States in the Northeast are likely to have high median incomes per household.
Statistically speaking, families in certain states are more likely to have higher incomes based on median annual earnings per households. Higher median incomes by themselves, however, do not necessarily reflect which states' families are the most well-to-do on average. Cost-of-living is a primary consideration as well since it determines how far a dollar will go.
Top 10
Seven states in 2009 had median household incomes of more than $60,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau: New Hampshire at $65,028, New Jersey at $64,918, Connecticut at $64,644, Maryland at $63,828, Alaska at $62,675, Virginia at $61,126 and Utah at $60,936. Rounding out the top 10 for the year were Massachusetts at $59,732, Hawaii at $58,469 and Washington at $58,404.
Bottom 10
Three states had median household incomes of less than $40,000: Mississippi at $35,693, Arkansas at $37,987 and West Virginia at $39,170. The remainder of the bottom 10 consisted of Tennessee at $40,034, South Carolina at $41,548, Montana at $41,587, Kentucky at $41,828, Alabama at $42,144, North Carolina at $42,337 and Louisiana at $42,423.
Trends
With New Hampshire, New Jersey, Connecticut and Maryland, the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions have several states with the highest median household incomes. The South, meanwhile, had nine of the bottom 10 states. Among the most populous states, California ranked near the top with a median household income of $56,466. New York and Pennsylvania were in the middle tier at $50,243 and $49,960, respectively. Texas was toward the bottom at $46,895 as was Florida at $45,159.
Considerations
A lower income may go a long way in less expensive states, meaning a state's cost of living is relevant to any discussion of median household incomes. Of the states in the top 10, only Virginia and Utah had low costs of living compared with the national average. The top five of New Hampshire, New Jersey, Connecticut, Maryland and Alaska all had some of the highest costs of living in the nation. Of the states in the bottom 10, all had among the lowest costs of living in the country aside from Montana, where the cost of living was higher than average. Tennessee's cost of living was the lowest in the nation after Oklahoma's.
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