Money goes further in some states than others. Here is one way demonstration.
The Tax Foundation released a map showing the relative value of $100 in every state (compared with the national average using the data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis).
The same amount of dollars are worth almost 40 percent more in Mississippi than in D.C., and the differences become even larger if metro area prices are considered instead of statewide averages," writes the Tax Foundation. "A person who makes $40,000 a year after tax in Kentucky would need to have after-tax earnings of $53,000 in Washington, D.C., just in order to have an equal standard of living, let alone feel richer.
Here's the map:
The states with the smallest relative value of $100 were:
- Washington, D.C. ($84.60)
- Hawaii ($85.32)
- New York ($86.66)
- New Jersey ($87.64)
- California ($88.57)
While the states with the largest relative value of $100 were:
- Mississippi ($115.74)
- Arkansas ($114.16)
- Missouri ($113.51)
- Alabama ($113.51)
- South Dakota ($113.38)
