This map shows where Americans have gotten the biggest raises over the last decade

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This map shows where Americans have gotten the biggest raises over the last decade
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  • Washington has seen the highest percent increase in wages from 2010 to 2020.
  • Approve.com used Bureau of Labor Statistics data to track just where salaries have increased the most.
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Massachusetts may have had the largest average annual pay in 2020 at almost $84,000, but Washington has experienced the largest salary growth from 2010 to 2020.

That's based on a recent analysis from Approve.com, which used average annual pay data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to see just how salaries have grown across the US over the last decade.

The following map shows which states have seen average annual pay climb from where they stood a decade ago and where others have not seen as great of a change:

Per Approve.com's analysis, Washington's average annual wage has increased by 58.28% from $48,516. California followed behind Washington where average pay has increased by 49.16% from 2010.

Daniel Zhao, senior economist at Glassdoor, told Insider that the wage growth seen over the decade in these two states could be because of the large tech companies there. For instance, Microsoft's headquarters is in Redmond, Washington. He added "the explosion of the tech sector has really led to faster wage growth for these high-income workers that the tech industry attracts."

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"So software engineers, data scientists, product managers [are] all moving to California and Washington to chase these higher wages, and companies are competing fiercely for that talent because of how hard it is to find workers with those specific skillsets," Zhao said.

Following these two states with large tech sectors was North Dakota, which has seen a boom in oil and gas fracking in the 2010s.

"The state has seen a huge increase in hiring for this sector, but it was very hard to convince workers to move to North Dakota, so employers had to offer very high wages to incentivize people," Bureau of Labor Statistics Division Chief Michael Wolf told CNBC Make It about the oil and fracking boom.

Zhao similarly told Insider that fracking in North Dakota might be contributing to the salary growth there. As Insider previously reported, many people made the move to Williston and Watford City in the state during the oil boom for job opportunities.

Not all states have seen high growth over the decade though. On the other end, Wyoming has seen the lowest percent increase among the states. The average annual pay has increased by 21.50% from $41,963 in 2010.

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Based on the growth seen over just the decade, Approve.com believes that Washington would have the largest salaries in 2030 at $121,545. Massachusetts would still have a large annual salary at $121,379, following right behind Washington's predicted salary.

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