While median household income in the United States has increased over the past several years, this increase is not reflective of the country as a whole. The median annual income of a U.S. family is $57,617, as reported by the Census Bureau. However, in some American metropolises, over half of all households have annual incomes above $70,000. Join ViewCation as we rank the richest cities in the U.S.
New York City, New York States
New York City is home to more people than any other American city and is also one of the richest in the country. The median annual household income in the metro area is $71,897, which is more than the median income in any other metro area in New York state and significantly higher than the national median income of $57,617. However, the high cost of living more than makes up for the region’s relatively high salaries. The New York-Newark-Jersey City metropolitan area has a price premium of around 22% over the national median for consumer goods and services.
Over 345,000 billionaires make New York City the wealthiest city in the world, according to a recent study.
According to a survey by Henley & Partners, an investment migration consultancy organization, New York City is home to a staggering 737 centimillionaires and 59 billionaires. Residents of New York City are in possession of more than $3 trillion in total private wealth.
A variety of high-paying sectors, most notably finance, are headquartered in New York City. Among the biggest shares of any U.S. metropolitan area, 9.2% of the workforce in the metro area is employed in the financial sector, insurance sector, or real estate sector.
San Francisco, California.
Among the world’s wealthiest metropolitan areas, the San Francisco Bay Area ranks third and is home to the second-wealthiest city in the United States. The San Francisco Bay area, which includes Silicon Valley, is home to an estimated 276,400 millionaires, 623 centimillionaires, and 62 billionaires.
Annual household income in the San Francisco area is $96,677. San Francisco has one of the country’s lowest unemployment rates, at just 2.7% of the working-age population.
The cost of living is relatively high in San Francisco, but this is typical of areas with high salaries. With an average property price of just under $800,000, housing costs are significantly high. This is over four times the median home price in the United States. Incomes in the Bay Area are high enough, however, to more than cover the region’s high cost of living.
San Jose, California.
It’s no exaggeration to say that the San Jose metropolitan region is among the three most affluent cities in the United States. The region has a median income of more than $13,000 higher than neighbouring San Francisco. The southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area is known as Silicon Valley, and much of it is located inside San Jose. The area’s excellent standard of living can be attributed to the headquarters of some of the world’s most successful and forward-thinking corporations being located there. Adobe Systems, Apple, Intel, Lockheed Martin, and NASA are just a few of the major employers in the area. More than one-quarter of the metro area’s workforce is employed in the information sector or the professional, scientific, and management sectors. In the United States as a whole, only 13.5 percent of the workforce is engaged in these industries.
Southlake, Texas
Southlake, a Dallas/Fort Worth suburb, with an estimated 2019 population of 31,292 individuals, with 69.7% of adults having earned a bachelor’s degree or more. Southlake’s rapid development throughout the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s can be attributed in large part to the city’s closeness to DFW International Airport, which opened in the 1970s and has since been a major economic driver in the region. The poverty rate in this city is extremely low, ranking at just 2.5%, making it the 11th lowest out of 1,775 communities.
From 2013 to 2019, the average price of a home in Southlake rose consistently, but in the past three years, that gain has accelerated, as reported by Zillow. As of right now, a home in Southlake would set you back an average of $1,047,548.
Los Altos, California
Los Altos, whose name translates to “The Heights” in English, is a neighbourhood in the San Francisco Bay Area that borders the western edge of Silicon Valley. With a population of just over 30,500, most of whom are commuters, Los Altos ranks as the fourth most highly educated city in the entire country. 84.2% of its adult population has earned a bachelor’s degree or above. Los Altos takes pride in having the 24th lowest poverty rate of 1,775 communities, at only 2.8%, despite its proximity to San Francisco (a city notorious for homelessness).
Los Altos may not be the wealthiest city in the United States, but it does have the highest median property value. More than $2,000,000 was the median value of a property in 2019, and in 2022, Zillow estimates that the same city in California would have a median home value of $4,150,436.
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va.
There is not a metropolitan area on the East Coast that has a population that is more prosperous than the greater Washington, DC area. The district’s metropolitan region, which encompasses parts of three states (Virginia, Maryland, and West Virginia), has a median household income of more than $95,000. D.C. is home to many high-paying government, legal, and other professional occupations because of its status as the nation’s capital. It has the second-greatest percentage of workers in the professional, scientific, and management sectors of any metropolitan region in the country, at over 20%. The Washington, DC, metro region is one of just eight in the country, where more than 50% of adults hold a bachelor’s degree or higher.
Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, Connecticut.
Fairfield County, which includes the cities of Bridgeport, Stamford, and Norwalk in Connecticut, is home to a large number of well-off professionals who work in New York City. The percentage of households in the county with annual incomes of $200,000 or more is around 20%, ranking it third highest among metro areas and three times the national average. In contrast, Bridgeport, one of the poorest cities in the country, is located in this metro area. There is poverty in Bridgeport, but not enough to prohibit the city from becoming the fourth wealthiest in the United States.
University Park, Texas
The suburb of University Park in Dallas, Texas is most widely recognized as the location of Southern Methodist University, a private institution with a national reputation for excellence. It’s no wonder that University Park, a city known for its many colleges, has the highest education ranking in the country, with 87.8 percent of individuals holding a bachelor’s degree or higher. Despite the city’s exceptional wealth and high education rate, it has a greater poverty rate than most other wealthy cities, coming in at 3.9%, ranking it #109 out of 1,775 metro areas.
The median property price in University Park is $1,792,211, and Zillow predicts that demand will peak between 2020 and 2022.
Potomac, Maryland
It should come as no surprise that Potomac, Maryland, is one of the wealthiest areas in the United States, given that it has its very own reality show dedicated to the topic of money: The Real Housewives of Potomac. The city is home to about 45,000 people, and its proximity to the nation’s capital means that many of its citizens work there. Additionally, 80.6% of the adult population has earned a bachelor’s degree or above. One of the largest employers in Potomac is Total Wine & More, which is located in neighbouring Bethesda, Maryland, another of the wealthiest cities in the United States.
According to Zillow, the value of a typical residence in the city of Potomac in the year 2022 is estimated to be $1,186,488.
Boston, Massachusett.
Greater Boston, where Massachusetts’ state capital is located, is the second wealthiest metro area in New England and among the top ten wealthiest in the United States. Boston region households had a median annual income of $82,380, approximately $25,000 higher than the national median of $57,617.
Nearly one hundred thousand degrees were conferred by the universities in and around the Boston area in 2015. This includes notable names like Boston University, Harvard, and Northeastern. Because of this, the metro area is home to some of the most highly educated people in the country. In this location, nearly half of all adults (46.9%) hold a bachelor’s degree or more, compared to just 31.3% of all U.S. adults.
Anchorage, Alaska
Not everyone enjoys the cold, gloomy winters and mild summers that Alaska is known for. Despite that, Anchorage is by far the most populated city in Alaska, and its residents enjoy relatively high salaries even when the weather is at its worst. When compared to the average U.S. household, the average income of an anchoring family is higher by around $25,000. However, the high expense of living in the state can be attributed in part to the difficulty and high cost of moving commodities across the state’s rugged landscape. Anchorage, Alaska, is home to some of the nation’s wealthiest people, even after accounting for the expense of living there.
Westport, Connecticut
Westport is a well-liked location for individuals who want to work in the city but reside outside of it because it is situated along the Long Island Sound and is only 52 miles northeast of New York City. Seventy-eight percent of Westport’s adult population has completed at least a four-year college program. Fun fact: once upon a time, F. The affluent allure of Westport was bolstered by the fact that it was home to both Scott Fitzgerald and Martha Stewart.
Zillow predicts that by 2022, Westport property values will have risen to $1,420,125 from the current estimated value of $1,150,000.
Saratoga, California
Saratoga, like neighboring Los Altos, is part of the wider San Jose metropolitan area. It is beneath the San Francisco Bay’s southwest shore, on the outskirts of Silicon Valley. There were 30,697 people living in Saratoga as of 2019. Roku, See’s Candies, and a number of software businesses are just a few of the large corporations with local operations in the city. It comes as no surprise that living expenses in Saratoga are high. The median house value in 2022 is estimated at $3,742,407 on Zillow, making it the second most expensive area in the Bay Area after Los Altos.
Urban Honolulu, Hawaii
There are two major metropolitan centres in Hawaii, but Honolulu is by far the wealthiest. Annual household income is $80,513, which is higher than all but six other U.S. cities. Living expenses are the highest of any major city in the United States, which helps to offset the high wages to some extent. In urban Honolulu, prices are on average, 25% more than they are in the rest of the country. The high cost of housing has a major impact on overall living expenses. A property in a major metropolitan location can cost upwards of $658,900, which is more than three times the national average.
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, Calif.
The median household income in the Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura metropolitan region is $81,560, making it one of only eight metro areas in the United States to reach this milestone. The high cost of living in the area means that most residents need high incomes to make ends meet. The metro area generally features prices that are 16 percent more than the national median for similar goods and services. The expense of housing is a major contributor to the high overall cost of living in this region. To put it another way, the median home value in the United States is $205,000, but the average home in the Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura area is worth around $561,400.
California-Lexington Park, Md.
When it comes to metropolitan areas, California-Lexington Park in California is the richest. The median household income in the metro region is $78,195, which is comparable to the median income in the state of $78,945 and significantly higher than the national median income of $57,617.
But unlike most prosperous metro regions, California-Lexington Park does not have a disproportionately high percentage of residents with advanced degrees. When compared to the national average of 31.3% and the state average of 39.3%, the percentage of area adults with a bachelor’s degree is significantly lower, at just 26.1%.
Brentwood, Tennessee
Obviously, prosperous cities do not simply exist on the South, East, and West coasts. The Nashville suburb of Brentwood also makes the cut for this list. The majority of Brentwood’s 42,407 residents have at least a bachelor’s degree, making it one of the most educated cities in the United States.
There are a lot of famous people living there. Dolly Parton, Keith Urban, Taylor Swift, and Sheryl Crow have all made the affluent metropolis their home at some point in their lives. You might be shocked to learn that the median property value in Brentwood is $1,064,755, significantly lower than the residences in the wider San Jose area, considering the number of famous people who have lived there.
There you have it. It’s now time to hear from you. Did your metro area or hometown make the cut?