New Jersey is no longer the wealthiest state according to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Maryland, you’ve finally arrived!
Maryland’s median household income rose 2.2% to top New Jersey’s at $65,144. Good old NJ is still second with $64,470. Filling out the top five were richy-richertons Connecticut, $63,422; Hawaii, $61,160, and New Hampshire, $59,683.
All things considered we’d rather be in… well, Hawaii would do nicely.
New Jersey Loses Top Wealth Rank to Maryland, Census Data Shows [Bloomberg]
(Photo:phil g)
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Cost of living in those states is more ridiculous than others, however.
But they still drive like assholes. Go figure!
@Melov
I lived in Baltimore for a couple years (2003ish) and it wasn’t that bad for cost of living compared to Michigan (where I’m from, one of the poorest states at the moment, and where I moved back to due to family health issues). Sure, I didn’t live downtown, but having two roomies, renting a house, and working a server job made the bills. Add into the fact I was still pretty well entrenched in the DC/Baltimore club scene at the time. (anyone else remember the buzzlife parties at Nation?) You can imagine how much of my money was going toward extracurricular activities, which I was never short of.
The state is fabulous, and Baltimore is a missed place for me. Good for you, MD. I’ll visit as soon as I can.
Aww thanks a lot North Jersey. ughh….
We still claim best place to live by Money Mag. Moorestown what what/
Baltimore’s a great place to live if you like being murdered.
There are only two reasons people ever go to Baltimore. Crabcakes or crack.
Baltimore is not as bad as people think. Sure there are the slums, but have you been around the Charles St area by Hopkins Univ, Charles Theater, etc? That is a nicer part of the city. Also I bet majority of the higher income families live around the suburbs, maybe around Bel Air, Columbia, Bethesda, Rockville, etc.
@pinkbunnyslippers: Tweeter Center, but everyone considers that part of Philly.
WooHoo! I had no idea NJ was #1 before. #2 isn’t bad though. Stupid Camden always brings us down….except in crime rate.
YAY! We’re #1!!!
If it’s the richest state, how come their government is always broke? They canceled Tax Free weekend this year claiming they couldn’t do w/o the $5 million it would’ve lost. The roads are horrible, and they’re always cutting off various government funding.
@Shmonkmonk: I think that’s what’s implied by the “fun with meaningless data” tag.
@Godz
…errr thats in Camden, New Jersey. Sorry lol.
@Shmonkmonk: Maryland has much better roads than Pennsylvania (and better maintenance). I live in Southern PA but spend most of my time in MD, and if you think the roads in MD are horrible, it’s obvious that you’ve never been to PA, DE, NJ, NY, CT, or any of the other eastern seaboard states.
Saying “New Jersey is #2″ reminds me of an old George Carlin bit about “Kiss her where it smells; take her to New Jersey!”
Anyhow, I’ll take my job & house in Texas any day… cost of living is great around where I live & housing prices are really great if you buy anything older than about 10-15 years. (The newer houses are under-built if you ask me, but I used to be a carpenter so I’m a bit picky)
We are??????
The cost of living is very high here and I can’t find a decent apt for under $900 unless I want to live Ghetto Fab..
does Baltimore still have the “Baltimore: The City that Reads” sign up on the border?
That always slayed me.
@bigTrue:
I have a different experience when comparing Baltimore prices with the Midwest.
In 2004, I bought my current home in a moderate Baltimore suburb in the same month as my buddy bought his in an affluent suburb of Indianapolis.
I happened to pay nearly the exact amount as he did.
He got a 2 story, 4 bedroom house over 3500 square feet on a large lot, with a 2-car garage.
I got an attached townhouse, 1250 finished square feet, 800 square foot unfinished basement, on a postage stamp of land that takes longer to start the mower than to mow.
He got over twice the house as I did for the same money in the same market.
@bigTrue: Oh yes, Buzzlife would certainly do a number on your budget. As would Velvet the following night
RIP Nation – you are greatly missed
Sorry, that was entirely off-topic, so I’ll just say that looking at some of the ridiculous suburbs north of DC, I’m most certain that’s where the wealth is highly concentrated, NOT Baltimore.
Tomorrow’s headline:
“New Jersey robs Maryland, retakes spot as #1 richest state”
In Rockville, Maryland the cheap houses are those under $400k. Even at that price, they’re pretty much immune to this housing slump.
I like to think it’s because I just moved to Baltimore. But then, I don’t have a job…
@dburba: Too bad the Barksdale Crew is now kaput. You could always run with Marlo, though.
I’m a Baltimore native.
@Cassifras: No, they changed that spectacular slogan, evidently because no one reads here anymore.
For a while it was (I kid you nowt”Baltimore: The Greatest City in America.”
That was an obvious fallacy, so now its: “Get In on It.”
In on what? We don’t know.. and that sums up Baltimore in all sorts of ways.
Wealthiest State? Really?! Wow… Perhaps I should take my camera outside and see just how wealthy it is. I’ll take shots of our not-so-awesome looking roads (Which I spend a considerable amount of time dodging pot holes on), our somewhat lack luster public transportation system, the boarded up vacant row houses, the police camera’s in the streets for the purpose of deterring violence (yet somehow, our murder rate, the largest in the state, just keeps rising). Yup, we really are the wealthiest state. How about spreading some of that wealth to Baltimore City? Better yet, spread it to where I live in Baltimore county so I have more choices for Internet than AOL, leeching wireless, and Comcast (Currently, its the second of the 3). I guess all that wealth is sitting in Annapolis because I’m sure not seeing it.
@Various MD users: Spreading the wealth? Hah, the only spreading most Montgomery county folk do are their legs for the pool boy and/or the gardener.
Wow. That explains why I had such a hard time finding a decent apartment after I came back to the area. I am from MoCo, and frankly, Rockville (my hometown) isn’t that nice if you venture away from the downtown areas. It’s okay. I managed to find a room in a house in Bethesda for 500/month, but it was the size of a smallish walk-in closet and the rent was low, I suspect, because my Czech live-in landlord was so nice. DC-area rent is as high as NYC, which is pretty depressing.
I now live in California and the roads are bad, rent is equally high, earthquakes are constant, and my landlord will not fix the phone lines. We all need to move to Seattle, rent is nothing, my friend shares a pretty nice studio apartment in downtown (two blocks from Space Needle) with her boyfriend for $680!
Good luck living in Maryland for $64k a year.
i was born,raised and was a balto city police for 28 years…..you couldn’t pay me enough to go back there…i’m livin’ on the rastern shore now….
NJ is too expensive. I lived here all my life, and still live with parents. You cannot find a house you would want to live in under $300,000 in Central NJ.
I imagine the increase in Maryland’s wealth has a lot to do with the sweet, sweet homeland security and defense contracts. And if Northern Virginia were a state and free of the shackles of Souther VA, it would be near, if not at, the top as well.
damnit Connecticut, let’s regroup at Red Lobster and figure out a contingency plan!
@freshyill:
I’m still cracking up from that comment
@kc2gvx: That’s exactly why I moved out of the state. In my hometown, even crappy houses sell for half a million.
Wouldn’t wealthy be better judged by comparing median income versus cost of living? I had the option to move to Virginia and get paid more, but a larger percentage of my income would be spent on rent, food, etc. than if I stayed in Texas. In that case I’d be making more money, but I’d be poorer, too.
@thepounder: I’m not a carpenter and I agree with you. I see houses going up here in San Antonio and I think the workmanship and materials are shoddy. Lots of good rain and wind and goodbye house.
@Melov:
You are right on the money with that one. 9000+ dollars for tax on a 2900 square foot home here in Connecticut is horribly expensive, but with the higher salaries everything is relative I guess.