Personal income growth in Chattanooga is slowing even though income still outpaced inflation for most Chattanoogans last year, according to government figures released Thursday.

The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates that overall personal income in metropolitan Chattanooga rose 5.3 percent during 2007, down from the 6 percent growth in the previous year. But per capita income grew last year in Chattanooga by 4.3 percent to $33,051, outpacing the estimated 2.9 percent inflation rate for the year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In 2006, per capita income in Chattanooga grew by 4.5 percent to $31,685, while inflation for that year averaged 3.2 percent.

“I’m afraid we’re likely to see even less growth — or maybe even negative growth in inflation-adjusted terms — in 2008,” said Dr. William Fox, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Tennessee. “We’ve seen a decline in employment nationwide over the past seven months and without the stimulus of the rebate checks in the second half of this year, personal income growth could slow even more or turn negative later this year.”

Chattanooga’s per capita income in 2007 continued to trail the United States as a whole, BEA statistics indicate. The typical Chattanooga worker earned 14.5 percent less in personal income last year than the national average.

Nationwide, BEA estimates per capita income rose 5.2 percent last year to $38,632.

Personal income rose less in neighboring metro areas to Chattanooga last year.

In metropolitan Cleveland, Tenn., BEA estimates per capita personal income rose 2.2 percent during 2007 to $28,445 and in metro Dalton, Ga., per capita income increased 3.6 percent to $28,723.

Among Tennessee’s major metropolitan areas, Nashville continued to have the highest per capita income. But Nashville’s growth rate was one of the lowest among the metro areas in the state.

Manufacturing-based Cleveland and Dalton also had below-average income growth in 2007.

“Manufacturing has been hard hit in this recession,” said David Penn, director of the Business and Economic Center at Middle Tennessee State University. “That’s definitely holding back growth in the Nashville area.”

U.S. personal income was bolstered this spring by the federal government’s $152 billion stimulus package, which provided rebate checks of up to $600 for most workers.

“Without those checks during the balance of the year, income growth is going to slow in many areas,” said Adam York, an economist for Wachovia Bank in North Carolina.

In the current economy, rising energy and food prices are helping many oil-producing and agricultural states.

“But it’s definitely hurting states like Tennessee,” Dr. Fox said.

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