The median income in the U.S. was $31,099 a year as of September. That's the highest it's been in decades, even adjusted for inflation. But it's pocket change to some Americans.
Higher incomes generally correlate to higher rent and a higher cost of living, but pay disparities, even within the same city, can be huge. For example, workers on the north side of the Central Expressway in Mountain View, California, ZIP code 94043, make $225,237.96 a year. On the other side of the road, in ZIP code 94040, the average worker makes less than half of that (guess which side of town the Googleplex is).
Which ZIP codes have the highest pay?
The Census recently released business data for every ZIP code in the country. We looked at the number of employees and payroll to find out how much workers made on average in each ZIP code to find out which areas had the highest pay in every state. Our list provides a chance to see exactly where the money is being made down to the neighborhood, and in some cases, down to the block.
Here are the highest-paying ZIP codes in each state.
Alaska: 99508
City: Anchorage
Average pay: $69,303.99
What's here? BP offices
Alabama: 35233
City: Birmingham
Average pay: $71,013.23
What's here? Brasfield & Gorrie headquarters
Arkansas: 72201
City: Little Rock
Average pay: $65,815.53
What's here? Dillard's headquarters
Arizona: 85054
City: Phoenix
Average pay: $87,233.69
What's here? Republic Services headquarters
California: 94025
City: Menlo Park
Average pay: $249,236.43
What's here? Facebook headquarters
Colorado: 80202
City: Denver
Average pay: $91,305.10
What's here? Chipotle headquarters
Connecticut: 06830
City: Greenwich
Average pay: $137,137.54
What's here? Investment firms including Blue Harbour Group and Silver Point Capital
Delaware: 19801
City: Wilmington
Average pay: $85,944.58
What's here? M&T Bank, Bank of America and other financial company offices
Florida: 33131
City: Miami
Average pay: $104,244.80
What's here? Offices for international law firm Greenberg Traurig
Georgia: 30326
City: Atlanta
Average pay: $98,415.88
What's here? Lenox Square and Phipps Plaza malls
Hawaii: 96813
City: Honolulu
Average pay: $65,886.37
What's here? First Hawaiian Bank headquarters
Iowa: 50309
City: Des Moines
Average pay: $66,402.99
What's here? Principal Financial Group headquarters
Idaho: 83714
City: Garden City
Average pay: $59,320.50
What's here? Boise Bible College
Illinois: 60064
City: North Chicago
Average pay: $192,296.58
What's here? Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science
Indiana: 46204
City: Indianapolis
Average pay: $70,965.01
What's here? Anthem headquarters
Kansas: 66211
City: Leawood
Average pay: $77,546.49
What's here? AMC Theatres headquarters
Kentucky: 40202
City: Louisville
Average pay: $65,512.09
What's here? Humana headquarters
Louisiana: 70121
City: New Orleans
Average pay: $66,359.04
What's here? Ochsner Medical Center
Massachusetts: 02142
City: Cambridge
Average pay: $163,842.12
What's here? Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Maryland: 21240
City: Baltimore
Average pay: $100,927.76
What's here? Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport
Maine: 04092
City: Westbrook
Average pay: $59,140.76
What's here? Idexx Laboratories headquarters
Michigan: 48033
City: Southfield
Average pay: $95,796.15
What's here? Lear Corporation headquarters
Minnesota: 55402
City: Minneapolis
Average pay: $101,983.44
What's here? U.S. Bancorp corporate offices
Missouri: 63105
City: St. Louis
Average pay: $99,323.82
What's here? Centene Corporation national headquarters
Mississippi: 39216
City: Jackson
Average pay: $60,078.18
What's here? University of Mississippi School of Medicine
Montana: 59101
City: Billings
Average pay: $51,414.23
What's here? Kampgrounds of America corporate office
North Carolina: 28202
City: Charlotte
Average pay: $115,608.42
What's here? Bank of America Corporate Center
North Dakota: 58801
City: Williston
Average pay: $65,445.81
What's here? Williston sits on top of the Bakken oil formation.
Nebraska: 68128
City: La Vista
Average pay: $77,819.53
What's here? Paypal operations center
New Hampshire: 03054
City: Merrimack
Average pay: $71,428.99
What's here? Brookstone headquarters
New Jersey: 07981
City: Whippany
Average pay: $142,311.21
What's here? Bayer U.S. headquarters
New Mexico: 87106
City: Albuquerque
Average pay: $51,518.56
What's here? University of New Mexico
Nevada: 89521
City: Reno
Average pay: $56,229.20
What's here? Offices for International Game Technology
New York: 10281
City: New York
Average pay: $213,622.81
What's here? This ZIP code serves Brookfield Place, also known as the World Financial Center, a shopping center and office complex with tenants including Time, Inc.
Ohio: 45202
City: Cincinnati
Average pay: $90,913.49
What's here? Procter & Gamble headquarters
Oklahoma: 73102
City: Oklahoma City
Average pay: $89,497.67
What's here? Devon Energy corporate headquarters
Oregon: 97124
City: Hillsboro
Average pay: $94,311.94
What's here? Four Intel campuses
Pennsylvania: 19312
City: Berwyn
Average pay: $104,593.20
What's here? TE Connectivity regional headquarters
Rhode Island: 02903
City: Providence
Average pay: $58,066.96
What's here? Textron world headquarters
South Carolina: 29601
City: Greenville
Average pay: $65,986.60
What's here? St. Francis Health System
South Dakota: 57108
City: Sioux Falls
Average pay: $47,504.02
What's here? MetaBank main office
Tennessee: 38120
City: Memphis
Average pay: $81,813.85
What's here? FedEx headquarters
Texas: 77010
City: Houston
Average pay: $168,316.94
What's here? Ernst & Young offices
Utah: 84111
City: Salt Lake City
Average pay: $72,079.47
What's here? Grand America Hotel
Virginia: 20190
City: Reston
Average pay: $109,069.55
What's here? Carahsoft Technology Corporation
Vermont: 05495
City: Williston
Average pay: $49,438.24
What's here? Vermont Department of Corrections
Washington: 98052
City: Redmond
Average pay: $151,357.05
What's here? Microsoft headquarters
Wisconsin: 53202
City: Milwaukee
Average pay: $83,516.69
What's here? Northwestern Mutual corporate headquarters
West Virginia: 25301
City: Charleston
Average pay: $48,953.43
What's here? Charleston Area Medical Center
Wyoming: 83001
City: Jackson
Average pay: $45,309.53
What's here? Snow King Resort
Methodology
The source for the data is the Census County Business Patterns data series. To get average pay, we divided annual payroll by the number of employees in each zip code with at least 10,000 employees.
Wondering how pay has changed since the Great Recession? Here's where income has gone up the most since 2008.
Image: ansonmiao
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