Real Paycheck › Methodology
Real Paycheck Power Rankings — Methodology
Field: 50 states + D.C.. Accountable official: Governor. Cadence: quarterly. Data retrieved 2026-06-18.
Customer-facing label is 'real take-home pay'. Real earnings = median earnings adjusted to local price level via BEA Regional Price Parities (US=100).
Weights are public so the ranking cannot be called rigged. Each dimension is normalized 0–100 across all ranked states & D.C. (min–max; inverted where lower is better), multiplied by its weight, and summed to the 0–100 composite. A metric that is unavailable for an entity is never estimated — the remaining weights are rescaled and the composite flagged “partial.”
| Dimension | Source | Direction | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Real median earnings (price-adjusted) | Census ACS B20002 ÷ BEA RPP | Higher better ▲ | 35 |
| Cost-of-living level (RPP) | BEA RPP 2024 (US=100) | Lower better ▼ | 20 |
| Wage growth (YoY) | Census ACS B20002 (2022→2023) | Higher better ▲ | 10 |
| State + local tax burden pending | Tax Foundation / Census govs feed pending | — | 20 |
| Minimum wage vs living wage gap pending | MIT Living Wage dataset download pending | — | 15 |
Provenance
Primary source: U.S. Census Bureau (ACS) + U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (RPP) · https://api.census.gov/data/.