Darien, Connecticut: Highest Income Households in USA

The United States Census Bureau has recently announced a wealth of statistics on jurisdictions with over 20,000 people in the most recent American Community Survey.  Compiled from data over a three year period (2005-2007), Darien, Connecticut easily came in as the wealthiest town in America. Of course, the devil is in the definitions and the relatively high population threshold means that slightly smaller and wealthier communities (e.g. Scarsdale, Atherton, and Winnetka) are no where to be found on the list.

Although the American Community Survey did not collect racial data, the 2000 Census showed Darien as being 95.6% non-Hispanic White. Darien has three neighborhoods on the Higley 1000: Tokeneke, Long Neck Point-Noroton Neck, and Darien North.

Map of Darien, Connecticut

View Larger Map of Darien CT

The New York City metro area dominate the list with 15 places among the 50 wealthiest. It is followed by San Francisco with 7, and 5 in the Los Angeles area. Chicago, Washington DC, and Boston each have 4 towns on the list. Beverly Hills did not make the list coming in at #52 with a mean household income of $148,758.

The list I have compiled below is for Mean Household Income to capture extremes of wealth. Be sure to read the caveats at the bottom of the list.

I have purposely not included racial statistics as these large entities may have large internal neighborhood disparities making the racial statistics problematic. There is only one place that does not have a  neighborhood represented in the Higley 1000: Montgomery Township, a fast-growing exurban township in southern Somerset County, New Jersey.

Table1:  The 50 Highest Income Places in the United States with a Population over 20,000

Wealthiest Places With Population Over 20,000

1.  The numbers are not adjusted from for inflation since the 2000 Census. The sampling process used by the Census Bureau (to grossly simplify) is within 8-10% of the actual numbers. For a detailed discussion of the sampling process and margins of errors, see the American Community Survey.

2.  The numbers are based on a rolling average over the years 2005-2007.

3.  Remember that the Census Bureau makes it impossible for households to claim much more than approximately $2 million dollars in income in any given year. This statistical policy does prevent the Bill Gates’ and Warren Buffets of this world from distorting income figures, but, it does significantly downplay the highest incomes of the richest places found in the United States

4.  The Towns of New York can be confusing  geographic entities as they may include subordinate villages in their totals. As an example, the Town of Mamaroneck, among the most confusing jurisdictions in the country, is composed of all of the Village of Larchmont, half of the Village of Mamaroneck (the other half is in the Town of Rye) and a geographic remainder that is sometimes referred to as Larchmont North.