It may seem cheap to live in one of these states, but low local wages mean it might not be so easy to get by.

Throughout the U.S., workers earn a median annual wage of about $48,080, according to the latest available data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

But in the three states where workers earn the least, the median annual wage sits below $40,000 a year. And notably, all but two of the 10 lowest-earning states are in the South.

Bottom 10 states
Mississippi $37,500
Arkansas $39,060
W. Virginia $39,770
Louisiana $41,320
Alabama $41,350
Oklahoma $41,480
S. Carolina $42,220
New Mexico $43,620
S. Dakota $43,680
Kentucky $43,730

Mississippi has the lowest-earning population in the U.S. with a median annual wage of just $37,500, according to the BLS.

That’s due, in part, to the fact that Mississippi has one of the least-educated populations in the country, with just 1 in 4 adults in the state holding a bachelor’s degree or higher, according to St. Louis Fed data.

More education typically correlates with higher earnings, which helps explain why Massachusetts — the most-educated state, with nearly 47% of its population holding a bachelor’s degree or higher — is also the highest-paid, according to the St. Louis Fed.

  • mozz
    16•9 months ago

    Hi again!

    It looks like you might be trying to construct a worldview in your readers through pure confident assertion of how things are, along with raw emotional appeal and general nihilism, with the aim of depressing the vote in a left-leaning community in an upcoming election. The effect is small, since people can see through it generally speaking, but it’s not 0, and if done with enough volume and consistency this kind of stuff can produce an impact in the aggregate.

    I have no idea, but I personally suspect that the development and refinement of these techniques over the last 10-15 years are part of the reason for the rise of authoritarianism worldwide – in simple terms, they form a new and pretty powerful tool in the arsenal of converting money to electoral results, and democracies and democratic systems don’t yet have fully effective countermeasures. Along with the steady decline in journalism, and sustained direct attacks on voting systems themselves, it’s becoming more and more difficult for ordinary people to make sense of what’s going on in the world and vote accordingly and produce outcomes that benefit them.

    Anyway, I was wondering if you wanted some help? I can send you some citations to use to strengthen your arguments, since I notice that your message didn’t have anything factual or citation wise.

    • Change in wages at the bottom end (10th percentile) since Biden took office, in comparison with inflation
    • Change in corporate tax rate and pure dollar values in corporate revenue since Biden took office
    • Unemployment rate history since Biden took office

    Stuff like that. Since everything you’re saying is objectively true, you’d be happy to explore with me what the numbers are that underlie all that vigorous emotional appeal you’re using to justify the big blinking “PLEASE DON’T VOTE, IT DOESN’T MATTER” sign.

    Right?