Mainers’ income grew sluggishly in 2015, lagging both the national average and most of the states in the region.

Personal income in Maine last year was $42,077, up 3.2 percent over 2014. The national average per capita income was $47,669, up 4.4 percent over the year before, according to a report released Thursday by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Maine’s growth rate in personal income ranked 37th among the states. In New England, where income growth averaged 4.0 percent, Maine ranked No. 4. Connecticut’s 3.1 percent increase and Vermont’s 3.0 increase were worse. Massachusetts was best in the region with a 4.7 percent increase.

Income growth in Maine was strongest in health care and social assistance, contributing .29 percentage points of the total growth.

But even there, the state lagged its counterparts. Nationally, income from health care and social assistance jobs rose 4.47 percent; in Maine, it rose 2.68 percent.

The greatest loss was reflected in farming, where Maine incomes dropped 3.99 percent. Nationally, though, that sector fared much worse, with incomes dropping 21.94 percent from 2014 to 2015.

Nationally, the 4.4 percent increase in personal incomes was the same rate as in 2014, the BEA said. California posted the strongest growth in personal incomes, rising 6.3 percent, while North Dakota had the biggest decline of 0.2 percent.

The BEA said the industries contributing the most to overall income growth last year nationally were professional and business services, health care and construction.

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