Maine ranks as the 10th poorest state in United States, according to a study by a financial information publisher.

Wallet Hub ranked the 50 states and the District of Columbia based on income, GDP per capita and federal taxes paid per capita. Maine ranked (First would be best, 25th average, 51st worst):

• 38th in income
• 45th in GDP per capita
• 45th in federal taxes paid per capita

Higher numbers would be better. 

courtesy of WalletHub.com

Methodology

In order to locate where the richest and poorest Americans live, WalletHub analyzed the 50 states and the District of Columbia across three key metrics, including “income,” “GDP per capita” and “tax dollars per capita.” We assigned a double weight to the income metric as it represents a composite metric including various income brackets, which matters more to residents than GDP and taxes paid toward the federal government. Each of the latter received half a weight. For example, income less than $24,999, we allocated a negative weight to penalize states with a large percentage of its population earning a low income. For the remaining brackets, weight increases as income increases.

The income brackets and the corresponding weights used for this study are as follows:

• Income less than $24,999: -1
• Income between $25,000 and $49,999: 0
• Income between $50,000 and $99,999: +1
• Income between $100,000 and $199,999: +2
• Income of $200,000 or more: +2.5

 
Source: Data used to create these rankings is courtesy of the U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.

Copy the Story Link