Valley's Wealthiest Zip Codes (Scottsdale, Chandler: 2014, apartments, neighborhoods)

[HX_Guy]

Interesting, I’ve never been down that way.

[asufan]

The data is skewed by apartments and other lower cost housing in some areas. I know in my area, some square miles have median household incomes from $130-$140k. But then across the street there's new 400 unit apartment complexes for all of the jobs in the area and the residents are younger and likely sub $60k household income which brings the median down quickly. Same thing with the zip in North Scottsdale where all the apartments are near the 101. Areas with little variation from single family detached residential will fare better in this.

[FirebirdCamaro1220]

85018 north of Indian School has some of the Valley's priciest homes

[grmi66]

As a point of comparison, there was a study of the Phoenix area's true millionaires done 15 or so years ago in the AZ Republic. Anyone know if that's been updated in the last few years? What was interesting back then was that the zip code that had the most millionaires after first place Paradise Valley was a zip code in north Glendale.

The study wasn't looking at income, but how many people had a million dollars in assets. So just before the real estate crash the zip code in north Glendale near Arrowhead was chock full of contractors who in many cases fit the profile of that old book "The Millionaire Next Door". Living in $300-$400,000 house, drives a pickup and owns a business like a HVAC or plumbing business.

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by grmi66

As a point of comparison, there was a study of the Phoenix area's true millionaires done 15 or so years ago in the AZ Republic. Anyone know if that's been updated in the last few years? What was interesting back then was that the zip code that had the most millionaires after first place Paradise Valley was a zip code in north Glendale.

The study wasn't looking at income, but how many people had a million dollars in assets. So just before the real estate crash the zip code in north Glendale near Arrowhead was chock full of contractors who in many cases fit the profile of that old book "The Millionaire Next Door". Living in $300-$400,000 house, drives a pickup and owns a business like a HVAC or plumbing business.

1st off, not many surprises on the list. You bring up a few good points. IMO, the title should be "Highest income zip codes for people who live in PHX Metro". And yes, they will correlate to the listed zip codes. But the data is skewed. That's because a lot of people who live in PHX area are not counted in the stats because they pay their taxes somewhere else. As in, they are literally not counted in the population because you can not be counted twice. Let's pick on Paradise Valley. Who here thinks that PV's $156K of family income is accurate? No chance in hell. The wealthiest pay their taxes somewhere else or they are living off of their net worth or manipulating their income.

Next up as you pointed out, "wealth" == assets-liabilities, not what people claim on their income. Income is an obvious vehicle to gain wealth. I know a lot of high-income people who blow their assets. I talk with literally a thousand+ of them a year in my vocation. Yet another group of high-income earners keep their high income and build wealth.

I know dozens of wealthy small business owners. People with another zero after their net worth than mine. There are all kinds of vehicles for small business owners to manipulate their income. Something as simple as shifting income (S-Corp). See https://digitalcommons.law.umaryland...06&context=mlr On paper, they can "make" $35K a year via an S-Corp (capping their double social security). They can hire their college kids (for example) where they have no income to shift their tax liabilities. On paper, that drops their stated income for such an article. So small business owners who are savvy have write-offs galore! One of my best friends pays himself $100K a year (pays his wife $45K) and plows the rest of his money into his 220 person company. My guess is his net-worth (if he sold his company) might be $30M-$40M. But he hasn't paid his taxes on that amount (15% Capital gains) which is the reason why he does what he does versus taking the money now. He lives way below his means and you would never know it. I have another 30 stories and examples including a couple/customer we ate with last night. Still, as a whole, the zip code correlation stands. But there are outlier areas as you pointed out.

[observer53]

Originally Posted by asufan

100%. It's the Foothills/Club West area of Ahwatukee

I could be incorrect, of course, but I would bet the people who live there don't think of it as Ahwatukee, but more likely use the other terms. I don't think of everything south of the mountain as Ahwatukee, either.

[asufan]

Originally Posted by observer53

I could be incorrect, of course, but I would bet the people who live there don't think of it as Ahwatukee, but more likely use the other terms. I don't think of everything south of the mountain as Ahwatukee, either.

You are incorrect, the people that live there know they are in Ahwatukee. It's not a gray area at all.

[ShampooBanana]

Originally Posted by asufan

You are incorrect, the people that live there know they are in Ahwatukee. It's not a gray area at all.

Yep. Anything that's south of South Mountain and west of I-10 that's not on the res is 100% Ahwatukee and everyone thinks of it this way. I lived there for 6 of my 9 years here in AZ.

Really, there are 3 ZIP codes for Ahwatukee. There's the northern, original part that goes up to and includes Pointe South Mountain. That's 85044. Then there's 85048 which is pretty everything Ray Rd and south and west until Club West and includes Mountain Park Ranch. Club West and west all the way to the res in 85045. Much less populated ZIP code and further away from everything (less so now that the 202 loop is completed) so a lot of people forget about it.

[wase4711]

honestly, aside from the media/company that sells this list, who really gives a hoot about data like this?

I mean, if it makes you feel better that the zip code you live in is number 6 instead of 10, good for you..other wise, this is nothing more than clickbait..

[observer53]

Originally Posted by asufan

You are incorrect, the people that live there know they are in Ahwatukee. It's not a gray area at all.

I suspect that some do, some don't. But it's not a big deal either way. It's certainly a very different area than the originally conceived and constructed Ahwatukee. And, in the eyes of the city planning people, they are in "South Mountain Village" not "Ahwatukee Foothills".