U.S. Median Income Map Animation From 1985 – 2017

My geography based income reports are some of the more popular posts on my blog.  People tend to identify with place, and let’s face it, maps are just plain cool.  They reveal patterns and things unseen.  Especially when they’re showing data over time.

A little while back I did a post that put a skeptical eye on the commonly held opinion that wages have stagnated as compared to the cost of living over recent times.

There were some really great comments on the post and it prompted me to want to look at the data further.  So I decided to make an animated map of median household incomes as a percentage of the U.S. median household income by state in 5 year increments from 1985 – 2017. 

I used a seven year increment for the last stage, skipping 2015 and using the 2107 data since it’s just been released.

So here you are, in an animated map that goes through the years in 5 year increments (*if the animation appears small on your tablet or mobile device it is clickable for a larger version):

The one thing that stands out the most to me is the difference between 2010 and 2017.  The shift from greenish to reddish is noticeable.

Now remember, the biggest states and the ones that take up the most space on the map are also the ones that usually have much smaller populations.  So visual cues like that, while interesting, might not be as relevant as you might think.

Especially since such a large portion of the overall population is concentrated in the brunch-belt of the Northeast (from Washington D.C. to Boston).  The brunch belt stays a nice healthy green for the entire sequence.

The biggest variances in the time period:

• Washington D.C. had a 45% swing between low and high (89% in 1985, and 134% in 2017)
• Alaska had a 30% swing between low and high (117% in 2010, and 147% in 1985)
• New Hampshire had a 24% swing between low and high (112% in 1985 and 136% in 1990 – interesting, only 5 years in between)
• Wisconsin also had a 24% swing between high and low (96% in 2005 and 120% in 1995)

As I mentioned in the previous post, it did not surprise me that Washington D.C. has improved so much.  It will continue to have rising salaries with no end in sight as gentrification continues. 

The states with the least variance in the time period: 

• Pennsylvania only swayed 5% for the entire sequence (96% in 2017, and 101% in 1995).
• Florida only swayed 7% during the period (86% in 2017, and 93% in 2000). 
• Rhode Island also only swayed 7% (100% in 2000, and 107% in 2005)

Another interesting observation is only two states fell below the 70% marker, and only in 1985 and 1990.  (Mississippi for both of those maps and West Virginia for 1985). 

The pattern I find most interesting and that seems to have the wildest swings is Vermont.  Vermont started off strong in 1985 and 1990 above the US Median, then went below it in 1995 and 2000. 

Then it came back again in 2005 and went even higher in 2010.  Only to have a hard crash in 2017. 

I don’t know much about Vermont’s economy except that it has to be more than Ben & Jerry’s and small organic farms, but they’ve definitely had quite the ups and downs in their median income in the last 32 years. 

I hope you enjoy this data analysis AF readers!