The typical Californian saved roughly half as much in 2022 than they did in pre-pandemic 2019. My trusty spreadsheet created a measurement of savings by looking at 2022’s gap between per capita data on incomes (after taxes) and consumer spending in 50 states and the District of Columbia. The is a broad tracking of consumer cash flows, including many sources of income (wages, investments and government benefits) and various expenses (from housing to groceries to services to big-ticket consumer goods). Why do consumers seem grumpy? Look what’s left over after all the bills are paid. In California, per-capita incomes were $2,861 more…
