What Was The Median Household Income In America In 2022?

It’s that time of year when the Census Bureau releases the official income data for the U.S.  Of course because they work at government speed the data are for last year – 2022.  But 2023 isn’t over yet so cut them some slack. 

And as always they make the data release as confusing as possible with “preliminary data” and final data, making the job of bloggers like me who are somehow still interested in this that much more difficult. 

But enough complaining, this blog pays for my private jet and the girls I keep by the pool, so it’s all about perspective.  Let’s get to the data!

2022 Median Household Income

The median household income in American in 2022 was $74,580.  Always remember to read that correctly – median means the middle (not the average).  And household means exactly that, it’s not individual income.  The Census Bureau official number on persons per household in 2022 was 2.5, but of course all of those people do not earn income. 

I grabbed the official data by state – which takes an extraordinary amount of search-sleuthing even in this age of AI bots – and threw it in the intake portal of my magic mapping machine.  Here’s what it kicked out (click for larger version).

The three states with the highest median household income are:

• Maryland $108,200  
• Utah $95,800
• Massachusetts $93,550

(Note: D.C. is not a state but if it were it would rank second)

The three states with the lowest median household income are:

• Mississippi $48,610
• West Virginia $52,460
• Arkansas $53,980

Trends?

For anyone who follows these trends it would appear there aren’t really any surprises here.  The south and especially the southeast states have the lowest general household incomes, while the coastal states are generally higher. 

I did notice that Washington state, Oregon, and New Hampshire got kicked out of the top category that they were in from 2021.  They were replaced by Alaska, Connecticut, and Minnesota.  The categories are classified by equal count for you map dorks out there.

It does seem that the gap between the high and low is getting bigger.  The median household income in Maryland is more than 2.2 times higher than in Mississippi.  Sure the COL in Maryland is much higher as a whole, but folks surely aren’t paying more than 2x the cost of goods and services in Maryland than they are in Mississippi across the board. 

Since I have at least over 10 readers of this blog, anyone who spends time in both Maryland and Mississippi please chime in on that statement above.  I know a microbrew at your average bar or restaurant in Maryland usually runs about $5 – $7.  That would be a ‘normal’ place, not a kitschy, hipster bar in Baltimore or a high-end place.  Could it really be less than $2.50 in Mississippi?  If so I have many friends who will be flocking there 🙂