State median income..................

Each state has a so-called median income, but does the bankruptcy law take into consideration what part of the state you live in?
Think about it - if you live in a major metropolitan area like the San Francisco Bay Area, California's median income provision will keep you in the poorhouse and probably send you to the soup/food lines - while 100 miles north of San Francisco the state's median income allows a more or less comfortable lifestyle.

Short answer...no.

Each state has a so-called median income, but does the bankruptcy law take into consideration what part of the state you live in? As NoName says, the answer is no. However, when you file, an addendum can be added to your forms to document significant differences in your actual expenses to what the bk law mandates.

We're in this exact situation. We live in the second largest city in a mostly rural state. Our state's median income for one person is about $37,000, but the median income in our city is about $60,000 - see http://realestate.yahoo.com/Neighborhoods if you're curious about the average income and living expenses for your own neighborhood.

We can all thank our 2005 Congress for this significant black hole in the new "consumer protection" bankruptcy law. What a misnomer!

Makes me sick!! I just put mine in!!!

Median Household Income $96,020
State Median: $42,350.95

left is mine and right is national avg:

Cost of Living Index 107.8 99.52
Average Yearly Utility Cost 5492 3196.27
Average Household Total Consumer Expenditures $76208 per year $41075.28 per year
Average Household Education Expenditures $899 per year $450.93 per year
Average Household Entertainment Expenditures $4110 per year $2207.08 per year
Average Household Transportation Expenditures $2846 per year $1563.85 per year
Average Household Retail Expenditures $36032 per year $18600.46 per year
Average Household Non-RetailExpenditures $40176 per year $22474.81 per year

To some extent, the Median Income is "balanced" by your allowable costs to live.

Check out #2 here:

http://www.usdoj.gov/ust/eo/bapcpa/20070201/meanstesting.htm

For example,.......... Rent/Mortgage allowable for a 1 person household in California,.........

Colusa County is $650/mo whereas Marin County is $1808.

So even tho the Median Income is constant, the costs to live in different parts of the same State do vary.

It can be some help in passing the Means Test to qualify for Ch 7.