Hooray, Connecticut Is No Longer the Richest State
After more than three decades with the nation’s highest per capita income, the Nutmeg State has slipped into second — which may signal a welcome decline in regional inequality.
William O’Neill was governor when Connecticut took over the top per capita income spot.
Photographer: Jim Steinfeldt/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
From 1987 to 2019, Connecticut was the richest state in the US as measured by per capita personal income. In 2020, it lost out — by $10 — to neighboring Massachusetts. Massachusetts’ lead grew in 2021, shrank in 2022 and appears likely to hold up in 2023, with the third-quarter estimates for the two states coming in at annual incomes of $88,576 for Massachusetts and $87,372 for Connecticut. (I’ve excluded the District of Columbia, where the third-quarter 2023 per capita income was a much higher $102,285.)
Here’s the long view, with state per capita incomes expressed as a percentage of the US average. Alaska is on the chart because it topped the rankings from 1950, the first year for which its income numbers are available (it didn’t become a state until 1959), through 1987. From 1929 to 1949 the crown changed hands frequently, with New York, Nevada, Delaware, Illinois and Connecticut all ranked No. 1 at some point.