The Income a Family Needs to Be Middle Class in Every U.S. State

Key Takeaways

• Maryland, Washington D.C., and Massachusetts have the highest median household income, all above $90,000 annually.
• Mississippi, West Virginia, and Alabama have the lowest median income, all below $54,000 a year.

Methodology

SmartAsset analyzed U.S. Census Bureau’s 2021 1-year American Community Survey data for the median household income in all 50 states. It relied on a variation of the Pew Research definition of middle-income households, which defines a middle class salary range by two-thirds to double the median U.S. salary.