The US is a large, diverse population across a large land area. Major variation is to be expected.

But there is also that famous stat that income in Mississippi is on par with Britain or France.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2016/03/07/still-tr...

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/its-great-to-live-in-t...

I agree with deepsun that the comparison factor is huge here:

https://www.optimallyirrational.com/p/the-aim-of-maximising-...