Income and Poverty: U.S. County Extremes Compared

In Loudoun County, Virginia, the median household earns $178,707 a year. In Las Marías Municipio, Puerto Rico, that figure drops to $16,170. Those two counties sit at opposite poles of the U.S. income spectrum, and the gap between them is more than 11 to one. Across 3,220 counties in this dataset, the national median household income is $63,162, while the median poverty rate stands at 13.4%. Yet averages obscure the extremes, and for income and poverty, the extremes tell the real story.

Counties with the Highest Median Household Income

The counties at the top of the income ladder tend to cluster around major metropolitan areas, drawing on high concentrations of professional and managerial workers. The five highest-income counties in the dataset are:

1. Loudoun County, Virginia — $178,707
2. Santa Clara County, California — $159,674
3. San Mateo County, California — $156,000
4. Falls Church city, Virginia — $154,734
5. Fairfax County, Virginia — $150,113

These communities share a common profile: proximity to dense job markets, strong educational attainment among residents, and housing markets that reflect the premium on location. Loudoun County, Virginia in Virginia leads the nation at $178,707, more than three times the national median.

Counties with the Lowest Median Household Income

At the other end of the spectrum, low-income counties are concentrated in regions with limited economic diversification, persistent employment gaps, and constrained local tax bases. The five counties with the lowest median household incomes are:

1. Las Marías Municipio, Puerto Rico — $16,170
2. Guánica Municipio, Puerto Rico — $16,210
3. Comerío Municipio, Puerto Rico — $17,254
4. Vieques Municipio, Puerto Rico — $17,531
5. Utuado Municipio, Puerto Rico — $17,624

Las Marías Municipio, Puerto Rico in Puerto Rico records the lowest figure in the dataset at $16,170, a stark contrast with the national median. In many of these counties, poverty rates track closely with income levels, compounding disadvantage across generations.

Where Poverty Rates Are Highest

Median income and poverty rate do not always move together perfectly, but they are closely correlated. The five counties with the highest share of residents living below the poverty line are:

1. Guánica Municipio, Puerto Rico — 64.7%
2. Adjuntas Municipio, Puerto Rico — 61.9%
3. Vieques Municipio, Puerto Rico — 59.5%
4. Ciales Municipio, Puerto Rico — 58.2%
5. Jayuya Municipio, Puerto Rico — 54.9%

Guánica Municipio, Puerto Rico in Puerto Rico records a poverty rate of 64.7%, meaning nearly one in three residents falls below the federal poverty threshold. Nationally, 132 counties report poverty rates above 30 percent, a level that signals structural economic stress rather than cyclical downturn.

Where Poverty Rates Are Lowest

Some counties have managed to bring poverty rates to remarkably low levels, often combining high-wage employment bases with strong public-sector investment and geographic advantages. The five counties with the lowest poverty rates are:

1. Morgan County, Utah — 1.7%
2. Stanley County, South Dakota — 2.1%
3. Sterling County, Texas — 2.7%
4. Los Alamos County, New Mexico — 2.9%
5. Nantucket County, Massachusetts — 3.0%

In Morgan County, Utah, just 1.7% of residents live in poverty. Counties at this end of the distribution are not necessarily the wealthiest in absolute terms, but they have achieved broad economic inclusion that the highest-income counties do not always match.

The Takeaway

The income and poverty gap across U.S. counties is not a minor statistical variation. With median household incomes ranging from $16,170 to $178,707 and poverty rates spanning from 1.7% to 64.7%, the data reveal two Americas operating under fundamentally different economic conditions. Exploring county-level profiles is the clearest way to understand where these conditions exist and what drives them.

Data source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (ACS) 5-Year Estimates