Income growth sluggish in Mo., Ill.

New figures from the Commerce Department show income growth in Missouri and Illinois lost ground compared to the national average last year.

Personal income growth was 2.6 percent across the U.S., but was only 2.3 percent in Missouri last year and 2.1 percent in Illinois, according to the figures.

Missouri ranked 29th in income growth in 2013 and Illinois landed at No. 36. Missouri's growth has been below the national average for four years in a row, and Illinois has lagged behind the nation for six years straight – due mainly to slow population growth, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.

Both the state and the U.S. as a whole posted lower income growth last year compared to 2012, when income climbed 4 percent across the nation.

Read more from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.