From Business Insider: Using the latest Census data, 24/7 Wall St. has identified the ten states where median income is the highest in the country and poverty rates are low.
Nearly all the states with high median incomes and low poverty levels also have relatively healthy economies.
Some states benefit from core industries that are performing well.
Alaska, which relies on oil extraction, is doing well in part due to the relatively high price of oil.
Utah’s major cities are growing as tech companies and research firms relocate there.
Hawaii and Colorado serve as resort locations for the rich and retired.
Other states benefit from their proximity to other states. These states have large and affluent suburbs serving America’s large cities. While New Jersey, Connecticut, Virginia and Maryland have their own industry, they are also home to commuters who work in Washington D.C. and New York City. Many of these suburbs are some of the richest in the country. And while these state shave major metropolitan areas of their own, the median income in these states is not weighed down by the low-income residents that live in these bigger cities, unlike New York and D.C.
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10. Hawaii
> Median income: $59,125
> Poverty rate: 11.5% (18th lowest)
> Without health insurance: 7.5% (2nd lowest)
> Unemployment: 6.1% (10th lowest)
Hawaii has one of the healthiest economies in the country, bolstered by a large number of wealthy retirees and a robust tourism industry. As a result, the state’s median household income is just shy of $60,000. The state’s percentage of retirees means that more residents are covered by the federal government under Medicare, and so there is smaller burden on the state. The Honolulu Statistical Area, which represents more than 70% of the state’s population, has a median income of more than $67,000 per household, well above the median metropolitan statistical area income of $50,000.
Read more: America’s Richest States - 24/7 Wall St. |