A new federal study confirms what many people could probably guess : Pitkin County is the wealthiest county in the state.

Of the 64 counties in Colorado, per-capita personal income reached $86,122 in 2006, which was the most recent year cited in the study. That figure is about $70,000 more than Colorado’s poorest county, Crowley County, some 200 miles to the east, where the average income is $16,859.

The same study, released this week by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, places Pitkin County as the third wealthiest county in the nation in terms of per-capita personal income. Pitkin County trails only New York County, where residents earn $110,292 on average, and Teton, Wyo., where denizens reportedly bring in $110,292, according to the federal study.

Of the top 10 wealthiest counties in the nation, only Pitkin County, Teton County and Loving County, Texas, are not located in metropolitan areas.

Garfield and Rio Blanco counties saw the state's fastest-growing incomes in 2006, thanks to the booming energy business that has taken place on the Western Slope.

Across the state, personal income climbed 7.1 percent in 2006. Denver County’s per capita personal income in 2006 was recorded at $50,193.

The poorest county in the nation, according to the study’s findings, is Loup County, Neb., where per-capita personal income registered $9,140.
hoop@aspendailynews.com