(The Center Square) — “Virginia is the state where people have the highest income,” according to an analysis by personal finance company WalletHub.
The study assessed states based on three factors: median income, the top 5% and the bottom 20% of earners.
Virginia’s median income falls closer to the middle among the states, with Virginia ranking 17th in the nation. But the commonwealth places third for the incomes of the top 5% and the bottom 20%. Virginia’s top 5% make an average of more than $518,000 annually, and its bottom 20% make an average of about $18,700 per year.
“In other words,” the report reads, “both the rich and poor are doing better than their counterparts in other states.” Since the median income is less exceptional, however, researchers concluded that likely “many people are skewed to either side of the wealth spectrum” in the state.
The median annual income in Virginia is $89,393.
The states that ranked highest for income also tend to have a higher cost of living. However, Virginia’s income and cost of living don’t appear to correlate as closely as some of the other top states, according to WalletHub’s metrics.
New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Washington were among the top ten states with the highest incomes, and they also have some of the highest costs of living, according to a Forbes Advisor study last updated in January.
Though Virginia ranked first for income in WalletHub’s study, it has the 16th-highest cost of living in the United States, according to Forbes.
