<p>[The</a> Richest Counties in America - MainStreet](<a href=“http://www.mainstreet.com/slideshow/money/investing/richest-counties-america]The”>http://www.mainstreet.com/slideshow/money/investing/richest-counties-america) Wow- 10 of the top 15 are in MD and VA. Not a single one in CA</p>
<p>My comment about this would be entirely too political for this website.</p>
<p>Totally understand, performersmom. I typed, and then deleted, several comments about where the politicians live…</p>
<p>Three are in NJ, one in NY and one in CO. Fascinating.</p>
<p>(BTW, this is based on household income, not total, including unearned income/investments, which may affect things)</p>
<p>My county is in there, as is the 3 county area of my state. We are VERY small. Trust me you wouldn’t know it if you drove through here - very rural, lots of working farms, no industry in this county. There isn’t a single mall, probably the highest fashion place to shop is cato or fashion bug or walmart. We don’t even have a Target. There aren’t any high end auto dealers. We’re also right on the water so there are some big yachts I see when I’m out on the water in my little dinky boat praying not to get capsized in their wake.</p>
<p>However, there is a huge naval airbase with bae system, lockheed martin, boeing, and every other govt contractor you can think of in the county south. Most people I know either work for the govt or a contractor or they own their own business. We also have DC, Andrews AFB and the high tech corridors in VA & MD. I believe we also rank pretty high in the per capita population with college degrees. I believe those two lists overlap quite a bit.</p>
<p>Most of the people living in these places are WORKING there and are not part of the 1% richest Americans. I’ll bet the cost of living mirrors the incomes. The intro to the articles states that the people living in these counties are living “high on the hog”. Really? With median incomes of $88k or $100k when an average home cost is in the $400k range? A family with two college educated/trained working parents living in the northeast or mid-Atlantic whose family income is not in the $80-$100k range would be unusual. These people living high on the hog volunteer time and money to all kinds of community causes. Articles like these seem like sour grapes to me.</p>
<p>I’m in one of the top counties on the list. 58% of my county’s residents hold a bachelors degree or higher. The thing about my county is that it is NOT home to fabulously wealthy people. BUT, it is home to very, very few poor people. We are situated in a prime location for people to work in D.C., Baltimore, and the surrounding counties. Major teaching hospitals, top universities, NIH, NSA, the federal government, the state government, major corporations, major military installations are all within commuting distance. If you google major employers in Maryland, most are stable, steady employers that don’t create billionaires, but allow for excellent, steady employment, and most are within commuting distance of this county. In most two parent families here both are working. Many, many advanced degrees around here.</p>
<p>The county itself is one of those places that can be described as “There’s no there there.” No cities, a lot of suburbs and green space, excellent public schools.</p>
<p>Oh my-- I fixed one typo in the title and created another :o oops.
The follow-up article is of the 10 poorest counties. Most are in South Dakota nad Mississippi</p>
<p>I just checked another stat - 3.9% live at or below the poverty level and the cost of living index is 116 - where average is 100. Unemployment is 5.7%. 39% of the residents work in the county.</p>
<p>I don’t necessarily believe we’re full of 1%'ers, I think we’re just a stable family oriented place located near A LOT of stable job opportunities.</p>
<p>[Marin</a> reigns as California’s income king - Marin Independent Journal](<a href=“http://www.marinij.com/ci_20114539/marin-reigns-californias-income-king]Marin”>http://www.marinij.com/ci_20114539/marin-reigns-californias-income-king)</p>
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That may be because the counties in CA are huge in area and in many cases huge in population compared with most counties in the east. The population of LA County is around 10M people which is more then the population of most states. San Bernardino County in CA is the largest county in area in the continental US. San Diego County is huge as well. </p>
<p>Despite many wealthy people living in these counties there’s also every other part of the financial spectrum in the counties as well so they become more balanced in that respect.</p>
<p>I live in one of those counties and the income range is quite steep. We still have poverty and many, many children on free or reduced lunch (and breakfast) at school. Wow, if we can’t get rid of those problems who can?</p>
<p>At the county level, if you want to have a high median household income (and thereby making this list of “richest” counties whether or not high median household income is a good measure of “rich”) it certainly helps to not have a major urban area in your county. There are many wealthy people in towns in Union County NJ, and Essex County NJ, but those counties also include Elizabeth and Newark (respectively).</p>
<p>Being from the north, this doesn’t surprise me. I had an ex that lived in Fairfax county and it was crazy there.</p>
<p>“Rich” as in the highest annual income, however “poor” because those same counties would probably top a list of the most expensive counties to live in as well. In the “poorest counties” the median price for rent is $127/month with a median income of $24,615. Median home price was $49,994. In Laudoun Co, the “richest” area the median income is $119,540 and the median home price is $442,000. Now tell me which county is “rich”?</p>
<p>Our county has a lot of wealthy people - some of the wealthiest in the country (“hedge fund central”) but it also has a few cities that are a total disaster.</p>
<p>I’m sure it’s not the 1% live. I saw a list a few months or years back, Atherton, Ca was one of them.</p>
<p>Atherton is a city not a county.</p>
<p>“BTW, this is based on household income, not total, including unearned income/investments, which may affect things”</p>
<p>Isn’t the 1%'s income almost exclusively from unearned investments? (No data, just what we hear.)</p>
<p>NJres,
3 of the counties on the top 10 list were in NJ.</p>
<p>I live in one of those counties where the average home price is around 500K. The thing they don’t bother to mention is that if you could pick up the house and transport it to many other parts of the country the value would immediately be 1/2 to 1/3 of the price it is here. In other words as far as I’m concerned the prices are seriously inflated.</p>