2014′s Richest and Poorest States

From Wallet Hub October 8, 2014

The wealth gap in post-recession America can be summarized in one cliché: the rich are getting richer, and the poor are getting poorer. In 2014, the aid confederation Oxfam International reported that “the wealthiest one percent captured 95 percent of post-financial crisis growth since 2009.” Within the same period, overall income levels declined for the bottom 90 percent.

In even deeper trouble is the middle class, whose incomes “have been either stagnant or declining since peaking in 1999,” according to the Center for American Progress. At an income of $51,939 in 2013, the average middle-class household still earns almost $4,500 less than it did pre-recession. In fact, the median household now makes less compared with how much it earned in 1989.

And while there’s no sign of improvement for the poor and middle class any time soon, the U.S. did report the highest number, 7.1 million, of millionaire households in 2013. It also surpassed the rest of the world in the number of new households, 1.1 million, hitting the seven-figure income mark. If private wealth continues to grow at a compound annual rate of 3.3 percent in North America, it will reach an estimated $59.1 trillion by the end of 2018.

To identify the states with the highest and lowest net worth, WalletHub ranked the 50 states and the District of Columbia based on income, GDP per capita and federal taxes paid per capita. The results of our study, as well as additional insight from experts and a detailed methodology, can be found below.

Hawaii Ranks 11th overall: 4th on Income, 20th on GDP, and 44th on Federal Taxes

read ... Richest and Poorest

Related: Census: Hawaii Tops Nation in Multi-Generational Families