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According to the Personal and Family Income Statistics prepared by Eustat, in conjunction with the Provincial Councils of Alava, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa, the average personal income of the residents of the Basque Country in 2006 was 17,632 euros for the population aged 18 and over, 27.2% higher than three years previously. Gipuzkoa was the province with the highest personal income (17,488 euros), followed by Bizkaia (17,332 euros) and, finally, Alava with 17,190 euros. If the evolution by province since 2003 is analyzed, the best performance was by Bizkaia, growing by 29.6%, followed by Gipuzkoa, which increased 25.9%. Alava posted growth of 21.7%.

If we look at disposable income, meaning total income less income tax and worker social security contributions, there were barely any differences between the three provinces. Disposable income for the Basque Country as a whole stood at 14,598 euros, for Alava it came to 14,767 euros, 14,584 for Gipuzkoa and 14,501 euros for Bizkaia

The municipality of the Basque Country with the highest average personal income was Laukiz, with 29,726 euros, located in Bizkaia. In Alava, the municipality with the highest personal income was Zigoitia, with 23,538 euros, and Zerain, with 20,115 euros, was the one with the highest personal income in Gipuzkoa. On the other hand, the municipalities with the lowest personal income were Gripan in Alava, with 9,969 euros, Errezil in Gipuzkoa, with 11,202 euros, and Lanestosa in Bizkaia, with 11,505 euros.

The average personal income of the capitals of the three provinces was higher than the average for the Basque Country as a whole. Donostia-San Sebastian was in first position with 20,056 euros, followed by Bilbao, with 18,196 euros and, finally, Vitoria-Gasteiz, with 17,597 euros.

One out of every nine people aged 18 or over doubled their annual average income, while one of every eight did not receive any type of income in 2006

As for the distribution of income among the population, there were almost 1,600,000 people aged 18 or over who earned some kind of income, which is to say 88%, while 12% of the population, one in eight residents, received no income at all during 2006. Additionally 60% of people received an income below the average of the Basque Country or received no income at all, while 11.5% earned an income that was twice or more the average, which is to say over 34,700 euros

The median is the indicator that establishes which income divides the population into two equal halves. In 2006, this figure stood at 13,269 euros. This means that half the population of the Basque Country aged 18 or over had an average personal income of more than 13,269 euros per year, while for the other half it was lower.

As regards the percentage distribution of total personal income by the principal sources of income in the three provinces, work turned out to be of greater relative weight, followed by the transfers (benefits or social welfare).

Men earned double the average personal income of women

Income was unevenly distributed between men and women, in that while men in the Basque Country received an average total income of 23,224 euros, women had an average income of 11,857 euros, which is to say that the average income for men doubled that of women and that men received a personal income of 11,367 euros more.

The greatest difference between the personal income of men and women was between those aged between 55 and 59 years old. In that age bracket, the average income of men bettered the personal average income for women by 21,330 euros.

For the population aged 18 or over as a whole, the highest total personal income was obtained between the ages of 50 and 54 with an average income of 23,504 euros. In the case of women the highest average income was obtained between the ages of 45 and 49 (with an average income of 15,848 euros) while for men the maximum average income came between the ages of 55 and 59 and was substantially higher (33,568 euros),

The average income of Basque families in 2006 was nearly 39,000 euros

The average income for families in the Basque Country in 2006 came to 38,853 euros. The average income for all of the families of the Basque Country was exactly 2.23 times the average personal income.

Total family income is the result of aggregating the total personal income of all the members of the same family aged 18 or over who received some type of income. Unlike the case with personal income, Bizkaia is the province with the highest family income (39,008 euros). It was followed by Gipuzkoa with 38,704 euros and, finally, Alava with 38,610 euros.

Donostia-San Sebastian was the provincial capital with the highest family income, followed by Bilbao and Vitoria-Gasteiz

Donostia-San Sebastian, with 43,893 euros, was the provincial capital with the highest family income, followed by Bilbao, with 39,679 euros, and by Vitoria-Gasteiz, with 39,506 euros. The three provincial capitals were above the average family income.

At district level, there were also important differences among the 20 districts that make up the Basque Country. Only 6 obtained family incomes that were higher than the Community average, among which, the following stood out for having an income of more than 39,000 euros: Plentzia-Mungia In Bizkaia (45,712 euros); Estribaciones del Gorbea In Alava (43,921 euros) and Donostialdea in Gipuzkoa (41,964 euros). On the other hand, the 14 remaining districts had a family income below the average and notable among these with earnings of less than 39,000 euros were: Montaña Alavesa and Rioja Alavesa, with 28,874 and 32,280 euros, respectively, and Encartaciones in Bizkaia, with 33,788 euros.

As regards the size of the family, only families of one or two people obtained family earnings which were below the Community average, 20,134 and 32,869 euros respectively.