The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. That cliché summarizes the wealth gap in post-recession America according to WalletHub.com, which conducted an in-depth analysis of 2014's Richest and Poorest States.

(Purestock, ThinkStock)
(Purestock, ThinkStock)
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In fact, the richest one percent of Americans are capturing 95 percent of growth since the recession, while the bottom 90 percent are getting poorer. New Jersey tied Washington D.C. for the top spot in the country for wealth.

The survey ranked the 50 states and the District of Columbia based on income, gross domestic product (GDP) per capita and federal tax dollars paid per capita.

"New Jersey did really well across the board as 9.7 percent of Garden State residents have an income of more than $200,000. That's the second highest in the country proceeded only by Washington D.C. at 12 percent," said Jill Gonzalez, spokesperson for WalletHub.com.  "That's what really put New Jersey on the leaderboard."

Other findings include:

  • New Jersey had the second highest percentage of households earning $200,000 or more.
  • New Jersey had the fourth highest percentage of households earning $100,00- $200,000.
  • 28.7 percent of New Jerseyans make between $50,000 and $100,000 per year.
  • 18.5 percent make between $25,000 and $50,000, the fourth lowest percentage in the country

On average, New Jersey residents pay about $14,000 in federal taxes per year, which is fifth highest overall in the country.

"Even though it's a small state in size, New Jersey has 9,000,000 people crammed in it, so it's going to have a lot of tax revenue coming in. Collectively, New Jersey brought in more than $128 billion in taxes last year," she said.

Rounding out the bottom of the list was New Mexico, South Carolina, Alabama, West Virginia and Mississippi.

"These states had the lowest percentages of households earning $200,000 and more and they had the highest percentages of households earning between $25,000 and $50,000 a year," Gonzalez said.

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