The Richest Counties In America (PHOTOS)

By now it's become obvious that the wealthy aren't immune to the recession. In October, The Wall Street Journal reported foreclosures were growing in the upper echelons of the housing market. Earlier this month, the Mortgage Bankers Association said that a rising percentage of mortgages taken out by prime borrowers face foreclosure.

But this month, the Census Bureau disclosed its 2008 data on poverty and income levels in each of the more than 3,100 counties in the United States. South Dakota's Buffalo County was reported to be the poorest in the country, with a median household income of just $19,182. The county's population was small -- just over 2,000 -- but the overall disparity between the poorest and the richest counties across the country was considerable.

We took a look at the fifteen counties with the highest median household incomes -- all of which were above $89,000 -- to see where wealth may still be flourishing during the recession. Many of the communities achieved high median household incomes even in heavily-populated counties -- nearly two-thirds of the localities on this list have a quarter of a million people or more. And we noticed the emergence of some geographical patterns: among the fifteen most affluent communities, nearly half were located in Virginia and Maryland and were located in the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Area, and almost a third encircled the urban core of New York City. But there were still a few outliers.

See if your county made the cut:

#15 Marin County, CA -- $89,909

Marin County, where the median household income was reported to be $89,909, is located north of San Francisco. Just under a quarter of a million people were reported to live in the county in 2008.

comments(285)

Rate This Photo (Current Rank: loading...)

Happy Where I am I'm Packing Up And Moving Now

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Now Make Your Own Top 5

And Share with Your Friends

Average rating: loading... out of 10

Most Desirable Counties In The U.S.

loading...

Most Desirable Counties In The U.S.

 | Become a fan

Picked These as the Top 5 Slides in the Slideshow

Most Desirable Counties In The U.S.

Users Who Voted on this Slide

loading...

loading...

HuffPost Community Top 5 Slides:

«»

 | Become a fan

Most Desirable Counties In The U.S.

 

Comments

[ekimnedrab]

03:35 PM on 01/18/2010

But then again:
Sarah thought she could see
Russia
from her front porch.

[ekimnedrab]

03:33 PM on 01/18/2010

I thought
Nassau
was in the
Bahamas?

[ekimnedrab]

03:30 PM on 01/18/2010

Los Alamos County NM:
Where ya can that warm glow
all over.

[ekimnedrab]

03:26 PM on 01/18/2010

Indiana is above
Florida?
Why don't people come
here
to retire?

[ekimnedrab]

03:23 PM on 01/18/2010

I didn't know
Alcatraz
was in
Marin?

[ekimnedrab]

03:21 PM on 01/18/2010

But I betcha
George
ups that one.

[invest in jobs]

11:40 AM on 12/06/2009

NO more bailouts. No more bonuses. Time to put people to work!

good articles; http://fin­anceopinio­nss.blogsp­ot.com

[invest in jobs]

09:51 AM on 12/05/2009

REAL unemployme­nt is DOUBLE the 'official' statistics­. Government has been playing major games with all stats for a while now - both parties are to blame.

hat tip to http://fin­anceopinio­nss.blogsp­ot.com

I hope this jobs submit accomplish­es something, but I'm not too optimistic

[mslone]

01:02 AM on 12/05/2009

Fairfax County invests significan­tly of its budget on education, with a total of more than 50 percent of its expenditur­e budget. As a result, more than 90% of its high school graduates continue their education after high school. Education=­economic growth, innovation­, & productivi­ty. Fact: less than 1/6 of Fairfax County citizens are federal employees. Lastly, it is a fact that can't be disputed: more than 1/4 of Fairfax population is foreign-bo­rn---and they re highly mobile--ec­onomically­. In addition, more than 60% of women in Fairfax County are in labor force, one of the highest in the nation. In short, Fairfax is well-diver­sified economical­ly.

[invest in jobs]

05:48 PM on 12/04/2009

I was hoping for FDR 2.0, but instead its become waffling 2.0, deficit 2.0, banking 2.0, Afghanista­n 2.0. Iraq 2.0, Guantanamo 2.0

good articles; http://fin­anceopinio­nss.blogsp­ot.com
so much for job creation. Unemployme­nt falls a whole .2% and the MSM is calling it a recovery. what a joke j

[Rosewren]

05:37 PM on 12/04/2009

It looks like the counties with high incomes are also counties whose cost of living is like 20% high than norm which is measured above or below 100. Fairfax, VA COL is 121% and so job pay reflects that, plus more than 58% have at least a four year college degree. So if you went to an area that had a COL below 100 the local job market would reflect that as well. I think it all has to be looked at in context of other factors such as longer or shorter commuting distances, schools etc.

[JScott]

02:44 AM on 12/04/2009

Jeez why do so may folks rip on those places close to the seat of government­---I'll bet some way if they look closely they benefit in some way so stop whining and face it as long as there is civil society it will take government to keep it that way and the people in it (despite all that whining about it) still DEMAND government services and that takes people to do it....they talk about waste and crooks etc. hey just look at yourselves for once, we are the cause for it.

[azxff]

10:35 PM on 12/03/2009

I guess the county I work for is not going to make the list judging by the wages they pay me....

[Doofus]

09:36 PM on 12/03/2009

Also in the data are state median incomes.

1-25:

1 Maryland 70,482
2 New Jersey 70,347
3 Connecticu­t 68,294
4 Alaska 67,332
5 Hawaii 66,701
6 Massachuse­tts 65,304
7 New Hampshire 63,235
8 Virginia 61,210
9 California 61,017
10 District of Columbia 58,553
11 Delaware 58,380
12 Washington 58,081
13 Minnesota 57,318
14 Colorado 57,184
15 Utah 56,820
16 Nevada 56,432
17 Illinois 56,230
18 New York 55,980
19 Wyoming 54,735
20 Rhode Island 54,562
21 Vermont 52,111
22 Wisconsin 52,103
23 Arizona 51,009
24 Georgia 50,834
25 Pennsylvan­ia 50,702

[Doofus]

09:38 PM on 12/03/2009

26-51:

26 Kansas 50,174
27 Oregon 50,165
28 Texas 50,049
29 Nebraska 49,731
30 Iowa 49,007
31 Michigan 48,606
32 Ohio 48,011
33 Indiana 48,010
34 Florida 47,802
35 Idaho 47,561
36 Missouri 46,847
37 North Carolina 46,574
38 Maine 46,419
39 South Dakota 46,244
40 North Dakota 45,996
41 South Carolina 44,695
42 Montana 43,948
43 New Mexico 43,719
44 Louisiana 43,635
45 Tennessee 43,610
46 Oklahoma 42,836
47 Alabama 42,586
48 Kentucky 41,489
49 Arkansas 38,820
50 Mississipp­i 37,818
51 West Virginia 37,528

[trinity]

06:59 AM on 12/04/2009

West Virginia may be at the bottom, but more and more Washington workers (mostly private sector doing contract work for the government­) are moving farther and farther away from DC. Many now live in WV where you can get a HUGE house for pennies compared to MD or VA, they simply commute by train via MARC and Amtrak.

[Tetrine]

08:44 PM on 12/03/2009

The idea that household income somehow determines richness makes no sense. The cost of living in this area is extremely high. I work for an internatio­nal tech sector consulting firm in DC (so, I'm one of the evil leaches eating taxpayer money, according to most of comments below... though ironically all the assignment­s I've worked on are modernizat­ion to improve failed and flawed technology systems) and we are often required to travel, when we will receive a per diem, calculated by the costs of living, etc. for an area . The per diem rate of DC is the *highest in the country*, tied with Los Angeles.

A junky studio condo of ~500 sqft total sells for over $100k in VA, and enjoy several hundred dollar a month HOA fees after that... taxes are high (I pay 9.5% income tax in DC ) ... fuel costs are as well. I have friends in south VA who pay 25% of what I pay a month for a modest DC apartment for something 3x as large, with a yard and beautiful mountain view.

I am amazed at the number of character judgments made on the people of the DC metro area in the comments below... based solely on a listing of numbers in this article. A lot of people I know in the public sector have a great sense of pride and take their job, and the ethics required of them very seriously, and it's sad to hear people like these being maligned.

[Right By Nature]

08:53 PM on 12/03/2009

Perhaps the judgements are directed at the political process that has caused the gentrifica­tion of the neighborho­ods surroundin­g our seat of government­.

[lightnessandjoy]

10:47 PM on 12/03/2009

My comment was not character-­based, but rather a political/­social comment. We have created a grand aristocrac­y in this country. A very few control most of the wealth and power and the electorate keeps returning them to office and buying into the mythology that created their wealth and stature. George the III would be proud of what we have created in America and the founders of this nation must be rolling over in their graves. So I will say it again - the political and financial aristocrac­y (and that is what they are) live close to those two centers of power. Lots of nice, ethical, responsibl­e citizens live in those areas as well. Remember this is median income - half at or above, half at or BELOW.