Median Household Income by ZIP Code: Highest and Lowest in America

The national median household income in the United States was $81,604 in 2024, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey — the most widely cited benchmark for understanding what a typical American family earns.¹ But that single number conceals one of the most striking features of the American economy: the difference between the highest and lowest earning ZIP codes now exceeds $280,000 per year.²

Two households, both American, both in the same country — one earns over $250,000, the other under $20,000. The ZIP code they live in shapes which schools their children attend, which grocery stores are nearby, whether they can afford a mortgage, and what kind of healthcare they can access. Income geography is one of the most consequential and least-discussed dimensions of life in the United States.

This article breaks down median household income at the ZIP code level — what the highest-earning communities look like, where the lowest incomes are concentrated, how income varies by state, and what drives the gaps. You can look up median household income for any ZIP code in America at ZipCodePlus.com — it’s one of the core data points shown on every single ZIP code page on the site.

The National Baseline

Before looking at extremes, it helps to understand the national picture.

The U.S. median household income of $81,604 in 2024 represents the midpoint — half of all households earn more, half earn less.¹ This is a meaningful measure because it isn’t skewed upward by billionaires the way the average (mean) income is. The mean household income, by comparison, sits at roughly $110,000 — nearly $30,000 higher — because extreme wealth at the top pulls the average up.³

Income rose in real terms for 29 states between 2023 and 2024, according to the Census Bureau’s 2024 ACS data.⁴ That’s meaningful progress, though the gains were not evenly distributed — and the ZIP-code-level picture is far more uneven than any state average suggests.

America’s Highest-Income ZIP Codes

The wealthiest ZIP codes in the country are concentrated in two geographic clusters: coastal California (particularly Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area) and metropolitan New York (particularly Manhattan and its affluent suburbs).

Manhattan and the New York Metro

Several of the highest-income ZIP codes in the nation sit within a few miles of each other in Lower Manhattan. ZIP code 10007 — covering Tribeca and the southern tip of Manhattan — reports an average adjusted gross income of approximately $879,000, according to Bloomberg analysis of IRS data.⁵ Battery Park City (10282 and 10280) and neighboring Tribeca rank among the top 20 nationally.

The New York metro extends the pattern into the suburbs. ZIP code 11005 in Floral Park, New York, made a dramatic climb — rising from 38th place in 2016 to claim the top national ranking for per capita income by 2023, with a per capita income of approximately $222,147.² Purchase, New York (10577) and Old Westbury (11568) on Long Island each rank among the nation’s wealthiest communities, with median household incomes well above $500,000.⁶

Browse ZIP codes in New York →

Silicon Valley and the Bay Area

California is home to the highest concentration of wealthy ZIP codes outside Manhattan. Atherton (94027), a small town of roughly 7,000 people in San Mateo County, has held the title of America’s most expensive ZIP code by home value for years — with a median home sale price exceeding $8 million and a median household income above $250,000.⁷ Its neighbors Palo Alto (94301), Portola Valley (94028), and Los Altos (94022 and 94024) all rank among the top tier nationally.

What these communities share is proximity to the venture capital and technology industry. Atherton attracts executives, venture capitalists, and tech founders from companies headquartered minutes away at Stanford Research Park and along Sand Hill Road. The concentration of equity compensation — stock grants and options at companies like Apple, Google, and Meta — creates wealth that simply doesn’t exist at scale in other industries or geographies.

Browse ZIP codes in California → or look up ZIP code 94027 in Atherton.

Other Notable High-Income Clusters

The pattern continues in communities adjacent to other major financial and professional hubs:

Palm Beach, FL (33480): One of the country’s wealthiest communities, with median household incomes exceeding $1 million in some estimates.⁶
Wellesley Hills, MA (02481) and Weston, MA (02493): Boston-area suburbs driven by proximity to finance, biotechnology, and academic institutions, each with median household incomes well above $250,000.⁸
Greenwich, CT (06831): The hedge fund capital of the country, with a median household income among the highest in Connecticut.
Medina, WA (98039): A small community on Lake Washington — home to Bill Gates and other tech executives — with median household incomes in the top tier nationally.⁶

America’s Lowest-Income ZIP Codes

The lowest-income ZIP codes are geographically concentrated in the Deep South, Appalachia, rural Native American communities, and older industrial cities that have struggled since manufacturing declined.

The Persistent Income Gap in the Deep South

Mississippi has the lowest median household income of any state at $59,127 — nearly $51,000 below the District of Columbia’s $109,707.¹ Within Mississippi, some ZIP codes record median household incomes well below $30,000. The combination of historically lower wages, limited economic diversification, and concentrated rural poverty creates conditions that are structurally difficult to reverse.

Alabama, Arkansas, and West Virginia round out the lowest-income states, each with median household incomes in the high $50,000s to low $60,000s.¹ Within these states, ZIP codes in rural counties can drop significantly below those state medians.

Industrial Cities and Legacy Poverty

Some of the lowest-income ZIP codes by absolute dollars are found in struggling urban areas of otherwise moderate-income states. Erie, Pennsylvania (16501), for example, records a per capita income roughly twenty times lower than the wealthiest Manhattan ZIP codes — in the same country, separated by a few hundred miles.²

ZIP codes in certain neighborhoods of Detroit, Cleveland, and other legacy industrial cities that lost their manufacturing base similarly record median household incomes far below their surrounding state averages. A low-income ZIP code within a moderate-income city can be especially difficult — residents face high urban costs without the wages to match.

Income by State: The $51,000 Gap

At the state level, the income divide is stark. The 2024 Census data shows a nearly $51,000 difference in median household income between the highest and lowest states:¹

State	Median Household Income (2024)
District of Columbia	$109,707
Maryland	~$98,000+
New Jersey	~$97,000+
Massachusetts	~$95,000+
Colorado	$97,113
United States (median)	$81,604
Alabama	~$62,000
West Virginia	~$60,000
Mississippi	$59,127

The highest-earning states are concentrated along the Northeast corridor and in Colorado, where high-wage industries — technology, finance, biotech, federal government — anchor the regional economy. The lowest-earning states are primarily in the South and Appalachia, where historical wage structures, limited industrial diversification, and educational attainment gaps have compounded over generations.

Browse ZIP codes in Maryland → | Browse ZIP codes in Mississippi →

What Drives ZIP Code Income Gaps

The income gap between ZIP codes isn’t random. Several structural forces explain why some communities earn so much more than others.

Industry concentration. The ZIP codes with the highest incomes are almost universally adjacent to high-wage industries — technology, finance, law, medicine, or federal government work. Atherton’s wealth is inseparable from Silicon Valley. Manhattan’s is inseparable from Wall Street. Communities built around lower-wage industries like agriculture, tourism, or retail tend to have lower median incomes, regardless of their residents’ individual circumstances.

Educational attainment. Income and education are tightly correlated at the ZIP code level. Communities in the $85,000 to $110,000 median income range typically feature high shares of college-educated professionals.² Low-income ZIP codes often have lower graduation rates and fewer residents with four-year degrees, which limits access to higher-wage employment and compounds over time as schools in those areas receive less local tax funding.

Remote work is reshaping the map. Between 2020 and 2024, approximately 1,500 ZIP codes saw median household incomes surge by 25% or more, driven largely by high-earning remote workers relocating from expensive coastal cities.² ZIP codes in Austin, Boise, Nashville, and Raleigh-Durham saw some of the largest income gains as tech sector workers brought coastal salaries to mid-cost markets. This is still playing out — and it means the income data on any given ZIP code is more dynamic now than at any point in recent history.

Suburban premium. Suburban ZIP codes adjacent to major metro areas often have the highest median incomes in their regions — combining access to high-wage urban employment with lower housing costs and better school systems than urban cores. Many of the wealthiest ZIP codes outside Manhattan and Silicon Valley are first- and second-ring suburbs.

How to Use Income Data When Evaluating a Move

Whether you’re relocating for work, researching a neighborhood for a home purchase, or just trying to understand a community better, median household income is one of the most useful single data points available.

At ZipCodePlus.com, every ZIP code page displays the median household income for that specific area — sourced from U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey data. Here’s how to use it:

Compare to the national median. A ZIP code with a median income above $81,604 is above average for the country. Significantly below suggests a lower-cost area — but also potentially lower wage employment and less local public funding.

Cross-reference with housing costs. High income in a ZIP code often corresponds to high home values and rents. Look at both the income figure and the median home value side by side. A ZIP like 90210 in Beverly Hills shows an extreme income and home value — neither is accessible to most buyers. A ZIP like 43215 in Columbus, Ohio shows a moderate-but-solid income aligned with genuinely accessible housing.

Understand what income tells you — and what it doesn’t. Median income reflects the midpoint for all households in a ZIP code. It includes retirees, families with multiple earners, and single adults. A ZIP with a high median might have expensive housing that makes it inaccessible for single-income households. A lower-median ZIP in a lower cost-of-living state might actually be more comfortable in practice.

Sources

Page last updated: April 2026. Income figures are sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2024 1-year and 5-year estimates. ZIP-code-level data reflects 2023–2024 ACS releases. Individual ZIP codes are updated on Census Bureau release schedules and may lag current conditions by 1–2 years. Search any ZIP code at ZipCodePlus.com for the most current available income data for that area.

Visual Capitalist / U.S. Census Bureau — ‘Mapped: Median Household Income by State,’ 2024 ACS data, November 2025. https://www.visualcapitalist.com/mapped-median-household-income-by-state/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵
The World Data — ‘Average Income by ZIP Code in the US 2025,’ Census ACS data. https://theworlddata.com/average-income-by-zip-code/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵
Row Zero / U.S. Census Bureau ACS — ‘Income by ZIP Code,’ February 2025. https://rowzero.com/datasets/income-by-zip-code ↩
U.S. Census Bureau — ‘Household Income in States and Metropolitan Areas: 2024,’ September 2025. https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2025/acs/acsbr-025.html ↩
Money Inc. — ‘The 30 Richest ZIP Codes in the U.S. Revealed,’ August 2025. https://moneyinc.com/the-30-richest-zip-codes-in-the-u-s/ ↩
Scribd / Various — ‘500 Wealthiest ZIP Codes in the United States.’ https://www.scribd.com/document/677606775/500-Wealthiest-Zip-Codes-In-The-United-States ↩ ↩² ↩³
Fox LA / PropertyShark — ‘California Home to America’s Richest ZIP Codes,’ October 2025. https://www.foxla.com/news/california-america-richest-zip-codes ↩
United States ZIP Codes — ‘Highest Household Income ZIPs,’ Census ACS 5-year estimates 2023. https://www.unitedstateszipcodes.org/rankings/median_household_income/ ↩