Just went down a rabbit hole looking at which US states are actually the richest, and the results are pretty wild. So basically economists measure this using GDP, median income, and poverty rates combined. The richest US states list is totally different from what you'd expect.

California absolutely dominates with a 3.6 trillion gross state product - that's insane. But here's the thing, median income there is only 84k, and poverty is at 12.3%. Then you've got New York at 2.53 trillion GDP but similar income and higher poverty at 13.5%. Texas comes in third with 2.4 trillion but actually has lower median income around 67k.

The wealthier US states by median income are different though. Maryland tops that list at 91k median, followed by New Jersey at nearly 90k and Massachusetts at 89k. Hawaii's also up there with 88k. These places have way lower poverty rates - Maryland and Minnesota both around 9.2%.

What's interesting is that the richest US states aren't always where you'd want to live based on income alone. New Hampshire's got that sweet spot - 83k median income, 7.4% poverty, relatively balanced. Same with Minnesota and Colorado, both solid on income and low poverty.

The data they used was from 2023 Census data, so it's a few years old now, but still gives you a sense of which states have the strongest economies and most stable wealth distribution. Kind of eye-opening how much variation there is across the country.