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Interesting, its mostly counties surrounding Washington DC. This really shows the long term effect of our bloated Federal government on the country.
We are taking money out of the hands of struggling working people across the country in order to benefit well-paid government bureaucrats in the Washington DC area.
High median income does not = rich. If there is one thing Washington Metro has is lots of cushy and uniformly middle class neighborhoods, but not too many rich people which is evident by it's relatively low ranking when it comes to # or % of high-net worth households compared to metros like New York and the Bay Area according to the Capgemini Metro Wealth Index.
None of those counties are as rich as counties like Manhattan, Westchester, Fairfield County, Marin, San Mateo.
Correct, this list is for the medianhousehold income. Averageper capita income in New York county (Manhattan) is $120,000. Also, personal per capita income in Manhattan is $147,000.
Well the problem with the list is that it is based on counties as the level of measurement.
Counties very vastly different in size, how they were created, and how the state legislatures originally drew the political lines the way they did.
You have many counties out there that have a really rich population in one area, but a really poor, or middle class county in another. This can have an effect on the median and average.
I think what is happening here isn't that DC is incredibly rich, but there is a consistent upper middle class fairly homogeneous suburban counties without any poor extremes to. Being near the source of government most people work in professional based positions that require advanced degrees and tend to pay higher.
If you look at the richest zip codes in the U.S. the landscape changes dramatically, but this level of measurement isn't without its flaws either.
I'm going to pick a local example. I'm from Atlanta. In the top 25 list you have Forsyth County. It doesn't have alot of really rich people in it, but most people in the suburban areas of that county have about the same amount of wealth. The richest zip code is in Buckhead in the city of Atlanta. It is one of the top 10 richest zip codes in the U.S. Forsyth County does not have the kind of wealth Buckhead has by large amount, but the county Buckhead is in is a far leap from ever being one of the richest counties.
Manhattan is a great example within itself. The median income is only $47,000, but there is alot of really rich wealth in parts of Manhattan that would rival most other places.
^^ I agree with your points, the wealthiest county in the Philly area (Chester) is a mid to upper middle class county (though includes downingtown with many below poverty level) but the main Line of Montco would be the wealthiest area, it includes two of the 7 wealthiest (not income wealth) zips in the country but most of this is very old money tied to trust funds and railroad, chemical, and steel money, but also includes areas like Norristown and Cheltenhem which have significantly lower incomes etc and many under the poverty line.
Having said that the counties around DC are large on this list some over a million and many of the counties in the North East range from 500K to 1.2 million, not exactly small populations.
I agree with CWKIMBRO - zipcode might be a better indicator of real wealth. counties are huge and paint a huge brush over everything. One reason you don't see LA or Chicago there is because they are in respective mega-counties that encompass their whole areas.
I live in Fairfax Co VA (#2 spot) but I have to say, while the area (overall) is indeed beautiful and very wealthy, I don't see a ferrari at every corner or true estates all over. The majority of the county seems middle class, with McMansions on 1/4 acre plots scattered throughout. Meanwhile, the NYC area I come from has more pockets of EXTREME wealth - im talking private jets wealth, but the overall county they may be in have poorer places that balance it out.
Have you ever really been to any of those counties on that list? Northern Virginia is far and away the wealthiest region in the country, might as well say the D.C. area for that matter since the only DC area county that isn't on that list is Prince George's county, MD
Hilarious.
Quote:
Originally Posted by toredyvik
I agree with CWKIMBRO - zipcode might be a better indicator of real wealth. counties are huge and paint a huge brush over everything. One reason you don't see LA or Chicago there is because they are in respective mega-counties that encompass their whole areas.
DC is very middle class. It doesn't strike me as rich at all. It certainly doesn't match up to NYC's region and Silicon Valley when it comes to wealth.
^^
Those Manhattan zip codes appear to be single city blocks of office buildings.
Last edited by BigCityDreamer; 11-14-2010 at 09:41 PM..
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Robin Hood --- rob from the workers and give to the government!
