America's poorest and richest states

> Median household income: $39,680
> Population: 2,994,079 (20th lowest)
> Unemployment rate: 7.8% (2nd highest)
> Poverty rate: 21.5% (the highest)
Mississippi's median household income in 2014 remained unchanged from 2013, reflecting little improvement in the residents' standard of living. The typical Mississippi household earned $39,680 last year, well below the national median of $53,657. Relatively low levels of education may have contributed to lower incomes in the state. Just 21.1% of adults in Mississippi had a bachelor's degree as of last year, versus the national attainment rate of 30.1%. As in many low-income states, poverty was also a major problem. Mississippi had the highest poverty rate in the country last year, at 21.5%. Also, the state's unemployment rate of 7.8% last year, despite declining from the year before, remained among the highest nationwide. Low incomes and a weak job market may have contributed to low real estate values as well. Nearly 21% of homes were valued at less than $50,000, the second highest rate in the country of home values this low.

The United States added 3.2 million jobs in 2014, a greater addition to the workforce than in 2013, when 2.3 million jobs were added. At the end of last year, there were 139 million U.S. jobs, more than at the beginning of 2008 -- the pre-recession peak.
But despite the improvement, inflation-adjusted household income levels increased only slightly across the nation, according to just-released figures from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2014 American Community Survey.
The typical American household income was $53,657 in 2014. Just three states -- Washington, North Dakota, and Connecticut -- reported income growths in excess of $2,000, but only Kentucky, a relatively poor state, reported a significant income decline, with a typical household earning $1,139 less in 2014 than in 2013.
The states with the lowest incomes tended to have relatively high poverty rates, while the opposite tended to be true in states with the highest incomes. The poverty rates in nine of the 10 states with the lowest median household incomes exceeded the national rate of 15.5%.
Across the nation, the poverty rate improved in only 12 states, two of which were among the 10 lowest-income states. Alaska, which had the third-highest median income, was the only state in the nation where the poverty rate actually increased.
To identify the states with the highest and lowest median household income, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed state data on income from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2014 American Community Survey (ACS). Median household income for all years is adjusted for inflation. Data on health insurance coverage, employment by industry, food stamp recipiency, poverty, and income inequality also came from the 2014 ACS. Income inequality is measured by the Gini coefficient, which is scaled from 0 to 1, with 0 representing perfect equality and 1 representing total inequality. We also reviewed annual average unemployment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) for 2013 and 2014. (View the complete report and methodology at 24/7 Wall St.)

(MSN.com)