A new interactive graphic created by FlowingData shows what people do and what they get paid in each state and in the country as a whole.  The graphic is based on employment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Users can select a state from the drop-down menu, hover over an occupational area to see the estimated employment and median annual salary for that occupation, and adjust the median annual salary slider to get a sense of which occupations have median salaries above that level.

To access the interactive version of this graphic, go to: http://flowingdata.com/2014/07/02/jobs-charted-by-state-and-salary/

This interactive tool provides an easy way to see which sectors (and within them, which occupations) dominate a state's economy: watch the size of the production sector shrink as you compare Indiana and Maryland, for example.  You can also see, at a glance, where the highest earning occupations are in a given state, and how median annual salaries vary from state to state for a given occupation.  For instance, the median annual salary for police and sheriff's patrol officers is $39,440 in Alabama, but $90,880 in New Jersey.

Read more:
http://flowingdata.com/2014/07/02/jobs-charted-by-state-and-salary/
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/08/01/chart-of-the-week-which-states-has-the-most-nurses-and-where-are-they-paid-the-most/

TeachingwithData.org resources:
Occupational Sex Segregation and Earnings Differences (http://www.teachingwithdata.org/resource/3109)
Economy Track: Employment to Population Ratio (http://www.teachingwithdata.org/resource/2936)
Gallup Interactives: Global Employment Tracking (http://www.teachingwithdata.org/resource/3898)