The richest place in America has an annual household income of more than $500,000 for the first time ever, it has been revealed.
Bloomberg on Thursday released its Richest Places annual index, and Atherton, California tops the list for the fourth year in a row with an annual household income of $525,324.
The town of roughly 7,000 people is located in the heart of Silicon Valley, just miles away from the headquarters of Facebook and Google.
Two other nearby Silicon Valley towns made the top five list: Hillsborough (No. 3) and Los Altos Hills (No. 5).
A mansion-style home is seen in Atherton, California – the city that tops Bloomberg’s wealthiest 100 towns list for the fourth year in a row
Harwood Court in Scarsdale, New York, which ranks second on the list of America’s wealthiest towns
At number two on the list was Scarsdale, New York, a town in wealthy Westchester County north of New York City.
Cherry Hills Village, Colorado, a ritzy suburb on the outskirts of Denver, was number four on this year’s list.
The rankings include Census-designated places with a minimum of 2,000 households, and roughly 6,280 places met the criteria for consideration.
Similarly to No. 1 Atherton, No. 2 Scarsdale is close enough for residents to commute to high-paying jobs in Manhattan, while maintaining a bucolic atmosphere that feels far away from the nation’s most-densely populated metropolis.
Like other wealthy towns on the list, Atherton and Scarsdale both also provide access to high quality schools – a key factor in home values.
Overall, California and New York are home to more than half of the towns that made the list – a testament to the fact that proximity to major city centers is a key feature making these wealthy communities attractive.
An aerial view of the Carolands Chateau in Hillsborough, California. The Silicon Valley community ranks third on Bloomberg’s list of America’s 100 wealthiest towns
A gated home in Cherry Hills Village, a suburb of Denver, Colorado, which ranked fourth on Bloomberg’s list of the nation’s 100 wealthiest communities
High end homes scattered along the landscape of Los Altos Hills. The Silicon Valley suburb is the fifth-ranking town on Bloomberg’s list of the 100 wealthiest communities in America
New Jersey and Connecticut – both home to many suburbs close to New York City – also had a high number of towns on the list.
Nationwide, wealth was concentrated in six counties: Westchester County, New York; Bergen County, New Jersey; Fairfield County, Connecticut; Cook County, Illinois; Los Angeles County, California; and, Montgomery County, Maryland.
However, a mix of Midwest and Southwest towns were also included in Bloomberg’s list, such as Cherry Hills Village, Colorado, which came in fourth place. The area is actually a suburb of Denver, roughly 20 minutes from downtown.
The community has an average household income of $406,314 and is home to Peyton Manning and John Elway, both former Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks for the Denver Broncos.
Short Hills, New Jersey ranked sixth, with a $388,760 average income, followed by Highland Park, Texas ($365,025), and Glencoe, Illinois ($358,543).
Four cities made the list for the first time: Blackhawk, California; New Albany, Ohio; Long Grove, Illinois; and Darnestown, Maryland.
The four cities that made the top 50 in 2019 but did not make the cut this year were: Lawrence, New York; North Caldwell, New Jersey; Inverness, Illinois; and Potomac, Maryland.