PHOENIX — Many households in Arizona made more than $3,000 last year than they did in 2019, even when adjusting for inflation.
The American Community Survey single-year estimate, an annual product of the U.S. Census, reports Arizona has a median household income of $74,568. This compares to about $71,363 in inflation-adjusted dollars in 2019.
The pay bump comes to 4.5% from 2019 to 2022. In that same time frame, U.S. median household incomes fell 1% to $74,755.
This ranks Arizona number one among all 50 states, plus Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. Other states seeing rising household incomes of over 3% include Idaho, Montana, and Maine.
The states with the largest drop in median household incomes are Wyoming and Louisiana which fell by 6%. Washington D.C. and Maryland both dropped by 5%.
In the Valley, household incomes are up by 6% since 2019 to $82,884.
The increase has a lot to do with many more Valley residents reporting household incomes of more than $100,000.
High earners in this income bracket grew by 36%, far outpacing the next group of earners from $75,000 to $99,999 which grew by 6%. Income brackets less than $75,000 all fell as a proportion of the Valley’s population.
The strongest correlator with higher income brackets is education attainment.
Valley residents with a four-year degree grew by 9% from 2019 and surpassed those reporting a high school diploma as their highest level of attainment as the largest share of the population.
People holding graduate degrees grew by 13% while people who reported attending college but not graduating and those holding a high school diploma both fell. Even with the changes, people who did not attend or finish college still outnumber those with college degrees by 56% to 44%.
Of the cities and towns with populations over 65,000 the highest median household incomes are almost all located in the East Valley.
Queen Creek has the highest overall median income at over $129,000. Gilbert, Scottsdale, and Chandler are all next on the list.
The only census-designated place in the top five list not located in the East Valley was the City of Surprise. The median household income there jumped over 10% between 2019 and 2022 to $96,000.
