Rank the States.
Menu

Mortgage-free owners: mean income after housing costs by state

Massachusetts has the highest estimate ($130,864); West Virginia has the lowest ($68,522). Source: U.S. Census Bureau; calculations by Rank the States, ACS 1-year PUMS, 2024.

Data year: 2024Source released Dec. 4, 2025Last updated Oct. 23, 2026ACS PUMS 2024: mortgage-free-owners

50 ranked states; DC and Puerto Rico appear as reference rows where the source supplies them. Highest does not mean best. Ranks reflect point estimates; close values may not differ statistically.

Experimental independent estimate. This ranking uses household means, which are sensitive to high incomes. Method, distribution measures and review status.

Lowest state estimate $68,522 West Virginia
Highest state estimate $130,864 Massachusetts
Massachusetts: $130,864 New Jersey: $128,242 Connecticut: $126,925 Maryland: $125,353 California: $122,304 Hawaii: $118,874 New York: $117,522 Washington: $117,093 Colorado: $116,559 Utah: $112,683 Rhode Island: $110,280 Virginia: $109,973 New Hampshire: $109,581 Nevada: $109,267 Alaska: $106,678 Delaware: $102,604 Illinois: $101,333 North Dakota: $99,703 South Dakota: $99,164 Texas: $98,638 Minnesota: $97,803 Vermont: $96,928 Oregon: $95,603 Florida: $95,140 Georgia: $94,976 Arizona: $94,226 Pennsylvania: $93,967 Idaho: $93,392 Montana: $93,278 Tennessee: $91,835 Wyoming: $91,307 Nebraska: $90,594 North Carolina: $90,341 Ohio: $89,071 Wisconsin: $87,896 Kansas: $87,339 Indiana: $86,983 Missouri: $86,913 Maine: $85,200 Michigan: $85,115 South Carolina: $84,081 Iowa: $83,041 Alabama: $80,576 New Mexico: $79,682 Oklahoma: $79,634 Arkansas: $76,499 Louisiana: $75,799 Kentucky: $74,086 Mississippi: $69,084 West Virginia: $68,522
Each dot is a state. The scale runs from the lowest to highest estimate; intervals are not shown here. Read about uncertainty.

State distribution and comparisons

The middle of the 50-state distribution is $94,601: the average of the 25th and 26th ordered state estimates. This treats each state equally, so it answers a different question from a population-weighted national estimate.

2 other states are statistically tied with Massachusetts at 90% confidence: New Jersey and Connecticut. This is not a confidence interval for rank, and testing multiple pairs increases false-positive risk.

See the top ten estimates with their 90% margins of error$65,938$133,762MassachusettsNew JerseyConnecticutMarylandCaliforniaHawaiiNew YorkWashingtonColoradoUtah

Shared axis spans the complete 50-state estimate ± MOE range. Intervals describe individual estimates; overlapping intervals alone are not our significance test.

How does this compare with owners with a mortgage: mean income after housing costs?

These states’ ranks change the most between mortgage-free owners: mean income after housing costs and owners with a mortgage: mean income after housing costs. These comparisons identify different questions worth investigating; a rank gap does not measure a causal effect or a statistical difference between unlike units.

StateMortgage-free owners: mean income after housing costsOwners with a mortgage: mean income after housing costs
South Dakota$99,164 · #19$104,428 · #38
Nevada$109,267 · #14$114,449 · #26
Delaware$102,604 · #16$112,030 · #27

Inspect these states, definitions and pairwise differences.

Household means, medians, and percentiles

The ranking above uses a weighted mean, with replicate-weight uncertainty. The following distribution table shows why a mean can sit far above the middle household. Percentiles are separately calculated point estimates; their uncertainty is not estimated here. Annual resources are before taxes and non-housing expenses.

Inspect household distributions and sample sizes for all 50 states
State25th percentileMedian75th percentileBelow $0Sample households
Massachusetts$37,168$83,847$165,1025.07%7,527
New Jersey$38,578$86,434$163,7924.81%10,322
Connecticut$37,697$82,890$152,5915.49%4,408
Maryland$39,883$87,055$165,3805.13%6,239
California$34,530$80,164$153,8275.32%32,608
Hawaii$32,223$80,377$155,1275.52%1,486
New York$33,279$74,801$144,1965.88%24,839
Washington$38,127$78,240$144,1614.23%8,935
Colorado$36,296$75,333$141,2144.59%6,494
Utah$41,201$83,293$139,6573.07%3,360
Rhode Island$32,976$74,658$145,8004.72%1,186
Virginia$33,384$71,956$137,5313.78%9,781
New Hampshire$33,653$72,764$138,2636.15%2,126
Nevada$31,575$69,976$133,3045.21%3,343
Alaska$35,992$77,984$146,0024.73%844
Delaware$34,411$70,470$135,7984.86%1,415
Illinois$32,522$69,997$126,2275.03%17,796
North Dakota$36,883$73,348$124,7563.27%1,573
South Dakota$33,166$70,519$121,0604.9%1,591
Texas$29,973$66,055$122,1324.7%39,500
Minnesota$34,988$70,269$122,2714.25%9,095
Vermont$30,840$63,199$120,5913.68%1,113
Oregon$30,318$65,770$121,7464.18%4,946
Florida$26,226$59,605$113,7335.9%31,714
Georgia$29,185$63,119$117,6904.71%13,429
Arizona$29,481$63,656$115,4714.76%9,836
Pennsylvania$30,079$63,276$117,1394.19%20,736
Idaho$32,488$66,793$112,1573.12%2,548
Montana$28,336$59,683$108,6562.94%1,936
Tennessee$29,110$60,020$108,4174.09%10,708
Wyoming$29,458$60,760$106,1734.36%1,013
Nebraska$32,464$62,941$111,2923.89%3,224
North Carolina$27,686$59,127$110,5484.06%14,936
Ohio$29,668$60,985$109,1514.06%16,765
Wisconsin$31,833$62,352$110,7323.96%9,472
Kansas$32,479$63,532$109,2203.68%4,638
Indiana$29,924$59,948$105,8173.88%9,155
Missouri$28,025$58,753$106,9303.96%9,296
Maine$31,241$59,089$106,4164.35%2,613
Michigan$27,837$57,303$105,0885.18%16,278
South Carolina$27,186$56,991$107,2794.59%8,835
Iowa$31,007$62,410$106,1363.42%5,294
Alabama$25,732$53,914$98,9404.53%8,412
New Mexico$23,326$54,943$102,0064.62%3,691
Oklahoma$25,732$55,686$100,1684.27%5,944
Arkansas$24,317$51,176$96,7274.53%5,096
Louisiana$21,995$50,815$96,6775.35%7,731
Kentucky$23,097$50,075$94,9304.09%7,084
Mississippi$20,770$47,578$91,8865.43%5,257
West Virginia$22,770$48,380$87,3614.77%3,544

Read the microdata method and reproduce the calculation. No independent statistical review is claimed.

The state-by-state view

Download table

Ranked among 50 states; District of Columbia shown for reference. Rank 1 = highest value.

Mortgage-free owners: mean income after housing costs · 2024 · U.S. dollars
RankState / jurisdictionValue90% margin of errorDifference from previous rank
1Massachusetts$130,864± $2,898Highest estimate
2New Jersey$128,242± $2,871Not distinguishable at 90%
3Connecticut$126,925± $4,077Not distinguishable at 90%
4Maryland$125,353± $3,489Not distinguishable at 90%
5California$122,304± $1,296Not distinguishable at 90%
6Hawaii$118,874± $6,338Not distinguishable at 90%
7New York$117,522± $2,310Not distinguishable at 90%
8Washington$117,093± $2,962Not distinguishable at 90%
9Colorado$116,559± $3,184Not distinguishable at 90%
10Utah$112,683± $4,080Not distinguishable at 90%
11Rhode Island$110,280± $6,795Not distinguishable at 90%
12Virginia$109,973± $2,226Not distinguishable at 90%
13New Hampshire$109,581± $5,933Not distinguishable at 90%
14Nevada$109,267± $5,156Not distinguishable at 90%
15Alaska$106,678± $8,996Not distinguishable at 90%
16Delaware$102,604± $6,128Not distinguishable at 90%
17Illinois$101,333± $2,065Not distinguishable at 90%
18North Dakota$99,703± $5,243Not distinguishable at 90%
19South Dakota$99,164± $6,238Not distinguishable at 90%
20Texas$98,638± $1,433Not distinguishable at 90%
21Minnesota$97,803± $2,327Not distinguishable at 90%
22Vermont$96,928± $7,221Not distinguishable at 90%
23Oregon$95,603± $3,493Not distinguishable at 90%
24Florida$95,140± $1,244Not distinguishable at 90%
25Georgia$94,976± $1,731Not distinguishable at 90%
26Arizona$94,226± $2,241Not distinguishable at 90%
27Pennsylvania$93,967± $1,870Not distinguishable at 90%
28Idaho$93,392± $4,286Not distinguishable at 90%
29Montana$93,278± $7,248Not distinguishable at 90%
30Tennessee$91,835± $2,278Not distinguishable at 90%
31Wyoming$91,307± $7,113Not distinguishable at 90%
32Nebraska$90,594± $3,832Not distinguishable at 90%
33North Carolina$90,341± $1,882Not distinguishable at 90%
34Ohio$89,071± $1,540Not distinguishable at 90%
35Wisconsin$87,896± $2,135Not distinguishable at 90%
36Kansas$87,339± $2,838Not distinguishable at 90%
37Indiana$86,983± $2,158Not distinguishable at 90%
38Missouri$86,913± $1,961Not distinguishable at 90%
39Maine$85,200± $4,706Not distinguishable at 90%
40Michigan$85,115± $1,927Not distinguishable at 90%
41South Carolina$84,081± $2,013Not distinguishable at 90%
42Iowa$83,041± $2,755Not distinguishable at 90%
43Alabama$80,576± $2,278Not distinguishable at 90%
44New Mexico$79,682± $2,531Not distinguishable at 90%
45Oklahoma$79,634± $2,411Not distinguishable at 90%
46Arkansas$76,499± $2,810Not distinguishable at 90%
47Louisiana$75,799± $2,136Not distinguishable at 90%
48Kentucky$74,086± $2,236Not distinguishable at 90%
49Mississippi$69,084± $1,937Different at 90%
50West Virginia$68,522± $2,583Not distinguishable at 90%
Ref.District of ColumbiaNot ranked among states$175,028± $20,211Reference jurisdiction

50 states plus 1 reference row.

What this ranking measures

Weighted mean of annual household money income less annualized housing costs, calculated for mortgage-free owners in the 2024 ACS housing microdata. Income and housing amounts use their respective Census adjustment factors.

Before taxes and other living expenses. Not disposable income, savings, or a typical family budget. No-cash-rent homes, vacant homes, and group quarters are excluded; zero and negative income are retained. Means are sensitive to high incomes. Census allocation and top/bottom coding are retained. This is an experimental independent calculation, not an official Census table.

The size of the gap

The difference between the highest and lowest state estimates is $62,343. A national estimate is not calculated for this derived measure.

How much should you read into a rank?

Each estimate has a 90% margin of error that we calculated from the Census replicate weights. For two different states, we flag a difference only when its absolute size exceeds the square root of the sum of their squared margins of error. The comparison tool applies this check to every selected pair.

Non-significance is not proof of equality. These pairwise tests are not adjusted for multiple comparisons and do not form ranking confidence intervals. Statistical method and limitations.

Ranks use the full precision of the source file, so only truly equal values share a rank (1, 2, 2, 4).

Keep exploring

How income definitions change a ranking.

Explore the same states in a side-by-side comparison, or combine this measure with others in the custom ranking tool.

Source and method

Producer
U.S. Census Bureau; calculations by Rank the States
Product / file
ACS 1-year PUMS · ACS PUMS 2024: mortgage-free-owners
Period
2024
Unit
U.S. dollars
Calculation
Weighted mean of adjusted household income minus twelve times adjusted monthly housing costs. 90% MOE = 1.645 sqrt((4/80) sum((replicate mean - full mean)^2)). Signed replicate weights are retained. Rank = 1 + number of eligible jurisdictions with a higher value.
Coverage
The 50 states are ranked. Washington, D.C., can be added with the toggle above the table; Puerto Rico is shown for reference only, where the source covers it.
Cadence
Annual. Follows reviewed ACS PUMS releases.
Independence
Rank the States is independent. The agencies that produce the source data do not endorse these rankings.

Download, cite, or embed

Download the default full table (CSV) or use the download above for the table’s current filter and order. Data dictionary and source metadata

Updates and corrections

Last updated Oct. 23, 2026. Earlier editions stay available on the data page, and every change is listed in the update log. If a number or definition looks wrong, report an error with the state, value, and source you checked.

Related rankings

State distributions: each mark is one state, from lowest to highest. Each row uses its own scale.

01

Owners with a mortgage: mean income after housing costs

2024 · Census PUMS

$157,270 Massachusetts · highest estimate 02

Monthly owner costs with a mortgage

2024 · Census ACS

$3,001 California · highest estimate 03

Cheapest states to buy a house (home values)

2024 · Census ACS

$875,900 Hawaii · highest estimate

What can we help you find?

Type at least two letters to start searching.

Browse guides Esc to close