Terre Haute.

• Author: Rogers, Carol O.

The Terre Haute economy, when measured by its gross domestic product (GDP) in terms of sheer dollar volume, has grown from $3.5 billion to $5 billion from 1987 to 2007. (1)

At the same time, personal income earned and accrued by residents of the Terre Haute metro area has grown far more significantly, from $2 billion in 1987 to $5 billion in 2007. This is a telling convergence with GDP and likely due to losses in manufacturing jobs and resulting increases in commuting to and from jobs in bordering Illinois. These jobs have been on the upswing since the early 2000s.

GDP and personal income for the region are forecast to grow, albeit slowly, for the next several years. Personal income is expected to overtake GDP and grow to approximately $7.2 billion by 2017 (see Figure 1).

Personal income, however, continues to lag that of the state and Indiana continues to lag the nation, as seen in Figure 2. However, it is more important to know the context of personal income--that is, where does it come from? In the case of Terre Haute, the majority of personal income comes from the sweat of its residents' brows--or in economic terms, from earnings generated by residents within the metro area or those who work outside the area and bring the money back into the metro (see Figure 3).

Terre Haute's work earnings, for commuters to and residents of the area, totaled a whopping $3.1 billion for 2005 (the latest year of real data available). Total personal income in the metro area totaled $4.4 billion once accommodations were made for residence and other income based on...