The 10 Richest Towns in America

Income inequality is becoming the most important economic topic going into this election cycle. The absolute extremes of wealth and poverty are often found in the same area. The annual median household income in the wealthiest towns in America can be as high as three or four times the national median income, and as much as five or six times the income in nearby impoverished communities.

This type of inequality does not occur overnight. To highlight some of the factors that create hyper-wealthy townships, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed income data from some of the wealthiest towns, cities, and boroughs around the country. These places are havens for the nation’s elite, where median home values can exceed $1 million and large proportions of the households earn at least $200,000 annually. These are the richest towns in the country.

Click here to see the richest towns in America.

The richest communities in the country are all quiet suburbs located within commuting distance of a major city, which also offer the most high-paying job opportunities. Four of the 10 wealthiest towns are within commuting distance of New York City, two are close to Dallas, and two are outside of San Francisco.

Being near a major metropolitan area does not guarantee an affluent community. Some of these wealthy towns are just a short drive away from the poorest areas in the country. West University Place, Texas is a suburb of Houston and had an annual median household income of $205,135 and a poverty rate of just 2.3%. South Houston, meanwhile, had a median income of $35,478 and a poverty rate of 32.0%.

One common trend among places with higher income is a greater incidence of households with two earners, and particularly married households with children. There are likely two reasons for this. First, a high rate of two earners per household raises the median household income. Second, people are more likely to raise children in communities they consider to be prosperous, safe, and offering quality education. Of course, only families with a certain level of income have the luxury of these options.

In eight of the 10 wealthiest towns and cities, at least 70% of households consisted of a married couple. At least 30% of married couples in all of these areas had children as well. Nationally, just 48.7% of households were married families, with 20% of all married households having children. In Scarsdale, New York, the wealthiest city, 82.7% of households consisted of a married couple, and nearly half of those had children.

Residents in the wealthiest places in the country are frequently employed in highly-skilled positions in high-paying industries, which require high levels of education. They work in finance positions in New York City or Chicago, or in scientific or other professional careers in the San Francisco Bay Area. The education levels in these communities are especially high. While 86% of adults nationally had at least a high school diploma, at least 97% of adults in the wealthiest city did. Moreover, while 28.8% of adults nationally had at least a bachelor’s degree, more than 70% of adults in nine of the 10 wealthiest cities did. In Winnetka, Illinois, the second wealthiest community, 88% of adults had at least a bachelor’s degree.

To determine the richest towns in the country, 24/7 Wall St. considered median household incomes from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2013 American Community Survey (ACS). Because many towns in the country are small, data can be unreliable. For this reason, all data used are five-year estimates for the period 2009-2013. Still, data can be subject to sampling issues. We did not consider towns where the margin of error at 90% confidence was greater than 10% of the point estimate of both median household income and population. Also from the ACS, we reviewed poverty rates, median home values, educational attainment rates, the shares of households making less than $10,000 and more than $200,000, as well as the percentage of households that are married, and have children. Industry composition of these towns is also from the ACS.

These are the richest cities in America.

10. Orinda city, California
> Median household income: $164,437
> Total population: 18,108
> Median home value: $973,600
> Metropolitan area: San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA

Orinda is located roughly a half hour outside of downtown San Francisco, just a few miles east of Berkeley. This relatively young Bay Area suburb was incorporated in 1985, and is a wealthy community of commuters and their families. With an annual median household income of just under $165,000, more than three times the national figure, it ranks as the 10th-wealthiest community in the United States. Homes in Orinda cost even more than properties in San Francisco, which is already one of the most expensive housing markets in the country. While the median home value in the San Francisco metro area was just over $600,000, it was $973,600 in Orinda. As is the case with most of the wealthy cities on this list, married families make up a much higher proportion of Orinda’s population. Nationally, less than half of all households included a married couple. In Orinda, it was 71.6% of all households.

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9. Ho-Ho-Kus borough, New Jersey
> Median household income: $165,827
> Total population: 4,109
> Median home value: $775,000
> Metropolitan area: New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA

The borough of Ho-Ho-Kus is in central New Jersey, roughly an hour’s commute from Manhattan. It is a small community with a population of less than 5,000 people. There is nearly no poverty in the borough, with an estimated 0.7% of the population living below the poverty line. Nationally, 15.4% of the population lived below the poverty line. Like many of the wealthiest cities, Ho-Ho-Kus’ levels of education surpassed national levels by a wide margin. Just under 98% of adults had at least a high school diploma, compared to 86% of adults nationwide. An even larger gap was in higher levels of education as 71.3% of Ho-Ho-Kus’ adults had a bachelor’s degree or greater, well more than twice the national rate of 28.8%. In nearby Garfield, New Jersey, 18.7% of adults had a bachelor’s degree.

8. Glen Ridge borough, New Jersey
> Median household income: $167,101
> Total population: 7,561
> Median home value: $581,400
> Metropolitan area: New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA

Nearly 40% of households in the borough of Glen Ridge reported incomes of at least $200,000, compared to just 4.8% of households nationwide. Areas with high median household incomes tend to consist of more married families than elsewhere in the country. This was no different in Glen Ridge, where nearly three-quarters of households included a married couple, compared to less than half of households nationwide. Most of these wealthiest communities have large populations of highly-skilled workers. Virtually the entire adult population of the town had at least a high school diploma compared to 86% of adults nationwide. And three out of four area adults had at least a bachelor’s degree, compared with 28.8% of residents 25 or older nationwide.

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7. Essex Fells borough, New Jersey
> Median household income: $171,681
> Total population: 2,115
> Median home value: $820,800
> Metropolitan area: New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA

Yet another New Jersey community to make this list of the wealthiest towns in America, Essex Fells is just a short drive west of Glen Ridge. Essex Fells is a very small community with a population of 2,115. Like its neighboring wealthy communities, very few Essex Fells households reported low incomes. Just 0.7% of households earned less than $10,000, compared to 7.2% of households nationally. At the same time, 38.2% of households earned $200,000 or more, versus 4.8% of all U.S. homes. High concentrations of high incomes are often found in regions with extreme income inequality. The nearby city of Newark, for example, had a nearly 30% poverty rate, 15.6% of households earned less than $10,000, and just 1% earned $200,000 or more.

6. Southlake city, Texas
> Median household income: $172,951
> Total population: 27,006
> Median home value: $514,900
> Metropolitan area: Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX

Southlake, located roughly 25 miles northwest of Dallas, is one of two exceptionally wealthy communities in the proximity of the metro area. While all but one other wealthy area on this list had a median home value of at least $750,000, Southlake had a relatively low median home value of $514,900. Of course, that is still several hundred thousand dollars above the national median home value of $176,700. Like many other especially wealthy U.S. areas, financial well-being in Southlake is not shared by many other communities in the region. In nearby White Settlement, for example, poverty levels are far higher and property values are far lower.

5. University Park city, Texas
> Median household income: $173,520
> Total population: 23,460
> Median home value: $968,300
> Metropolitan area: Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX

As in most of the wealthiest American towns, more than 44% of households in University Park reported incomes of at least $200,000, many times the less than 5% of households across the nation. High levels of education, which tend to open doors to higher paying employment opportunities, may account for many of the region’s high incomes. While just under 29% of adults nationwide had at least a bachelor’s degree, nearly 84% of University Park adults had completed at least a bachelor’s degree. The city is also one of two high-income areas within commuting distance of the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metro area, where residents have access to higher numbers of higher-paying jobs.

4. West University Place city, Texas
> Median household income: $205,136
> Total population: 15,033
> Median home value: $781,300
> Metropolitan area: Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX

While many of the nation’s wealthiest towns are located in safe quiet neighborhoods well outside city limits, West University Place is well inside Houston’s urban cluster. The city had a median home value of $781,000, far above a median of $176,700 nationwide. Residents of these wealthy communities work in a high-skill and high-paying position, and West University Place is no different. The city is one of the most highly-educated communities in the country. Effectively every adult had at least a high school diploma, and 86.5% had at least a bachelor’s degree compared to 28.8% of American adults. More than 26% of West University Place workers were employed in professional, scientific, management, and administrative roles, compared to 10.6% of workers nationwide.

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3. Piedmont city, California
> Median household income: $207,222
> Total population: 10,852
> Median home value: $1,000,000+
> Metropolitan area: San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA

The second San Francisco suburb to make this list is Piedmont, which shares Alameda County with Oakland, located just a few miles away. These two cities are a model case of income disparity in small geographic areas. Oakland had an annual median household income of $52,583. In Piedmont, a typical household earned $207,222. Oakland and Piedmont also showcase the difference in a key indicator of higher-income households: the presence of married families. While just 32.8% of Oakland households included a married couple, 76.9% of Piedmont households did. Piedmont services the Bay Area, and those employed are much more likely to work in the professional and business sectors. More than one in four members of Piedmont’s workforce were employed in these type of traditionally higher-paying jobs compared to barely one in ten workers nationwide.

2. Winnetka village, Illinois
> Median household income: $211,250
> Total population: 12,273
> Median home value: $936,200
> Metropolitan area: Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI

Like all of the wealthiest communities, Winnetka’s population is highly-paid and highly-educated. All but 0.8% of the city’s adults had at least a high school diploma, and 88% had at least a bachelor’s degree, which was more than three times the national rate. The Chicago metropolitan area, where Winnetka is located, is not known for having a particularly expensive housing market — the median home value there was just $206,300, 68th among large metro areas. In Winnetka, however, the median home value was $936,200.

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1. Scarsdale village, New York
> Median household income: $233,311
> Total population: 17,337
> Median home value: $1,000,000+
> Metropolitan area: New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA Dollar Money Icon with Bag. Vector.

Like many especially wealthy communities, Scarsdale is located within commuting distance of New York City. Scarsdale, located in the famously-affluent Westchester County, tops this list with an annual median household income close to four and a half times the national median income of $53,046. Many of the top-paid employees in the New York metropolitan area work in finance, and Scarsdale also has a high concentration of employment in the sector. While 10.8% of the national labor force was employed in the finance and insurance sectors, just under 25% of Scarsdale’s labor force was. Homes are expensive in the New York area with a median value of $392,700. In Scarsdale, the median home was valued at more than $1,000,000.