FARGO (AP) - North Dakota ranked last among the states in personal income during the first three months of this year, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis reports.

North Dakota recorded a minus 0.1 percent growth in personal income for the first quarter of the year, the report said. The country overall averaged a 2.2 percent increase.

South Dakota ranked 49th in personal income growth, with a 0.2 percent increase for the first quarter of 2007, the Bureau of Economic Analysis said.

"In North and South Dakota, the two states with the slowest first-quarter personal income growth, declining farm income subtracted nearly 2 percentage points from personal income growth," the report said.

"Lower government subsidies (in North Dakota) and crop cash receipts (in South Dakota) account for most of the decline."

Shane Goettle, North Dakota Commerce commissioner, said the bureau's findings are not unexpected, given the conditions facing farmers and ranchers.

North Dakota's average farm income fell to $55,000 in 2006, a 9 percent decline from 2005 income, data from the North Dakota Farm Management Education Program shows. Farms in western North Dakota were hit particularly hard by drought.

Personal income growth for the states' non-farm sectors in the first quarter this year remained on pace with the U.S. average, the federal economic report said.

Goettle said those findings show North Dakota is on the right track.

"The rest of the report shows that non-farm wages continue to rise in North Dakota, and that's a positive sign," Goettle said.

"While agriculture remains an important part of our economy, we are seeing more diversification."

He said the state's expanding energy industry, including traditional fossil fuels, the oil recovery in western North Dakota and the creation of more jobs in renewable energy sectors is fueling wage growth.

North Dakota is one of three states where the manufacturing sector grew in recent years and is seeing more technology jobs, Goettle said.

The bureau will release a final report for 2007 personal income growth later this year. It could paint a different picture of North Dakota, particularly if farm conditions improve, he said.