Quiz Q: What Is the Median Income in the United States?

Now I'd like to know what the average income is. Just to see how much the ultra-high incomes have skewed these results.

Median Household Income (most recent) by state

#1 New Jersey: $61,359.00
#2 Connecticut: $60,528.00
#3 Maryland: $57,424.00
#4 Alaska: $57,027.00
#5 Massachusetts: $55,658.00
#6 New Hampshire: $55,580.00
#7 Hawaii: $53,554.00
#8 Virginia: $51,689.00
#9 California: $51,185.00
#10 Minnesota: $50,860.00
#11 Delaware: $50,315.00
#12 Illinois: $48,953.00
#13 Rhode Island: $48,722.00
#14 Colorado: $48,198.00
#15 Washington: $47,659.00
#16 New York: $47,349.00
#17 Utah: $47,074.00
#18 District of Columbia: $46,574.00
#19 Vermont: $46,543.00
#20 Wisconsin: $45,315.00
#21 Michigan: $44,905.00
#22 Nevada: $44,646.00
#23 Wyoming: $44,275.00
#24 Georgia: $43,037.00
#25 Pennsylvania: $42,941.00
#26 Ohio: $42,240.00
#27 Indiana: $42,195.00
#28 Maine: $42,163.00
#29 Arizona: $41,995.00
#30 Oregon: $41,794.00
#31 Texas: $41,759.00
#32 Nebraska: $41,657.00
#33 Kansas: $41,638.00
#34 Missouri: $41,473.00
#35 Iowa: $41,350.00
#36 Florida: $41,236.00
#37 Idaho: $39,934.00
#38 South Carolina: $39,837.00
#39 North Dakota: $39,447.00
#40 North Carolina: $39,428.00
#41 Tennessee: $38,794.00
#42 South Dakota: $38,472.00
#43 Alabama: $36,709.00
#44 New Mexico: $36,043.00
#45 Oklahoma: $35,357.00
#46 Kentucky: $35,269.00
#47 Montana: $35,239.00
#48 Louisiana: $35,110.00
#49 Arkansas: $32,983.00
#50 Mississippi: $31,642.00
#51 West Virginia: $31,504.00
Weighted average: $44,247.80

Median household income in Massachusetts is around 53,000 (as of 2004). We have a pretty high cost of living and I would guess a high salary level.

I dunno what "most recent" is and they don't say.....

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Now I'd like to know what the average income is. Just to see how much the ultra-high incomes have skewed these results.

The median income divides households in the US evenly in the middle with half of all household earning more than the median income and half of all households earning less than the median household income. [..] According to the US Census Bureau, the median is "considerably lower than the average, and provides a more accurate representation." [..]

Unlike the median household income, which divides all households in two halves, the mean income is the average income earned by American households. [..] The mean income is usually more affected by the relatively unequal distribution of income which tilts towards the top. As a result, the mean tends to be higher than the median income, with the top earning households boosting it.

"In 2004 the median household income in the United States was $43,389 [while] the mean household income in the United States, according to the US Census Bureau 2004 Economic Survey, was $60,528 [..].

Hey! He said no cheating!

I'm not surprised, but it doesn't say much about lifestyle. Salaries in the US are very geographical. A legal secretary in NYCity can easily make $80,000. If she moves two hours north (still NY) his\her salary for the same work would be about $30,000. In both places should s/he would be middle class. A person making the US average and living in Kentucky would be upper middle class, the same person living in San Francisco would be poor.

The state with the highest median household income in the United States as of the US Census Bureau 2005/06 is New Jersey with $66,752, followed by Maryland, Hawaii and Connecticut, making the Northeastern United States the wealthiest area by income in the entire country.

In terms of region the median household income was as follows: "Northeast ($47,994), West ($47,680) and South ($40,773)." Median household income in the Mid-West declined by 2.8% to $44,657.

The median household income by state ranged from $34,343, or 28% below national median, in Mississippi to $66,752, or 39% above national median, in New Jersey. Connecticut [..] came in at number four with a median household income of $60,551. California which had the highest median home price in the nation, [..] only ranked eleventh with a median household income of $54,385. [..] West Virginia, which had one of the nation's lowest median household incomes also had the nation's lowest median home price.

The northeastern states, more specifically those located in New England, as well as the West Coast had the highest median household income. Of the top fifteen states, all were located in the Northeast and West, with the exception of Minnesota which ranked eighth and Wisconsin (15th).

The southern states had, by far, the lowest median household income, with nine out of the country's fifteen poorest states being located in the South. It should be noted, however, that most of the poverty in the South is located in the Black Belt region. Metropolitan areas such as Atlanta, Nashville, Raleigh-Durham, Birmingham, Dallas, Houston, Miami, to name just a few, are areas within the southern states that have above average income levels.

Overall, median household income tended to be the highest in nation's most urbanized northeastern, upper midwestern and west coast states, while rural areas mostly in the southern, and mountain states had the lowest median household income.

littlek wrote:

Hey! He said no cheating!

It would have been easier if you you hadn't posted the answer in the thread!

ok, what about my question dear?