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- What is going on, everyone?
Welcome back to the World According to Briggs
and a video about money.
Have you ever wanted to know
how much the average family makes in different states?
Who hasn't, right?
You're sitting at home wondering if moving to another state
might mean more money,
tired of eating that Nut Master
and hoping you could maybe get up
to some of that top-shelf Nutella,
maybe moving out of one of the states on this list
will help you achieve your life goal of Nutella all the way.
If you're thinking about relocating, this video's for you.
The good news is, the U.S. census
just came out with the latest numbers.
In today's video, we're looking at the states
with the lowest average yearly income for families.
This year's list has a few surprises
and a few of the states that are notorious
for having low wages, well, they're back again.
A city or state with a lower-than-average income
for its people leads to a few different things
and it kind of gives you an outlook on what to expect
if you do move there.
Lower-than-average income means poverty
is a real issue for that location, crime is gonna be higher.
Less income normally means fewer tax dollars,
and that normally leads to less public services
from the local and state governments.
There's so much more that goes into this,
but none of you showed up for economics according to Briggs.
Couple things you should know about this list.
The highest state average annual income is $88,702.
I'd like to tell you what state
has the highest average income, but we're gonna save that
when we do the other side of this list
and look at the states with the highest average income
for a family.
Just so you can gauge where these states sit,
the average household income for 2020
according to the U.S. Census Bureau was $65,712 a year.
That's for the entire family, not just one person.
All right, let's take a look.
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Number 10, South Carolina.
South Carolina has a population
of just over 5 million residents.
And about 14% of them live in poverty.
As we've seen in other videos,
South Carolina is a nice place to live
and has some really nice cities.
The downside is,
a lot of their small towns in rural communities
are really close to the poverty line
or well below the poverty line.
From 2019 to 2020, South Carolina's average household income
dropped a little bit, like most states,
because of the pandemic.
They went from a little over 56,000 on average to 53,199.
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Number nine, Tennessee.
Tennessee has always had some serious poverty issues
and they're not really known for knocking it out of the park
when it comes to salaries.
They do have a lot of people with really unrealistic views
about what's going on in their own state.
I get emails all the time where they think I'm undercutting
how many Californians are moving there.
One guy tried to explain to me
that they gained over a million people last year
all from California.
I tried to explain to Ned how wrong he was,
but he wasn't buying it.
Stats, figures, videos, didn't sway old Ned.
He knew I didn't.
Again, a little under 14% of Tennessee residents
live below the poverty line
and their average annual household income is about $53,320.
Can't even afford much Jack Daniels on that kind of money.
You end up in the woods making your own.
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Number eight, Oklahoma.
We just did a video on tornadoes,
and I was surprised to find
that Oklahoma wasn't in the top 10
for the average amount of tornadoes.
It was really weird.
You'd expect Oklahoma to have a bunch.
No, they don't have a bunch,
and they don't have a bunch of people
making over $60,000 a year either.
Oddly enough, a lot of them are able to afford
really big belt buckles for some reason.
15.2% of Oklahoma's population lives below the poverty line.
They also have one of the highest rates of residents
on public assistance as you can imagine,
and their average annual household income is $52,919.
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Number seven, Kentucky.
If this one surprised you, I wanna congratulate you
on not keeping up with current events since, I don't know,
before prohibition or something like that.
The Bluegrass State
has a long and colorful history with poverty.
Currently, about 16.3% of their population
is living below the poverty line.
In 2020, the average annual income in Kentucky was $50,589.
That's it.
On that kind of money,
you probably have to get a second hand large hat
for the Kentucky Derby.
I always marvel those ridiculously large hats
women wear at that thing.
And before you do, stop typing,
I know not everyone wears one of those hats.
They're still ridiculous!
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Number six, Alabama.
Alabama's a lot like South Carolina.
They have some areas that are really nice
and some cities that make a lot of money.
The downside is, they got a lot of rural communities
and small towns that don't make squat.
15.5% of Alabama's population lives below the poverty line.
And their average annual income is $50,536.
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Number five, New Mexico.
The Land of Enchantment
always seems to show up on negative lists,
especially when you're talking about poverty, low incomes,
crime, and filming locations
for places where they might have to go save Matt Damon.
Watch "The Martian".
Good movie, but it looks a lot like New Mexico.
I mean, it's not all bad, they have great sunsets.
Too bad, 18.2% of the population
lives below the poverty line
and their median annual income is $49,754.
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Number four, Louisiana.
Or as a guy I was in the army with
used to call it, whoisiana.
Louisiana isn't like a pillar of American society
when it comes to high wages.
Like every state, they have a few places
where you could make a good buck, but the reality is,
they are a state with very few high-paying jobs.
And Q, person in the comment section that says,
"I have a high-paying job and I'm in Louisiana."
Congratulations, I wasn't thinking about you
when I made the video.
19% of Louisiana's population lives below the poverty line.
They call Louisiana the Sportsman's Paradise
'cause they got a lot of hunting, a lot of fishing,
things like that.
But on the other hand,
they have a lot of people hunting and fishing
just to eat dinner.
The average annual income in Louisiana is $49,469 a year.
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Number three, Arkansas.
Hey look, everyone, it's our old friend, Arkansas.
Arkansas is a frequent flyer on these negative lists.
So if you see any video with least, worst, or dangerous,
chances are you're gonna see Arkansas.
The poverty rate in Arkansas is 16.2%.
That's not the absolute worst,
but they are in the top 10 for poverty rate.
But to be perfectly honest,
I do believe Arkansas is at the beginning of a turnaround.
And I think in the coming decade or so,
you'll see a big change in that state.
That's just me kind of guessing from what I've seen.
So don't hold me to it 10 years from now.
The average annual income in Arkansas is $47,597.
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Number two, West Virginia.
The mountain state comes in number two
when it comes to the lowest wages.
If you watch this channel long enough
or just about anyone that does lists
or videos about West Virginia,
you know that they have had a terrible run of luck,
I'd say in the last 100 years.
It's only gotten worse in the last couple of decades
with the loss of coal mining jobs and the opioid crisis.
But I still love Charleston.
If I ever wanted to live in a state
where people are okay with bats living in their attic,
I'd probably move to West Virginia.
This one's too bad because I know people from West Virginia,
I know about the people from West Virginia,
and I know what the state looks like.
It has beautiful people and beautiful land.
They've just had incredibly bad luck.
West Virginia has the luck
of a dude proposing on the jumbotron
at a major league baseball game,
as the girl says no and walks away,
he gets hit in the back of the head with a foul ball.
The good news, it's cheap to live there,
so you get cheap land and beautiful land for the most part.
The percentage of people living below the poverty line
in West Virginia is 16%.
Their average annual income is $46,711.
All right, every one, before we get to number one,
don't forget, we have another channel called On This Day.
There's a link down below.
There's also a link for Amazon Audibles.
That is an affiliate link, they're not sponsoring the video.
But if you drive to work or anything like that,
this is something great to have.
I use it all the time 'cause I travel all the time.
All right, on to number one.
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And number one, Mississippi.
Yes, it is Mississippi, The Magnolia State.
They're at number one again
when it comes to something negative.
It's always like a wrestling match between them in Arkansas.
Who's got the most suckage going on?
One thing I do like about Mississippi,
my family's from there, part of my family at least,
and I like the fact that
when I say the word Mississippi differently,
'cause I say it Mississippi, all the time,
Oh my God, my comment section just lights up.
It's kind of a fun experience to tell you the truth.
Mississippi has a long, long, long history
of poverty and low wages.
Last time Mississippi was in the top 10 for best states,
they were part of the Confederacy
and there was only 11 states.
19.6% of Mississippi's population
lives below the poverty line,
and their average annual income is only $45,081.
That's two people trying to make it.
Luckily for Mississippi,
they've got an incredibly low cost living
and their land is some of the cheapest in the nation.
(gentle music)
All right, everyone, that's today's list.
Hope you guys enjoyed it.
Hope you got some information out of it.
Don't forget to leave a comment,
give the video a big thumbs up.
Everybody have a great day.
Be nice to each other.