Household wealth in the states for several categories.
The United States Census Bureau collects data regarding the wealth of households. Recently, the Bureau released this data on a state-by-state basis. I have gathered this data and present it in several charts and tables.
Instead of presenting the values for each state, I present the values as the difference from the national value. Negative values, therefore, mean the state’s value is less than the national value.
The Census Bureau provides both mean (average) and median values. The median household value is the value for which half of the households lie below, and half lie above. For many data sets, there is no or little difference between the mean and median. For this data, however, there are substantial differences. Considering the United States, the mean net worth is $445,900, while the median is $118,200. Other measures vary by large amounts, as can be seen in the nearby table.
This difference comes from, I believe, the extremely high wealth for a small number of households. When considering the mean or average, a single value that is very large can have a large impact. “When Bill Gates walks into a bar, everyone becomes a millionaire.” See When Bill Gates Walks into a Bar. But when computing the median, a super large value has the same effect as a value that is barely above the median.
The source of this data is Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) from the United States Census Bureau. This data is for the year 2019.
For an interactive visualization of this data, click here. For more visualizations, click here.
Click images for larger versions.
