The Wealthy States of the Mid-Atlantic

According to the recently released data from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2012 Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates, counties and states in the Mid-Atlantic* disproportionately dominate the top of their respective rankings of wealth and (lowest) poverty. This article discusses the wealth of the states  in the region. (A later post will focus on the counties)

The top 10 wealthiest states by median household incomes (Mid-Atlantic* states are in bold):

Rank	State	Median Household Income
1.	Maryland	$71,169
2.	New Jersey	$69,705
3.	Connecticut	$67,275
4.	Alaska	$66,503
5.	Hawaii	$66,086
6.	Massachusetts	$65,378
	District of Columbia	$65,231
7.	New Hampshire	$63,157
8.	Virginia	$61,782
9.	Minnesota	$58,828
10.	Delaware	$58,326

Four of the Mid-Atlantic states (counting the entire state of Virginia as Mid-Atlantic for simplicity's sake) are among top 10 wealthiest in the nation in terms of median household income--the most reliable and widely used measure of household wealth. In addition, Maryland is ranked as the wealthiest state in the nation with New Jersey following. If Washington D.C. was counted as a state, it would also be ranked in the top 10 (although it would knock Delaware out of the top 10). Overall, the Northeast region (which comprises the Mid-Atlantic and New England) dominated the ranking, with 6 out of 10 states in the region being ranked in the top 10.

The top 10 states ranked by lowest poverty rates (Mid-Atlantic* states are in bold):

Rank	State	Poverty Percent
1.	New Hampshire	9.7%
2.	Maryland	10.4%
3.	Connecticut	10.6%
4.	New Jersey	10.7%
5.	Alaska	10.8%
6.	North Dakota	11.2%
7.	Minnesota	11.4%
8.	Hawaii	11.8%
9.	Virginia	11.8%
10.	Massachusetts	11.9%

In terms of poverty, the Mid-Atlantic slid only a little in the rankings, with three of the top 10 states with the lowest percentage of residents in poverty being located in the Mid-Atlantic (again including VA). Maryland had the second lowest poverty rate after the New England state of New Hampshire. Washington D.C. however, was significantly lower in the rankings, and if counted as a state would have been ranked in the bottom 10.

West Virginia (which is also considered entirely Mid-Atlantic here for simplicity) also placed near the bottom of both rankings, and had the third lowest median household income and the 12th highest poverty level among the 50 states. Besides West Virginia and New Mexico, every other state that ranked in the bottom 10 in terms of median household income was located in the Southern United States. Southeastern states also made up 8 of the 10 states with the highest poverty levels (the other two being New Mexico and Arizona in the Southwest).

New York and Pennsylvania are the other notable absences from the top 10 of either ranking. This is most likely due to the fact that both states are largely rural which tends to drown out wealthy areas which are usually concentrated in the suburbs of major metropolitan areas (as you'll see in a later article discussing the wealth of counties in the region). The suburbs of cities such as New York or Philadelphia, despite having very large populations, make up a smaller portion of both states' populations than the suburbs of other states in the top 10. 

New Jersey and Maryland, for instance, are very densely populated and wealthy suburbs/exurbs cover over half the geographic areas of both states. The wealth in the Mid-Atlantic is largely driven by high-paying "knowledge" jobs in the service sector. Closer to Washington D.C. the federal government (and its contractors) is the main pillar of the economy, while closer to New York, the financial services industry supports the economy.

*Mid-Atlantic as used here includes: Washington D.C., Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York in their entirety, as well as the eastern panhandle of West Virginia, and Northern Virginia. In other words, the portion of the Northeast not in New England.