American incomes in 2019 reached an all-time high, with the median household income rising to $65,712. While incomes vary widely from state to state, many have at least one major city in which residents tend to be far wealthier than average.

Using data from the Census Bureau’s 2019 American Community Survey, 24/7 Wall St. identified America’s richest city in every state. We considered all 621 U.S. cities, towns, villages, municipalities, and Census designated places with available data. Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming have no cities covered in the latest Census release and were excluded from the analysis.

Supplemental data on median home value, the percentage of adults age 25 and older with at least a bachelor’s degree, and unemployment also came from the ACS. 

Many of the cities on this list are located within commuting distance of much larger cities and the wider variety of high-paying jobs available there. Another common characteristic in these cities is education. Areas with higher levels of educational attainment tend to have higher incomes, as workers with college degrees are more likely to have high-paying, secure jobs. Nationwide, the typical college-educated worker earns $56,344 a year, well above the median earnings of $41,801 for all workers. Often, the wealthiest city in a given state is also the most educated. This is the most educated city in every state.

The cities on this list also tend to have lower than average annual unemployment rates. However, the economic situation in each of these cities looks very different today than in 2019, when the data was collected, due in large part to the COVID-19 pandemic. The monthly unemployment rate for August 2020 is often more than double what it was a year earlier. With fewer people working, median household incomes have likely decreased as well. These are the cities with the worst COVID-19 unemployment crisis right now.

Click here to see the richest city in every state
Click here to read our methodology