Some U.S. states have many residents with an annual household income over $200,000.
"Top-income" residents in these states may buy most of their clothes from thrift shops and spend their entire adult lives using milk crates as bookshelves. In some other states, $200,000 in annual income goes much further — for the comparatively fewer households that get there.
The U.S. Census Bureau tells the story in its new batch of American Community Survey data for 2024.
For a look at the 15 states where people are least likely to be in the top ACS income category, see the gallery accompanying this article.
The survey: The Census Bureau's new 2024 tables show that about 14% of U.S. households have annual income over $200,000. The percentage in the category ranges from more than 22%, in Massachusetts, down to less than 6%, in two states.
The takeaway: Clients in the states listed here may face a strange financial planning problem.
They may have a high quality of life, with a lovely home and many nice extras, in an affordable community.
When they want to get a hotel room or pay college tuition in a more expensive part of the country, they may suddenly discover that their purchasing power is more limited than it seems.
Retirement income planners, college planners and other financial professionals may have to help those clients factor regional variations in the U.S. cost of living into their thinking in any arrangements where the regional cost variations matter.
Credit: Rocketclips/Adobe Stock
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