This might not be a good time of year to learn this, but a national financial website said West Virginia has the second-lowest median family income in the country.
Only Mississippi has a lower median salary.
According to 247wallst.com, the median (half have above, half below) family income in the Mountain State is $57,718, Mississippi topped the list with $57,380. Arkansas was third with $58,080. Rounding out the Bottom 10 in descending order were New Mexico, Louisiana, Kentucky, Alabama, Oklahoma, Tennessee and South Carolina.
To reach its results for its first-time survey, 247wallst said the income range for a middle-class family in West Virginia varied from $22,128 to $109,030. It also noted the cost of living in the state was 13% less expensive than the national average.
Pennsylvania, by comparison, had a median family income of $77,491, making it 22nd highest on the list. The cost of living was 2.1% lower than the national average.
“We did this to help educate people about what it means to be middle class,” Douglas McIntyre, editor of 247wallst.com, told The Dominion Post.
“I did not find anything surprising,” he said.
To determine the income it takes for a family to be considered middle class in each state, the website said it reviewed the Census Bureau’s 2018 American Community Survey. Income ranges were then adjusted for the cost of living in some states, with one state being as low as $21,797 and another as high as $148,507.
On the flip side, Massachusetts was on top of the 10 states with the highest median family income at $101,548.
Neighboring Maryland was second at $101,437 and New Jersey was third at $101,404. The website reported the cost of living in Massachusetts was 7.9% higher than the national average, while the cost of living in Maryland was 9.4% higher.
The remaining six states with the highest median family income were Connecticut, fourth; Hawaii, fifth; New Hampshire, sixth; Alaska, seventh; Minnesota, eighth; Colorado, ninth and Virginia 10th, the survey said.
Hawaii had the highest cost of living at 18.5% higher than the national average. New York was second with the cost of living 15.8% higher, and California was third at 14.8%.
