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Mapped: Median Salary by U.S. State
Visual Capitalist ^ | 09/28/25 | Niccolo Conte

Posted on 09/28/2025 9:05:13 PM PDT by SeekAndFind

Across the United States, median full-time salaries vary widely depending on the state. From booming coastal economies to regions with lower costs of living, geographic differences play a major role in shaping income levels.

This visualization, via Visual Capitalist's Niccolo Conte, maps out the median full-time salary by state in 2024 using data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, the latest data available as of September 2025.

Median Full-Time Salary Across the U.S. in 2024

The U.S. overall median full-time salary sits at approximately $61,702 per year, though the gap between the highest and lowest earning states exceeds $50,000.

The data table below shows the median earnings of the full-time, year-round civilian workforce aged 16 and older in every U.S. state:

RankState / DistrictMedian full-time salary (civilians, aged 16+)
1District of Columbia$102,970
2Massachusetts$79,113
3Washington$76,323
4Maryland$74,982
5New Jersey$74,164
6Connecticut$72,834
7Colorado$72,028
8New York$70,254
9California$70,031
10New Hampshire$69,275
11Alaska$69,063
12Virginia$67,309
13Rhode Island$67,142
14Minnesota$66,932
15Illinois$65,513
16Oregon$65,360
17Vermont$64,971
18Utah$62,249
19Pennsylvania$61,973
20Delaware$61,651
21Maine$60,948
22Hawaii$60,836
23Wisconsin$60,803
24Michigan$60,613
25Arizona$60,459
26Ohio$60,300
27North Dakota$60,170
28Georgia$59,240
29Texas$58,650
30Idaho$58,476
31North Carolina$57,727
32Iowa$57,716
33Kansas$57,418
34Wyoming$57,343
35Indiana$57,303
36Nebraska$56,723
37Missouri$56,210
38Montana$55,992
39South Dakota$55,708
40South Carolina$55,325
41Tennessee$55,313
42Nevada$54,800
43Florida$54,311
44New Mexico$54,000
45Kentucky$53,824
46Alabama$53,459
47Louisiana$52,959
48West Virginia$52,080
49Oklahoma$51,676
50Arkansas$50,899
51Mississippi$50,120
n/aUnited States$61,702

At the very top is the District of Columbia, where the median full-time salary reaches $102,970—well above any state.

Massachusetts ($79,113), Washington ($76,323), Maryland ($74,982), and New Jersey ($74,164) round out the top five. These states benefit from strong tech, finance, and government sectors that boost wages significantly above the national level.

While it’s primarily coastal states that have a median full-time salary above $70,000, Colorado is the notable exception of a landlocked state with higher median earnings at $72,028.

States with the Lowest Median Full-Time Salary in 2024

At the other end of the spectrum, Mississippi ranks last with a median full-time salary of $50,120.

Other low-earning states include Arkansas ($50,899), Oklahoma ($51,676), West Virginia ($52,080), and Louisiana ($52,959). Many of these states are concentrated in the South, reflecting broader regional wage gaps tied to industry mix, job availability, and cost of living.

A clear divide emerges between coastal and interior states. High salaries cluster in the Northeast and on the West Coast, while much of the South lags behind the U.S. median of $61,702.

To learn more about earnings in the U.S., check out this graphic which breaks down how education affects earnings in every single state on Voronoi, the new app from Visual Capitalist.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Society
KEYWORDS: salary; state
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Arthur Wildfire! March; Berosus; Bockscar; BraveMan; cardinal4; ...

21 posted on 09/29/2025 6:40:34 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (NeverTrumpin' -- it's not just for DNC shills anymore -- oh, wait, yeah it is.)
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To: Lonesome in Massachussets

“The median of the states is not the median of the entire country.”

The states are not the country??

Maybe what you said was not what you meant.


22 posted on 09/29/2025 8:50:03 AM PDT by Wuli (uire)
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To: Fireone

“It says full-time, employed, retired does not play a part in this.”

Understood. I was also adding the point that the income of part-time snow bird residents, and the millions of tourists (all of whom spends tons of money in Florida as well as contribute costs in terms of the infrastructures that support their presence) are not part of the average salary survey.


23 posted on 09/29/2025 9:06:37 AM PDT by Wuli (uire)
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To: Wuli

100%, and I totally agree with you.
While and interesting chart, salary alone doesn’t tell much of a story, as far as a state’s overall economic health.


24 posted on 09/29/2025 9:12:30 AM PDT by Fireone (1.Avoid crowds 2.Head on a swivel 3.Be prepared to protect & defend those around you 4.Avoid crowds)
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To: Wuli

No, that is not what I said. There are something like 200 million workers in the U.S. distributed in 50 states and the District of Columbia. Even the “mean” or average of the states is not the average of the country. States like California, Texas, Florida, and New York have much larger populations than most states, and pull the average, or mean. They also pull on the median, but not as much. If you continue your process of eliminating outliers, to its logical conclusion, you will have exactly one state left, Ohio. It’s median will be the median of all the steps along the way, 51 states + DC. In fact if you pull states at random from the upper 26 and lower 26, selecting the same number of states, in any order, the median will not change. Try it.


25 posted on 09/29/2025 5:30:19 PM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets (Nullius in verba)
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To: Lonesome in Massachussets

“No, that is not what I said. There are something like 200 million workers in the U.S. distributed in 50 states and the District of Columbia. Even the “mean” or average of the states is not the average of the country.”

Actually the report shows that. It gives, at the end, the median for the whole country of $61,702.

Whereas if you take the median for all the states minus Washington D.C., you get a median for all the state’s medians, of $60,235, which close to the middle rank of the states - Ohio ranked 26th @ $60,300.

But it depends on how a “country” average, mean or median is taken. This report seems to have used a different methodology in determining the median for the country - $61,702, because that is not the median of the medians for all the states - which would be $62,069.

I changed no numbers and I changed no states medians by removing Washington D.C., which, in multiple different ways is an economic outlier. The numbers I listed were the numbers from the report.


26 posted on 09/30/2025 8:29:42 AM PDT by Wuli (uire)
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To: Wuli

Math is hard for some people. Sorry you could not be more wrong about the arithmetic. It is unsurprising that the national median is similar to the median of the states, but the way you “calculated” it by removing outliers will always leave the median of the treated population unaffected. Did you even try it in Excel or google Sheets? Remove any five members in the top 25 and any five in the lower 25, and the population median is unaffected. It proves nor demonstrates nothing about the population. You can remove any identical number from the top and bottom 25 and the median will be unchanged.


27 posted on 10/01/2025 3:22:22 AM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets (Nullius in verba)
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To: Lonesome in Massachussets

“Math is hard for some people. Sorry you could not be more wrong about the arithmetic. It is unsurprising that the national median is similar to the median of the states, but the way you “calculated” it by removing outliers will always leave the median of the treated population unaffected”

I did not remove any outliers from the medians that were reported by the publication. I ONLY removed an outlier from the listing, not any calculations reported. I have no problem with math. You have a problem reading, because here I am repeating I did not change the publications reported medians.

I made only one calculation of my own, in a follow up post, which was in finding a different country/national median from the published number, to one that took a median of the states medians the publication reported. Again, no outliers were left out.

Quit making up an issue that did not take place.


28 posted on 10/01/2025 11:53:15 AM PDT by Wuli (uire)
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To: 9YearLurker

I have been living and working in FL for the last 14 years all while making MD money. I quit my job in MD, boss lady said let him work from home in FL.

Sweet deal!


29 posted on 10/01/2025 12:04:30 PM PDT by VastRWCon (Fake News)
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