Mass. Ranked Fifth Richest State, But How Rich Is Westford?
How did Westford do compared to the rest of Massachusetts and the country?
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Massachusetts' median household income ranked the fifth richest throughout the United States in 2011, according to a recent study presented on DailyFinance.
The Commonwealth, with a median household income of $62,859, trailed only Connecticut, New Jersey, Alaska, and Maryland.
But, how does Westford compare to the state's averages?
The median household income in Westford in 2010, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, was almost double that at an estimated average of $121,168.
During the same time, the state's poverty level was at 10.5 percent, while Westford's poverty level was almost non-existent at 0.8 percent.
In 2011, Massachusetts had the lowest percentage of the population without health insurance, at just 4.3 percent. DailyFinance attributed this to the near-universal health care law signed into office in 2006 by Mitt Romney.
The states with the lowest median household incomes were Alabama, Kentucky, Arkansas, West Virginia, and Mississipi.
Suvie
6:54 am on Monday, October 8, 2012
And yet thanks to mismanagement the money tree is so barren our hardworking public employees (teachers, police and firefighters), we're bullied and strong armed when it came time for the town to honor past negotiations with salary steps, and pathetic if true, but if the town wasn't as broke as claimed all that much more pathetic #longnemoryoflastyearsnegotiations
Randy Winslow
8:39 am on Monday, October 8, 2012
Wow, imagine how far below the poverty line of westford a teacher who lives in town would be. It's crazy that the people of town expect you to educate their children, but not to live here.
Ron Gemma
9:42 am on Monday, October 8, 2012
The Town doesn't tax incomes, it taxes property values. Does the median tax bill would show such a disparity? There are a lot of us who are struggling to pay our property tax bills now. I don't think it's such an easy solution to just raise everyone's property taxes.
Beta
5:07 pm on Monday, October 8, 2012
The McMansion crowd has changed the nature of this towns drastically
Sam
7:02 pm on Monday, October 8, 2012
Ya, those damn high wage earners. The nerve of them increasing tax revenues for the town.
dennis1
5:24 pm on Monday, October 8, 2012
The hardworking public employees get fantastic retirement packages, often able to retire at very high pay ten years earlier than most people. The town can't afford to let that continue.
Randy Winslow
6:12 pm on Monday, October 8, 2012
The town pays very little of towards its employees retirement. Their pensions are mostly funded through their own pay instead of social security. What needs to happen is social security needs to be redirected into better pay for our town employees.
Alex Finnegan
1:00 am on Sunday, October 21, 2012
Dennis can you explain your reasoning or basic numbers for believing that?
Townie
1:16 am on Sunday, October 21, 2012
I would like to start a list, Segway from Dennis' comment, of 'Things the town of Westford can not afford to let continue'
I start with:
1. Spending unsustainable 'grant money' on permanent positions (hello WA resource officer!)
2. Disrespect and propagating misleading info or outright lies regarding teacher salary and negotiations
3. Unchecked sprawl (when does the Walmart, tattoo parlor, pawn shop and 3rd Market Basket move in?)