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# POCKET MONEY
Households in just four counties have more disposable income than average
CSO figures also found that the gap between the highest and lowest disposable incomes has widened.
NEW FIGURES FROM the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show that households in just four counties in Ireland have more disposable income that the State average.
The figures for 2011 reveal Dublin still has the highest average disposable income* per person at €21,329 while the border region with €16,984 and midlands with €17,428 fared the worst.
The gap between the highest and lowest value of disposable income per person in each region has widened, increasing by €632 in Dublin. However Dublin was also the only region in the country with a higher per capita disposable income than the State average for the entire 2002 to 2011 period.
Households in Donegal, Monaghan, Cavan, Roscommon, Offaly, Kilkenny and Kerry showed the lowest disposable income per head, as seen in the chart below:
Cork, Kildare, Dublin and Limerick are the only counties where this income is higher than the State average.
At the other end of the spectrum, the counties of Donegal and Kerry have had per capita disposable incomes below 85 and 90 per cent of the State level during the entire period of 2002 to 2011.
A recent tracker from the Irish League of Credit Unions found disposable income has increased by €13 since last year, though the majority of readers in our poll said they didn’t have more money in their pockets than this time last year.
*Note: The CSO defines disposable income as total income minus current taxes on income, minus social insurance contributions.
Read: Credit union research finds we have more disposable income than this time last year>
Poll: Do you have more money in your pocket now than you did last year?>
