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Median Income by State in 2024, Adjusted for Cost of Living
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To gain insight into the U.S. economy, we’ve visualized the median income by state, as of May 2024. These figures come from WalletHub, which sourced income data from the U.S. Census Bureau and adjusted it for cost of living according to the Cost of Living Index (COLI).
Data and Key Takeaways
All of the numbers we used to create this graphic are listed in the table below.
RankStateMedian Annual Income
(adjusted for cost of living)
1DC$162,265
2Hawaii$141,832
3Massachusetts$127,760
4Maryland$124,693
5California$123,988
6New Jersey$117,847
7Connecticut$114,156
8Alaska$113,934
9New Hampshire$110,205
10Rhode Island$104,252
11Washington$103,748
12Colorado$97,301
13New York$91,366
14Oregon$91,100
15Utah$89,786
16Vermont$89,695
17Virginia$89,393
18Delaware$87,173
19Minnesota$86,364
20Nevada$80,366
21North Dakota$79,874
22Maine$79,800
23Illinois$78,304
24Wyoming$76,307
25Pennsylvania$74,711
26Arizona$74,375
27Wisconsin$72,602
28Nebraska$72,384
29Texas$70,513
30Idaho$70,041
31South Dakota$69,266
32Iowa$68,974
33Montana$68,937
34Florida$68,818
35Kansas$68,489
36Georgia$66,612
37Indiana$64,170
38North Carolina$63,025
39South Carolina$62,909
40Michigan$62,446
41Ohio$61,904
42Missouri$59,715
43Tennessee$59,077
44New Mexico$58,911
45Oklahoma$57,215
46Louisiana$56,282
47Kentucky$55,629
48Alabama$55,480
49West Virginia$52,719
50Arkansas$51,032
51Mississippi$46,880
The Cost of Living Index, published by the Council for Community and Economic Research (C2ER), was established in 1968, and allows for consistent place-to-place cost comparisons.
The index considers six categories of spending: groceries, housing, utilities, transportation, health care, and miscellaneous.
After adjusting for COLI, the top three states by median income are the District of Columbia (DC) (technically a district), Hawaii, and Massachusetts.
In DC, federal government agencies are the biggest employers. Many of them offer high-paying jobs that require higher education and specialized skills. DC, like Hawaii, also has a relatively higher cost of living, which may push up the average salary.
In the case of Massachusetts, the state is home to many of the world’s most prestigious universities and research institutions, as well as high-earning sectors like healthcare and tech.
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The post Mapped: Median Income by State in 2024 appeared first on Visual Capitalist.