Just looked into which state is the richest in USA and it's way more interesting than I thought. Most people assume it's just about population or big cities, but the actual ranking based on GDP, median income and poverty rates tells a different story.

So California takes the top spot with a $3.6 trillion gross state product, followed by New York at $2.53 trillion and Texas at $2.4 trillion. But here's the thing - if you're looking at which state is the richest by median income, Maryland actually leads with $91,431, followed by Connecticut at $83,572 and New Hampshire at $83,449. That's pretty different from the GDP rankings.

The interesting part is seeing how poverty rates factor in. New Hampshire has the lowest at 7.4%, while Texas has the highest among the top 20 at 14.0%. When economists measure which state is the richest in USA, they're not just looking at total economic output - they consider what that wealth actually means for residents.

Looking at the full top 20 list, you've got a mix of tech hubs like Washington and Massachusetts, traditional manufacturing states like Illinois, and resource-rich states like Alaska and North Dakota. The data's from 2023, so it'll be interesting to see how these rankings shift with recent economic changes. Definitely worth checking if your state made the cut.