06/10/2026
D.C. workers earn $2,393 per week while Mississippi workers earn $1,005. But the paycheck only tells half the story. What it buys tells the rest.
Georgia averages $1,349 per week and Tennessee $1,327, both below the national average of $1,459.
Washington state leads all 50 states at $1,923, driven by Amazon, Microsoft, and Boeing anchoring the Seattle metro.
California at $1,815 and Massachusetts at $1,818 round out the top tier, fueled by tech, biotech, and financial services.
On paper, Georgia and Tennessee look like they lag behind. In practice, those weekly wages go further than nearly anywhere in the top 10. A $1,349 weekly paycheck in Atlanta covers housing at 24% of income, taxes at 8.2%, and still leaves 25.3% after all expenses. That same $1,815 in California gets consumed by 43% housing costs, 9.2% tax burden, and leaves just 10.9% after expenses. For business owners in the Southeast, this wage data cuts both ways. Lower average wages mean lower payroll costs, which directly improves margins and business valuations at exit. A service company in Chattanooga running the same revenue as a competitor in Connecticut is likely more profitable because labor, rent, and operating costs are structurally lower. Business buyers evaluating acquisitions in Tennessee and Georgia should be looking at margins relative to local wage rates, not comparing raw revenue to coastal benchmarks.
