At a median household income of $68,432, New Jersey is tied for the country’s highest in 2009, with Maryland at $69,272 and Alaska at $66,953, according to an annual assessment by the U.S. Census Bureau that polls about 3 million people.
The national median was $50,221. Those with the lowest median household income were Mississippi at $36,646 and West Virginia at $37,435.
In New Jersey, household income fell 2.3 percent between 2008 and 2009, but that was below the national average of 2.9, according to the survey.
Businessweek reported that New Jersey’s poverty rate took a jump in 2009 — 9.4 percent of New Jersey residents are below the poverty level of $22,000 for a family of four. In 2008, it was 8.7 percent. The federal poverty rate is 17.8 percent.
Camden, New Jersey, was ranked one of the most impoverished cities in the nation, with 53.6 percent of its residents living in poverty.
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