What does “rich” really mean in the U.S., and what does it take to become wealthy? Well, the answer to that question depends on what state you live in.
Visual Capitalist recently compiled a list of what annual earnings would put someone into the 10% of the richest people in their state. This list cites data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis and Buchhaltungs Butler.
“Crossing into the top 10% can mean earning anything from 198,000 to 386,800 dollars a year, depending on your state,” said Visual Capitalist. For example, it said households in Massachusetts need roughly twice the income of those in West Virginia to join the wealthiest ranks, and Washington, D.C. “towers above all with an even higher threshold shaped by its cluster of high-paying, government-adjacent jobs.”
Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s living wage calculator echoes this analysis. If you compare the living wage for D.C. and West Virginia, the living wage (the hourly rate that an individual needs to support themselves) for a person with no children is around $10 higher in the nation’s capital than it is in the Mountain State.
However, Visual Capitalist also noted that “being in the top 10% says little about how far that money actually goes.” It said that Massachusetts or New Jersey have both combine steep income thresholds and a high cost of living, while Arkansas or Mississippi have lower costs and much lower bars to be considered “rich.”
Here is the full Visual Capitalist ranking of what it takes annually to be “rich” in every U.S. state:
1. District of Columbia: $635,000
2. Massachusetts: $386,800
3. Connecticut: $344,400
4. New Jersey: $341,000
5. Washington: $330,800
6. New York: $327,400
7. Hawaii: $323,900
8. Alaska: $315,000
9. California: $314,700
10. Maryland: $311,000
11. Rhode Island: $311,000
12. Virginia: $310,000
13. New Hampshire: $302,500
14. Colorado: $296,000
15. Vermont: $294,600
16. Delaware: $276,040
17. Minnesota: $270,300
18. North Dakota: $260,000
19. Oregon: $255,000
20. South Dakota: $255,000
21. Illinois: $253,500
22. Georgia: $253,500
23. Utah: $253,300
24. Pennsylvania: $251,000
25. Arizona: $250,000
26. Texas: $250,000
27. North Carolina: $245,000
28. Nebraska: $237,400
29. Florida: $235,000
30. Kansas: $231,000
31. Nevada: $229,100
32. Maine: $229,000
33. Wisconsin: $228,200
34. South Carolina: $228,000
35. Missouri: $227,200
36. Ohio: $226,700
37. Tennessee: $225,000
38. Michigan: $224,020
39. Iowa: $221,800
40. Idaho: $220,300
41. Montana: $220,200
42. Indiana: $218,000
43. Alabama: $213,000
44. New Mexico: $212,000
45. Louisiana: $212,000
46. Wyoming: $210,500
47. Oklahoma: $206,800
48. Arkansas: $206,000
49. Kentucky: $204,300
50. Mississippi: $200,900
51. West Virginia: $198,000
According to Visual Capitalist, “top earners make at least double – and in some states nearly triple – the income of the middle class.” As of 2024, the national average wage index was approximately $69,847, per the U.S. Social Security Administration, a nearly 5% increase over the previous year.
Last May, S&P Global said that rising home prices and a lack of retirement savings were “increasingly putting the American dream out of reach,” for many in the U.S. Gallup polling released earlier this month showed that Americans are expecting inflation to remain high. It looks like they were right – the Bureau of Labor Statistics said last week that inflation increased slightly in January.
YouGov polling released this week also showed that Americans have a negative view of artificial intelligence and what implications it might have for the labor market. It found majorities of Americans don’t have much trust in AI and think companies are investing too much in it, while also believing that AI will decrease the availability of jobs.