If you had to guess where America’s highest earners live, you might imagine the booming metropolis of New York City or the tech-heavy cities that make up Silicon Valley.
But the state where workers earn the highest median annual wage is actually Massachusetts, where the median income as of 2023 is about $60,690, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Workers in the District of Columbia have a higher annual median wage at $84,450, but Massachusetts is the highest-earning state.
A number of reasons help workers in Massachusetts earn higher salaries. The state is home to booming biotechnology and engineering hubs, which are well-known industries for high-paying jobs. Top colleges like Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which historically churn out high earners, may also drive Massachusetts’ median wages up.
Check out the map below to see the median wage in every U.S. state.
The Northeast is a high-earning region, home to five of the 10 states with the highest median annual wages, including Massachusetts. The West Coast contributes two of the highest-earning states — No. 2 Washington and No. 10 California — to the top 10.
Here are the 10 U.S. states with the highest median annual wages.
While the wages in these states may seem outsized relative to other states, the cost of living is also generally higher in these areas.
Hawaii is the only state — not including the District of Columbia — where the average annual cost of living is higher than Massachusetts, according to the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center.
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