New Hampshire’s personal income grew during the pandemic — even when taking inflation into account — at the best rate in New England, and among the best rates in the country, according to a statistics report released last week by Pew Charitable Trusts.

Most states did well, and South Dakota, with a 5.69 percent increase, led the pack when looking at annual growth rate from the fourth quarter of 2019 to the third quarter of 2021. It was followed by California, Idaho and Nebraska. New Hampshire was 15th with a 3.74 percent rise, right ahead of Massachusetts at 3.63 percent. The U.S. rate was 3.31 percent.

New Hampshire did slip a bit from the second quarter of 2021, when it was fifth nationally with 5.97 percent. From the third quarter of 2020 through the third quarter of 2021, the growth rate was 3.22 percent, eighth nationally.

The personal income data, which is based on U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis statistics, measures not just wages but all personal income, include those living on dividends, which depends on the stock market, and those who are getting government assistance, which was stepped up during the pandemic by 13.1 percent. The largest source of personal income — earnings from work — rose but more gradually.

Nationally, personal income went up during 2020 by 5.28 percent, the highest level in the last 14 years. The New Hampshire rate that year was 4.36 percent.

— BOB SANDERS