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    Highest Earning Cities in the United States [OC]
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    Highest Earning Cities in the United States [OC]

    I put together this chart and maps showing the top 10 cities in the US by median household income. This is based on 2022 US Census Bureau ACS 1-Year Estimates.

    Edit: with the 1-year ACS estimates, this only includes cities with populations of 65,000 and higher.

    Some interesting facts:

    • Sammamish, Washington (a suburb about 20 miles east of Seattle) is the only city over $200k
    • 7 of the top 10 highest earning cities are located in or near the Bay Area
    • The gap between #1 and #10 is over $60,000

    Source: US Census Bureau 2022 ACS 1-Year Estimates&g=010XX00US$1600000) via Community Scout. Visualized with Datawrapper

    Posted by Youngfr0be8

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    19 Comments

    1. phatrice on

      If it’s counting suburbs, there are quite a few suburbs WAY richer than Sammamish (Medina etc.)

    3. modernmacgyver on

      Lol I grew up in San Ramon in the 80’s/90’s when it was farmland. Crazy how much it has changed.

    4. pocketdare on

      But are they really “cities” with a population of 60k or under? I think you’re just capturing small, rich suburbs that incorporated for tax purposes. ha

    5. majoleine on

      I live right next to Ellicott city, MD for 7 years. I had no idea that area was *that* stacked with wealth. The downtown main street area is cute and the houses around there are nice but the surrounding area enclosing the very nice forested areas are strip malls of restaraunts, roads and average suburbia.

    6. _b33p_ on

      I don’t think you can find any single fam home for under a mil in any of the CA cities listed. When you consider how high a mortgage is for a 1.4mil house, 200k a year is not that much.

      I grew up in the bay area. In the 90s a 1800sq ft, 40y/o home w decent yard was about 300-400k in a nice suburban city (nothing fancy). Same home today, remodeled goes for about 1.5mil.

    7. NIHscientist on

      Bethesda MD median income is >190K but technically Bethesda is an unincorporated municipality.

    10. notmycirrcus on

      I’ve lived in 4 of these cities. I think the uniqueness is concentration of people earning over the amount listed. The 4 I lived in though, I can’t imagine living on only 250k. So IDK what those numbers really mean.

    13. libertarianinus on

      Sooo its tech company’s and Federal government….1 sells something to people and the other takes something from People.

    14. guyatwork37 on

      My sister in law lives in Sammamish! But she’s a school nurse and her husband is a teacher. I’m assuming they bring down the average 

    18. read-it-on-reddit on

      As someone who lives in the Bay Area, I find this fascinating. San Ramon, Dublin and Pleasanton (the Tri-Valley area) have household incomes that are higher than Palo Alto, yet real estate in Palo Alto is at least twice as expensive when compared to comparable homes in the Tri-Valley area.

      My guess is that most people living in the Tri-Valley bought recently (lots of newly built homes), while most people in Palo Alto bought their homes a long time ago.

    19. miraj31415 on

      Love living in Newton. It is highly desirable place to live because of great schools, access to Boston and elsewhere, greenery, safety, and strong & involved community. Lots of professors, doctors, financiers, lawyers, techies, and celebrities/media/entertainment.

      But it’s not full of mansions and snooty people, if that’s what you’re picturing. Newton homes are mostly between 1/8-acre and 1/4-acre plot, so homes are fairly close together with quite small yards. There are a few areas that do have multi-acre plots of land that do hold mansions. And there are areas with apartment buildings and lower-middle-class townhouses. The town does have lots of trees and greenery, calling itself “the garden city”.

      I haven’t met anybody snooty. But to give a sense of my neighborhood I know of a Harvard professor who has won the top award in his field, a professional inventor, an Emmy award winner, a bunch of retired people, and various 2-working-parents-with-young-kids. Yet during this snowstorm my adjacent neighbors and I are all taking turns to shovel/snowplow each others’ sidewalks and driveways, even plowing the house that is away on vacation. And the neighbors who don’t plow contribute fresh baked bread, garden veggies, or eggs from their backyard chickens in the summer.

      But home prices have soared (in Newton and Boston area in general) to the point that most young families and early professionals can’t afford to enjoy the benefits.

      One consequence is that Newton is seeing school enrollment actually decline.

      Another consequence of high land prices is that there are no real “hole in the wall” restaurants or cheap ethnic restaurants. To pay the rent, food places need to be expensive (and thus, fancy). The food scene in the town is decent (for Boston, which sets the bar lower than similarly sized urban areas). Some places are really excellent, but more of a splurge.

      Higher land prices also discourages companies from having an office in Newton.