People’s income encompasses more than just paychecks. It can include wages and salaries, investment returns, business profits, and government benefits like Social Security and unemployment insurance. But how do these different income sources vary across different income levels in Maine?

New data released July 10, 2025, by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) provides greater detail about this question. The data comes from BEA’s prototype statistics, first published in 2023, that break down income by component at the state level, making this analysis possible.

While the data shows Maine’s median personal income reached $106,600 in 2023, placing the state 27th nationally, the full picture emerges when examining how that income flows to different segments of the population. This first installment of our three-part series on income distribution in Maine examines how households in different income brackets rely on distinctly different mixes of income sources, or components.

Unlike other common income measures like median household income, which includes only money incomeMoney income, as defined by the Census Bureau, covers wages, salary, self-employment income, interest, dividends, rental income, social security, public assistance, retirement income, and disability income. It excludes certain components of personal income used by the BEA - for instance, employer-funded pensions and health benefits are counted in personal income but not in money income.³, these BEA figures capture a broader financial reality. Personal incomeThe BEA defines personal income as “income that people get from wages and salaries, Social Security and other government benefits, dividends and interest, business ownership, and other sources.”⁴ encompasses everything from paychecks and Social Security benefits to investment dividends and business profits – essentially, all available resources flowing into households from various sources.

The BEA uses a straightforward approach to reveal income patterns by dividing all households into five equal-sized groups, or quintiles, each representing exactly 20% of the population. Ranked from lowest to highest income, the first quintile includes households with the lowest incomes, while the fifth quintile comprises those with the highest income. The following boxes show household income percentile ranges and descriptions for each quintile, the first quintile includes households with the lowest incomes (less than $49,624 in 2023), while the fifth quintile comprises those with the highest incomes ($120,523 or more in 2023):

The data shows notable income concentration. In 2023, Maine’s highest-earning households – the top 20% – captured nearly half of all personal income at 48.0% (Figure 1). Meanwhile, the bottom 20% of households, with the lowest income, received 6.1% of the total. These patterns create an eight-to-one ratio between what the top and bottom quintiles receive in total personal income.

Figure 1. Share of Total Personal Income by Household Income Quintile, 2023

Understanding how total income is distributed tells only part of the story. Equally important is examining what makes up that income. The BEA defines personal income as “income that people get from wages and salaries, Social Security and other government benefits, dividends and interest, business ownership, and other sources.”

Personal income data is broken down into the following components:

The distribution of personal income components varies across income groups. In other words, each source of income flows to household groups differently. While total personal income is available for 2023, component breakdowns are only available through 2022 in this release. (The BEA notes that 2020-2022 estimates were based on smaller survey samples and should be used with caution.)

Figure 2. Share of Personal Income by Income Quintile and Component, 2022

As Figure 2 shows, each income component is distributed differently across all income groups. In 2022, the BEA estimates the top 20% of households received 74% of all dividends and interest income. In contrast, transfer receipts were more evenly distributed, with the largest share (26%) going to households in the lower-middle income range (20th-40th percentiles). These estimates show that households at different income levels rely on different mixes of income sources, showing the assorted financial landscapes across Maine.

These different income patterns mean that economic and policy changes such as market fluctuations, regulatory shifts, or employment trends don’t affect all households equally – they impact groups differently based on their income composition. Understanding these patterns provides insight into economic resilience and vulnerability across different income levels. In the following series, we’ll compare Maine’s trends to New England and the nation and then examine how Maine’s income distributions have changed over time.

Part 2 places Maine’s trends in regional and national context comparing state patterns to New England and the nation, and Part 3 explores how Maine’s income distributions have changed over the past decade.

The data and methodology used to produce these state-level estimates are similar to those used to produce national-level income inequality statistics. Most of the data comes from the Current Population Survey, which collects income information from households. To improve accuracy, BEA also incorporates data from other federal agencies (such as the Internal Revenue Service), and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Finally, all income figures are aligned with BEA official state-level income totals.

Full technical documentation and data files are available on the BEA website.