--- title: States President Barack Obama Won in 2012 Have Wealthiest Residents description: States with more wealthy people are more likely to vote Democratic canonical: https://time.com/2837593/blue-states-barack-obama-won-in-2012-have-more-rich-than-red-states/ author: Kiran Dhillon article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-06-06T14:26:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:49:49.787Z article:section: Politics og:title: States President Barack Obama Won in 2012 Have Wealthiest Residents og:description: States with more wealthy people are more likely to vote Democratic og:url: https://time.com/2837593/blue-states-barack-obama-won-in-2012-have-more-rich-than-red-states/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: States President Barack Obama Won in 2012 Have Wealthiest Residents twitter:description: States with more wealthy people are more likely to vote Democratic twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Blue States Barack Obama Won in 2012 Have More Rich Than Red States by [Kiran Dhillon](https://time.com/author/kiran-dhillonfind-the-beast/) ## Kiran Dhillon Jun 6, 2014 2:26 PM UTC by [Kiran Dhillon](https://time.com/author/kiran-dhillonfind-the-beast/) ## Kiran Dhillon Jun 6, 2014 2:26 PM UTC States that voted for Democrat Barack Obama in the 2012 presidential election have, on average, a higher percentage of households that make $150,000 per year, and a lower percentage of households that make $25,000 or less per year, than the red states that supported Republican Mitt Romney, according to U.S. Census data collected by research engine [FindTheBest](http://findthebest.com).  _Note, the U.S. Census defines household as people who occupy a single housing unit._ The data shows that the percentage of households in blue states that make over $150,000 per year—11%—is slightly above the national average of 9.4%. Blue states also account for all but one of the top 17 states by percentage of households in the highest income bracket, with Alaska (12.8%) being the only red state to make the list. Red states, on the other hand, fall slightly below the national average, at 6.9%, and account for all but one (Maine, 5.6%) of the bottom 12 states by percentage of households making at least $150,000 per year. **So which states have the most (and least) households making $150,000?** The highest earner is D.C.—a blue district, not a state—where 20 percent of households make over $150,000 per year. One secret to D.C.’s high income might be its high concentration of well-educated individuals, where 53% of the population holds a bachelor’s degree, well above the national average of 28%. Ranking in spot two is New Jersey, where 18% of households make over $150,000 per year. Once you factor in the cost of living however, those high incomes don’t sound quite as lofty. 68% of homeowners—compared to the national average of 32%—spend more than $2,000 in homeowner costs per month. At the bottom of the list is West Virginia, where only 3.9% of households are in the highest bracket. It’s also dead last for well-being out of all 50 states, according to the 2013 [Gallup-Healthways Well Being Index](http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/162029/file-534269477-pdf/Gallup-Healthways%5FState%5FRankings%5FReport%5F2013.pdf?&%5F%5Fhssc=242697629.1.1393779230778&%5F%5Fhstc=242697629.1a4b982b03639796d9d8352401e56a00.1393776938025.1393776938025.1393779230778.2&hsCtaTracking=a706f830-bf12-4782-8a6e-51fc2e144974%7C19bf7b53-67e4-425c-8245-3192cae5cf6d). Scroll over any state in the map below to find the percentage of households in the $150,000 or higher income bracket. FindTheBest also crunched the numbers for percentage of households making below $25,000 per year.  States that voted blue ranked better than red states for percentage of households making $25,000 or less per year (21.6% vs. 25.9%); putting blue states 1.7 percentage points below the national average of 23.3%, and red states 2.6 percentage points above it. Additionally, whereas the highest earning states were almost completely blue, the lowest earning states are almost completely red—New Mexico (with 28.3% making $25,000 or less) being the only blue state among the 14 lowest earners. **As for the poorest states?** West Virginia comes close to ranking the most poorly again, with 32% of households making less than $25,000, but Mississippi (also ranking poorly on the Gallup-Healthways Well Being Index, in 48th place) outpaces it, at 34%. To see the percentage for every state, scroll over the map below. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2837593/blue-states-barack-obama-won-in-2012-have-more-rich-than-red-states/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2837593/blue-states-barack-obama-won-in-2012-have-more-rich-than-red-states/"},"headline":"Blue States Barack Obama Won in 2012 Have More Rich Than Red States","datePublished":"2014-06-06T14:26:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:49:49.787Z","description":"The states with most poor residents tend to vote red, and those with the richest vote blue.","url":"https://time.com/2837593/blue-states-barack-obama-won-in-2012-have-more-rich-than-red-states/","keywords":["States","elections","Election","President Obama","income"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Kiran Dhillon","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/kiran-dhillonfind-the-beast/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/states/","name":"States"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2837593/blue-states-barack-obama-won-in-2012-have-more-rich-than-red-states/","name":"Blue States Barack Obama Won in 2012 Have More Rich Than Red States"}}]}] ```