Over the last few weeks, I have been looking at various data to judge how Minnesota’s economy and Minnesotans economically have fared since Gov. Walz took office in January, 2019. But a measure like GDP per capita might seem a little abstract to many, never mind the fact that, like any mean average, it can be skewed by outliers. Perhaps, to get a measure of how the average Minnesotan is faring, we need to look at a more immediate measure, like median household income.
The good news is that, according to Census Bureau data, in 2024, Minnesota had a median household income higher than in 38 out of 50 states, as Figure 1 shows.
Figure 1: Median household income, 2024
But the direction of travel is concerning. Minnesota’s median household income in 2024 — $92,350 — was down 6.4% from its peak in 2019, $98,680. As Figure 2 shows, only four states have performed worse on this measure over this period. As a result of this, Minnesota’s “premium” in median household income — its level minus that of the United States generally — is down from $16,850 in 2022 to $8,620 in 2024, its lowest level since 2010.
Figure 2: Change in real median household income, 2019 to 2024
Looking at this more “immediate” measure, the years since 2019 have been brutal for Minnesotans finances, worse than for the United States generally.
