Pop quiz: Which U.S. state had the highest median income in 2016?

New York or California, perhaps, home to some of the nation's wealthiest cities? Maryland or Virginia, with their Washington suburbs flush with government cash? Alaska, home of the famous oil revenue checks for every man, woman and child?

All of those guesses are wrong, according to the latest 2016 income data released by the U.S. Census. The correct answer, believe it or not:

New Hampshire.

The Granite State's median household income last year was a whopping $76,260, nearly 30 percent higher than the national median of $59,039, according to the Census.

The typical New Hampshire household earned $35,000 a year more than the typical household in the country's poorest state, Mississippi, where the median income is $41,099. Put another way, the median income in Mississippi today is about as low as the median income in New Hampshire 20 years ago, in 1997 ($40,998).

One of the chief drivers of New Hampshire's high median income is its poverty rate, which is the lowest in the nation. Only 6.9 percent of the state's residents live below the poverty line, compared with a national average of 13.7 percent (in Mississippi nearly 21 percent of people live in poverty).

New Hampshire's workforce is also among the best-educated in the country, according to previously released census data. Better-educated workers tend to make more money.

Connecticut is the second-highest-earning state, with a median household income of $75,923. Alaska, Maryland and Massachusetts round out the top five.

Conversely, the lowest-earning states are clustered in the South. They include Mississippi ($41,099), along with Louisiana ($42,196), West Virginia ($44,354), Kentucky ($45,369) and Arkansas ($45,907). Alabama is the sixth lowest-earning state ($47,221).

One word of caution: These are survey data, and like all surveys the income figures are subject to sampling error. In all but the largest states, the margin of error around the income numbers is in the $1,000 to $3,000 range. Differences between the states of a few hundred dollars don't mean a whole lot.

It's also worth noting that the Census's median household income numbers differ from the per capita income figures published by other federal agencies, such as the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Each data set has its own strengths and weaknesses, but overall their contours are similar. New Hampshire comes out looking pretty good in both, for instance.

In the census data, New Hampshire's strong showing is consistent from year to year - it hasn't fallen out of the top five median household income states in the past decade.

Median household ncome by state, 2016 ($):

Alabama 47,221

Alaska 75,723

Arizona 57,100

Arkansas 45,907

California 66,637

Colorado 70,566

Connecticut 75,923

D.C. 70,982

Delaware 58,046

Florida 51,176

Georgia 53,527

Hawaii 72,133

Idaho 56,564

Illinois 61,386

Indiana 56,094

Iowa 59,094

Kansas 56,810

Kentucky 45,369

Louisiana 42,196

Maine 50,856

Maryland 73,760

Massachusetts 72,266

Michigan 57,091

Minnesota 70,218

Mississippi 41,099

Missouri 55,016

Montana 57,075

Nebraska 59,374

Nevada 55,431

New Hampshire 76,260

New Jersey 68,468

New Mexico 48,451

New York 61,437

North Carolina 53,764

North Dakota 60,184

Ohio 53,985

Oklahoma 50,943

Oregon 59,135

Pennsylvania 60,979

Rhode Island 61,528

South Carolina 54,336

South Dakota 57,450

Tennessee 51,344

Texas 58,146

Utah 67,481

Vermont 60,837

Virginia 66,451

Washington 70,310

West Virginia 44,354

Wisconsin 59,817

Wyoming 57,829