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How much money do people earn on average in each US state in 2024?

Income disparities exist not only between states but also within. Here is the average income for workers in each of the 50 states.

Maite Knorr-Evans
Maite Knorr-Evansmaiteknorrevans
Income disparities exist not only between states but also within. Here is the average income for workers in each of the 50 states.
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The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that in 2022, the average consumer in the US spent $72,967, which represented a nine percent increase over the figure captured a year earlier. Inflation was one of the leading causes of the surge in consumer spending, meaning that while more money was being left in the economy, consumers were not necessarily getting more.

In terms of each state’s average salary per week, below is a list of how the states compared in March 2023, which happens to be the most recent data published by the BLS.

  1. District of Columbia: $2,364
  2. New York: $2,306
  3. Massachusetts: $2,222
  4. Connecticut: $2,092
  5. New Jersey: $1,975
  6. California: $2,024
  7. Washington: $1,951
  8. Colorado: $1,797
  9. New Hampshire: $1,583
  10. Illinois: $1,711
  11. Virginia: $1,674
  12. Texas: $1,667
  13. Maryland: $1,596
  14. Delaware: $1,614
  15. Minnesota: $1,623
  16. Pennsylvania: $1,551
  17. Georgia: $1,533
  18. North Carolina: $1,534
  19. Alaska: $1,593
  20. Oregon: $1,513
  21. Rhode Island: $1,424
  22. Florida: $1,406
  23. Arizona: $1,361
  24. North Dakota: $1,452
  25. Utah: $1,370
  26. Tennessee: $1,351
  27. Michigan: $1,388
  28. Ohio: $1,383
  29. Missouri: $1,389
  30. Maine: $1,334
  31. Nevada: $1,238
  32. Wisconsin: $1,365
  33. Louisiana: $1,363
  34. Iowa: $1,352
  35. Vermont: $1,250
  36. Indiana: $1,303
  37. Kansas: $1,284
  38. Nebraska: $1,301
  39. Alabama: $1,279
  40. Oklahoma: $1,306
  41. Montana: $1,266
  42. South Carolina: $1,203
  43. Arkansas: $1,267
  44. Wyoming: $1,206
  45. Idaho: $1,225
  46. Kentucky: $1,223
  47. South Dakota: $1,220
  48. Hawaii: $1,179
  49. New Mexico: $1,201
  50. West Virginia: $1,218
  51. Mississippi: $990

Washington DC, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, and California are the top states with the highest average weekly salaries. Workers in these states earn more than $2,000 per week on average. On the other hand, the states with the lowest average salaries are West Virginia, New Mexico, Hawaii, South Dakota, and Kentucky. However, it’s important to note that the cost of living in these states is generally lower, which is why some companies offer lower salaries to their employees.

The average salary falls below living wage

According to the MIT Living Wage Lab, a single adjuster must make at least $622 a week in West Virginia to live comfortably; this number rises to $1,333 if the worker supports one child. This means that the average pay for a worker in the state is currently less than what is needed for a household with at least two members to escape poverty. The same situation exists in Mississippi, but the difference between the living wage and the average weekly salary ($250) is larger than in West Virginia ($117).

In New York, on the other hand, a two-person household with one adult and one child requires a weekly income of $1,663 to be considered a living wage, whereas the average in the state is $2,306.