US Counties With the Lowest Mean Adjusted Gross Income per Return
3,124 US counties ranked by mean adjusted gross income per return, from lowest to highest. First are Kusilvak Census Area, AK ($27,083), Holmes County, MS ($37,015) and Zapata County, TX ($38,812). The middle one of the 3,124 has $68,429.
What this measures
Average adjusted gross income (income after a few deductions, as reported to the IRS) per tax return. Business and farm losses are subtracted. It counts only people who file, and people who earn too little to have to file are missing, which makes the poorest places look better off. Source: IRS Statistics of Income.
For most measures, a national ranking mostly sorts places by income and by how urban they are. Each county’s own page compares it with the 50 counties most like it instead, which is often the fairer view.
The 100 lowest counties
Every state, lowest first
Each state’s own published figure, not an average of its counties.
| Rank | State | US$ |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mississippi | $65,732 |
| 2 | West Virginia | $68,201 |
| 3 | New Mexico | $69,650 |
| 4 | Louisiana | $73,396 |
| 5 | Kentucky | $73,748 |
| 6 | Arkansas | $76,591 |
| 7 | Oklahoma | $77,344 |
| 8 | Alabama | $77,740 |
| 9 | Indiana | $78,897 |
| 10 | Ohio | $80,489 |
| 11 | South Carolina | $80,494 |
| 12 | Maine | $80,953 |
| 13 | Michigan | $81,564 |
| 14 | Vermont | $83,226 |
| 15 | Missouri | $83,345 |
| 16 | Georgia | $84,174 |
| 17 | Hawaii | $84,323 |
| 18 | Iowa | $84,751 |
| 19 | North Carolina | $84,881 |
| 20 | Montana | $84,998 |
| 21 | Kansas | $85,779 |
| 22 | Idaho | $85,905 |
| 23 | Wisconsin | $86,606 |
| 24 | Tennessee | $86,844 |
| 25 | Rhode Island | $87,394 |
| 26 | Nebraska | $87,425 |
| 27 | Oregon | $87,959 |
| 28 | Delaware | $87,971 |
| 29 | Arizona | $89,402 |
| 30 | Alaska | $89,809 |
| 31 | South Dakota | $90,467 |
| 32 | Pennsylvania | $90,850 |
| 33 | Texas | $92,886 |
| 34 | Minnesota | $94,470 |
| 35 | Utah | $94,519 |
| 36 | Nevada | $95,551 |
| 37 | North Dakota | $98,168 |
| 38 | Florida | $98,204 |
| 39 | Illinois | $99,284 |
| 40 | Maryland | $100,610 |
| 41 | Colorado | $101,520 |
| 42 | Virginia | $102,360 |
| 43 | New York | $107,450 |
| 44 | New Hampshire | $108,150 |
| 45 | Wyoming | $109,160 |
| 46 | California | $110,970 |
| 47 | New Jersey | $112,230 |
| 48 | Washington | $114,940 |
| 49 | Massachusetts | $121,200 |
| 50 | Connecticut | $121,890 |
| 51 | District of Columbia | $143,630 |
More on mean adjusted gross income per return
- US Counties With the Highest Mean Adjusted Gross Income per Return
- Mean adjusted gross income per return by US county: map by year and what it goes with
A ranking describes places, not the people in them, and a high or low place does not by itself say why. All US rankings.