U.S. News

How Much Do You Need To Be In Your State’s 1%?

Separate and Unequal

New study ranks our states by income disparity.

James Joiner

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A lot keeps being made about this whole 1 percent thing. From Occupy chants to damning news reports stating nearly 50 percent of the world’s riches is soon to be in the tightly clenched fists of just a few ultra wealthy people, the vast majority of our population sounds like it gets the short end of the financial stick.

But how bad is the income disparity, especially here in these United States? More importantly, where do you and yours fit in amongst it all?

A new report (PDF) from the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think tank, shows the state of the union as far as income inequality goes, and, well, it’s pretty harsh. See below for a state-by-state ranking, from top to bottom ratio. The first number is what you’d need to rake in annually to be hob-nobbing with the your state’s 1 percenters; the second is what the rest of us average schleps make.

Conspicuously absent is Wyoming, where the 1 percent average income is a staggering $5,078,696, due in large part to the energy and oil industries, but unfortunately, due to a lack of data and conflicts with existing data, the study couldn’t determine the normal folks’ yearly wages.

All in all, it’s a pretty shocking difference.

  1. Connecticut: $2,683,600 / $52,603
  2. New York: $2,130,743 / $44,049
  3. Nevada: $1,497,185 / $33,970
  4. Florida: $1,488,367 / $34,387
  5. California: $1,598,161 / $45,775
  6. Massachusetts: $1,819,077 / $52,758
  7. Texas: $1,499,944 / $46,102
  8. District of Columbia: $1,959,334 / $43,713
  9. Illinois: $1,366,958 / $46,080
  10. New Jersey: $1,546,481 / $57,299
  11. Washington: $1,272,313 / $45,517
  12. Colorado: $1,247,381 / $50,367
  13. Oklahoma: $1,105,521 / $41,995
  14. Arkansas: $895,844 / $34,179
  15. North Dakota: $1,566,183 / $59,931
  16. Michigan: $942,993 / $37,324
  17. South Dakota: $1,249,327 / $50,089
  18. Pennsylvania: $1,069,318 / $43,847
  19. Utah: $1,117,330 / $46,612
  20. Louisiana: $974,376 / $40,792
  21. Tennessee: $925,479 / $38,942
  22. Montana: $920,802 / $38,931
  23. Missouri: $936,785 / $39,778
  24. Minnesota: $1,185,238 / $50,476
  25. Arizona: $877,466 / $37,811
  26. Georgia: $939,291 / $41,121
  27. Kansas: $1,093,986 / $48,312
  28. New Hampshire: $1,182,788 / $52,994
  29. Wisconsin: $974,753 / $44,123
  30. Rhode Island: $966,071 / $44,563
  31. Nebraska: $1,106,763 / $51,654
  32. Idaho: $855,227 / $40,438
  33. Ohio: $852,569 / $40,469
  34. South Carolina: $724,646 / $35,167
  35. Virginia: $1,162,017 / $56,584
  36. Alabama: $751,844 / $36,659
  37. North Carolina: $828,487 / $40,429
  38. Oregon: $810,196 / $40,314
  39. Maryland: $1,160,114 / $61,528
  40. Indiana: $755,603 / $41,259
  41. Delaware: $863,734 / $46,686
  42. Kentucky: $685,742 / $37,124
  43. New Mexico: $676,217 / $36,883
  44. Mississippi: $634,614 / $34,947
  45. Vermont: $807,836 / $44,656
  46. Iowa: $855,918 / $48,739
  47. Maine: $688,169 / $40,032
  48. West Virginia: $537,989 / $33,109
  49. Alaska: $939,371 / $61,333
  50. Hawaii: $770,679 / $52,630

The United States as a whole comes out to $1,303,198 / $43,713, which has a ratio of 29.8. Ranked regionally, the Northeast takes the top at $1,656,523 / $48,199, followed by the stalwart Midwest: $1,022,655 / $43,618, then the South, $1,138,251 / $42,113 and finally the great wide open and rocky coasts of the West at the bottom, with $1,347,158 / $44,759.