8. Virginia
> Median household income: $66,262
> Population: 8,382,993 (12th highest)
> 2015 Unemployment rate: 4.4% (17th lowest)
> Poverty rate: 11.2% (11th lowest)
Higher educational levels typically lead to higher earning power. In Virginia, 37.0% of adults have a bachelor’s degree, a larger share than in all but five other states. Partially as a result, incomes are higher than average in the state. The state is home to a larger share of households earning at least $200,000 a year than the country. It is also home to a smaller share of households earning less than $10,000 a year than the country as a whole. With more higher earners and fewer low earners, a typical Virginia household earns about $10,500 more than the typical American household.
Higher incomes are also partially the result of a relatively healthy job market. The 2015 unemployment rate in the state was only 4.4%, nearly a full percentage point below the national unemployment rate.