP by PKWARE, Inc. These files were than converted to auto-executing. The data are also accessible via a database software program (display, print, and copy functions) included on the CD-ROM release.

In the national and regional economic accounts, persons are defined as individuals, nonprofit institutions serving individuals, private noninsured welfare funds, and private trust funds. The last three are referred to as "quasi-individuals". Subnational estimates include residents of the United States residing only in the 50 States and the District of Columbia. National estimates also include Federal civilian and military personnel stationed abroad and residents who are employed by U.S. firms and are on temporary foreign assignment.

BEA uses information collected by others to prepare its estimates of State and local area personal income. Generally, two kinds of information are used to measure the income of persons: Information generated at the point of disbursement of the income and information elicited from the recipient of the income. The first kind, referred to as "administrative record data," is a byproduct of the administration of various Federal and State government programs; the second kind is survey and census data.

The following are among the more important sources of the administrative record data:

Department of Labor

State Unemployment Insurance Programs (Employment Training Adm.)

Department of Health and Human Services

Social Insurance Programs (Social Security Administration)

Health Care Financing Administration

Department of the Treasury

Federal Income Tax Program (Internal Revenue Service)

Department of Veterans Affairs

Veterans Benefit Programs

Department of Defense

Military Payroll Systems

Sources of Census Data

Censuses of Agriculture and of Population

The data obtained from administrative records and censuses is used to estimate about 90 percent of personal income. Data of lesser quality, scope, and relevance are used for the remaining 10 percent.

BEA presents local area estimates for all counties and county equivalents and for all county-based Metropolitan Areas recognized for statistical purposes by the Office of Management and Budget except for the following areas, which are combined with adjacent counties: Kalawao County, HI; the Montana portion of Yellowstone National Park; Menominee County, WI; and the smaller independent cities of Virginia. Special tabulations can be prepared for any area that can be defined in terms of counties. County equivalents include Alaska boroughs and census areas, the District of Columbia (which is also treated as a State), Louisiana parishes, and the independent cities of Maryland, Missouri, Nevada, and Virginia.

State estimates are presented for all States and the District of Columbia, but not for the territories of the United States. The State estimates for the continental United States are often aggregated into eight BEA regions: New England, Mideast, Great Lakes, Plains, Southeast, Southwest, Rocky Mountain, and Far West. Alaska and Hawaii are not included in a region. The regional classifications, which were developed in the mid-1950's, are based on the homogeneity of the States with respect to income characteristics, industrial composition of the employed labor force, and noneconomic characteristics, such as demographic, social, and cultural factors. The Census Bureau publishes data by region using four Census regions composed of nine Census divisions. To enable comparisons, BEA estimates with census data, BEA often publishes its State estimates aggregated to Census divisions.