According to the latest data from the Federal Reserve, the median household income in the U.S. is listed at just below $81,000.
However, that figure looks much different when you break the data down by state.
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And that’s exactly what WalletHub did on Tuesday with its study looking at which states have people making the highest income.
“By measuring the income of various percentiles against a state’s media income, we can better identify where income disparities are more prevalent, which could help us better understand why residents of certain states struggle more to make ends meet,” wrote WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo.
To figure out the results of this ranking, researchers used three key metrics, which are as follows:
- Average annual income of the top 5% of earners (50%)
- Median annual household income (25%)
- Average annual income of the bottom 20% of earners (25%)
After sifting through the data, WalletHub determined that the state where people are making the most money is actually Virginia.
Per the data, the Old Dominion has a median annual income of over $93,000, with the average annual income of the top 5% reaching well over $500,000.
“Virginia is the state where people have the highest income, when balancing between the median, top 5% and bottom 20% of earners.
The top 5% of earners in the state make an average of $533,522 per year, while the bottom 20% make an average of $19,293. While there is a big gap between these two numbers, the top 5% ranks as the third-highest in the nation, while the bottom 20% ranks fourth. In other words, both the rich and the poor are doing better than their counterparts in other states.
The median annual income in Virginia is $93,275. This ranks as the 17th-highest in the country, so it seems like many people are skewed to either side of the wealth spectrum in the Old Dominion."
WalletHub, "States Where People Have the Highest Income"
But what about Florida?
Well, it turns out that the Sunshine State fared better than most states included in the study, coming in at No. 16.
According to the study, Florida’s median annual household income sits at around $72,000, and the average annual income of the top 5% in the state is just over $490,000.
Meanwhile, the full ranking is as follows:
| Rank | State | Score | Top 5% Income | Median Income | Bottom 20% Income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Virginia | 67.73 | $533,522 | $93,275 | $19,293 |
| 2 | New Jersey | 67.37 | $522,128 | $122,447 | $17,083 |
| 3 | New York | 66.67 | $575,505 | $95,033 | $13,647 |
| 4 | Connecticut | 65.57 | $535,578 | $118,346 | $15,005 |
| 5 | Washington | 63.03 | $499,994 | $109,171 | $18,777 |
| 6 | Utah | 61.62 | $466,144 | $95,101 | $23,531 |
| 7 | Minnesota | 59.49 | $486,764 | $89,434 | $20,616 |
| 8 | Colorado | 59.18 | $483,844 | $102,825 | $19,253 |
| 9 | Illinois | 58.17 | $521,989 | $81,549 | $16,705 |
| 10 | Massachusetts | 56.97 | $486,112 | $133,946 | $14,221 |
| 11 | Texas | 54.21 | $504,383 | $73,718 | $17,461 |
| 12 | California | 54.13 | $473,848 | $129,884 | $14,542 |
| 13 | Washington, DC | 53.00 | $470,987 | $169,153 | $9,768 |
| 14 | Georgia | 52.63 | $504,969 | $69,815 | $16,968 |
| 15 | Maryland | 50.98 | $438,921 | $128,496 | $17,012 |
| 16 | Florida | 49.11 | $492,920 | $72,684 | $16,097 |
| 17 | New Hampshire | 47.45 | $417,276 | $116,255 | $18,973 |
| 18 | Pennsylvania | 44.46 | $464,388 | $77,581 | $16,288 |
| 19 | Missouri | 43.67 | $464,577 | $62,391 | $17,561 |
| 20 | North Carolina | 43.52 | $468,634 | $66,565 | $16,532 |
| 21 | Arizona | 43.40 | $450,383 | $78,746 | $17,190 |
| 22 | Michigan | 43.17 | $460,674 | $64,806 | $17,466 |
| 23 | Idaho | 43.09 | $432,492 | $74,521 | $19,578 |
| 24 | Tennessee | 42.85 | $471,725 | $61,902 | $16,337 |
| 25 | Nebraska | 42.67 | $443,531 | $75,610 | $17,942 |
| 26 | Delaware | 41.71 | $422,916 | $90,873 | $18,056 |
| 27 | Ohio | 40.56 | $455,092 | $64,455 | $16,713 |
| 28 | Kansas | 39.31 | $432,887 | $71,329 | $17,814 |
| 29 | Wisconsin | 38.57 | $418,059 | $75,780 | $18,615 |
| 30 | Iowa | 36.57 | $414,953 | $71,552 | $18,358 |
| 31 | South Dakota | 36.06 | $415,926 | $72,189 | $17,891 |
| 32 | Nevada | 34.61 | $419,998 | $84,612 | $15,203 |
| 33 | Indiana | 33.70 | $415,138 | $66,989 | $17,275 |
| 34 | North Dakota | 32.92 | $405,631 | $81,960 | $16,237 |
| 35 | Montana | 32.44 | $413,616 | $72,701 | $16,110 |
| 36 | South Carolina | 32.41 | $433,153 | $66,038 | $14,588 |
| 37 | Oregon | 31.88 | $396,956 | $95,357 | $15,145 |
| 38 | Hawaii | 31.50 | $352,749 | $146,646 | $14,199 |
| 39 | Wyoming | 30.77 | $396,773 | $78,702 | $16,453 |
| 40 | Oklahoma | 29.45 | $418,392 | $59,284 | $15,438 |
| 41 | Kentucky | 28.57 | $427,286 | $57,716 | $14,105 |
| 42 | Arkansas | 28.05 | $426,569 | $53,166 | $14,420 |
| 43 | Rhode Island | 26.82 | $373,461 | $110,458 | $13,352 |
| 44 | Alaska | 25.99 | $337,921 | $117,767 | $16,183 |
| 45 | Alabama | 24.91 | $412,305 | $57,774 | $13,818 |
| 46 | Vermont | 23.49 | $358,688 | $94,544 | $15,052 |
| 47 | Maine | 20.31 | $358,542 | $83,800 | $14,540 |
| 48 | Louisiana | 19.83 | $405,592 | $58,352 | $11,733 |
| 49 | Mississippi | 16.31 | $391,715 | $48,630 | $12,515 |
| 50 | New Mexico | 14.52 | $371,006 | $62,464 | $12,351 |