Just came across this breakdown of America's richest states and the data is pretty interesting. Turns out when economists measure how wealthy a state really is, they're not just looking at one number—it's a mix of gross domestic product, median household income, and poverty rates all combined together.

So California tops the list with a massive 3.6 trillion dollar GDP, but here's the thing: the median income there is only around 84k. Compare that to Maryland where the median income hits over 91k, or New Jersey at nearly 90k. Texas comes in with 2.4 trillion in gross state product but a lower median income around 67k and a higher poverty rate at 14%. New York's sitting at 2.53 trillion GDP but also has a 13.5% poverty rate, which is pretty notable.

The states that seem to have it all figured out are the smaller, wealthier ones like Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire. New Hampshire especially stands out with an 83k median income and only a 7.4% poverty rate. Massachusetts and Connecticut are both over 83k in median income with poverty rates under 10%.

It's wild how different the picture looks when you actually dig into the numbers instead of just assuming the biggest GDP means the richest state. Some of these wealthier states in America have way better income distribution than you'd expect.