Massachusetts Is Nation’s 5th Richest State

Massachusetts is the fifth richest American state with median annual household income of $62,859, a report in 24/7 Wall St. said citing U.S. Census Bureau data. It was also among the states with the highest inequality, as measured by the Gini coefficient.

Maryland was the richest state with household income of $70,004, while Virginia was seventh with $61,882.

“Massachusetts’s median income is well off its 2008 high of $68,055. Just under 10% of families in the state made more than $200,000 in 2011, the fourth-highest rate in the country,” the report said.

“Massachusetts also had the lowest percentage of the population without health insurance in 2011, at a mere 4.3% — a whopping 10.8 percentage points below the national rate. The high rate of insured residents has much to do with a 2006 law signed by then-Gov. Mitt Romney,” it added.

The state had an unemployment rate of 7.40 percent, the 18th lowest, and a poverty rate of 11.60 percent, the ninth lowest.

For the country as a whole, median household income declined for the second straight year to $50,502, more than 8 percent below the 2007 pre-recession peak.

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