Inequality is growing in the United States. This article examines the relationship between innovation strategies and wage inequality at state level in the US. State science and technology strategies usually aim to add high-skill, high-wage jobs to the local economy. When they succeed, therefore, they threaten to increase wage inequality. Alternative innovation strategies are possible, including ‘good job’ strategies that focus on creating jobs in the middle of the wage distribution, and ‘better life’ strategies that improve living conditions for those at the low end of the wage scale and for the unemployed.