An Honest Day’s Work for an Honest Day’s Pay
We talked yesterday at this time about happiness numbers and how Iowa was the 8th happiest state in the nation. Now comes new data that may help explain why…Iowa ranks number 3 in the country for best pay.
This is according to a group known as business.org … they analyzed the average salary and cost-of-living in each state to find the best and worst paying states.
Iowa is number 3 in America for the best pay. Workers in Iowa make an average salary of $38,280 and have to work 32.8 hours each month…less than one standard work week…in order to afford the average rent payment. Those who live in more expensive states, according to the survey, have to dedicate about twice that just to pay rent on a one-bedroom apartment.
The top-ranked state for best pay is North Dakota, followed by Wyoming…then comes Iowa and South Dakota. In fact, 9 of the top 10 best states are in the Midwest or the West.
The worst state might surprise you…it’s Hawaii. But then the usual suspects check in…California is second worst, then New Jersey and New York. Six of the top 10 worst states to get paid, in fact, are on the East Coast.
I’m really not sure what value these sorts of surveys have. Obviously it’s better to be in the top ten of whatever it is, as opposed to the bottom ten. And that average salary for Iowa sure seems low…but if they are uniformly using the metrics, this survey might again show that we have things pretty good here at home.
