Wallets in Colorado Springs grew fatter last year at the fastest rate in 20 years, courtesy of federal stimulus payments, according to a new government report released Tuesday.

Personal income per person in 2020 in the area jumped 6.5% from 2019 to $54,166, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Nearly three-fourths of the growth came from transfer receipts, which reflect stimulus payments meant to buoy the national economy during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, but also includes unemployment benefits that were expanded and extended during the pandemic.

“This is great to see but it isn’t sustainable,” said Tatiana Bailey, director of the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs Economic Forum. “This increase will go away in 2022. Consumer sentiment is at a 20-year low because of inflation, so I expect that the average consumer will pull back their spending next year. As a result, I would expect to see a bit of (an economic) slowdown next year.

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Local income growth was slightly above the national average of 6.2% and well ahead of the statewide average of 4.8% though local incomes still trail the national and state averages by wide margins. Colorado Springs incomes are 9% below the national average of $59,510 and 15% below the statewide average of $63,776. Colorado Springs gained ground on the national average for the second consecutive year.

Colorado Springs area incomes grew faster than every other metro area in Colorado except for Pueblo, where incomes grew 11.1% last year to nearly $43,000. Denver incomes grew 4.1% to nearly $70,000, while Boulder had the smallest income growth at 3% to nearly $80,000. Local income growth ranked 198th among the nation’s 384 metro areas. El Centro, Calif., which is 90 miles east of San Diego, had the nation’s highest income growth at nearly 20%, while Midland, Texas, had the biggest decline at 8.3%.

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Besides the $2 billion increase in transfer receipts, wages and salaries provided the rest of the gains, increasing 4.3% from 2019. The military and other government agencies contributed nearly half the wage and salary gains, followed by major income increases in the health care and construction industries. Those gains more than offset income declines totaling $129.1 million in the hotel and restaurant industries that were hardest hit by the pandemic.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis calculates income per person by adding wages, salaries, business owners’ incomes, rental income, dividends, interest, pensions, welfare and other government payments, and then dividing by the population of the nation and each of its metro areas.