In spite of being built on heavy industry, Milwaukee, like Chicago, did not allow all of its beautiful Lake Michigan lakefront to be surrendered to industrial usage. The Port of Milwaukee and the industrial Menominee River valley are nicely hidden from the central business district and the wealthy lakefront neighborhoods to the north. As Milwaukee’s [...]

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 [...]

The fragmentation of the 80 wealthiest Los Angeles neighborhoods has it’s own unique pattern that is primarily influenced by the Pacific Ocean and the Santa Monica Mountains. The core area is generally referred to as “West Los Angeles” and extends from the West Hollywood Hills to Castellammare, located adjacent to Malibu on the western city [...]

I had the good fortune to first move to Chicago in 1972 when the city was on the cusp of its rebirth. It was an exciting time to be a young advertising account executive in one of the world’s great cities that was about to reclaim the attention of the country as a dazzling jewel [...]

There is nothing like a road trip to renew my familiarity with some of Indianapolis’ old neighborhoods and visit the never-ending construction of nouveau riche mansions in Carmel and Clay Township. As of this posting, there are six Higley 1000 neighborhoods with a total of 3,841 households in the Indianapolis Metropolitan Area (SMSA). Indianapolis’ best [...]

For those of you who are interested in looking at how the neighborhoods in your metro area are ranked in the Higley 1000……… CLICK HERE to go directly to the article Neighborhood Summary by Metro Area……. or click on the link to the right in the Navigation box entitled Neighborhood Summary by Metro Area. You [...]

In many ways Grosse Pointe is emblematic of the racial divide that cleaves Detroit. Long an icon of wealth and privilege, it’s once unrivaled and unquestioned position at the center of upper class Detroit society, has slowly drained away to the point that it is a mere island of affluence, albeit a lovely one of [...]

Locust Valley-Oyster Bay View Larger Map of Higley 1000 neighborhoods in Locust Valley and Oyster Bay The area I call Locust Valley-Oyster Bay evokes the sylvan past of the Gold Coast much more richly than the more densely populated Great Neck. The zoning requirements of these contiguous “golf villages” insure large lots surround the large [...]

Great Neck and Manhasset Neck View Larger Map of Higley 1000 neighborhoods in Great Neck and Manhasset Neck Great Neck Today the Gold Coast has matured and differentiated west to east. Great Neck and Manhasset Neck are much more densely settled than the Locust Valley and the Oyster Bay area. Although there are still grand [...]

Central Cities Dominate the top of the Higley 1000 When one looks at the list of the 1,000 wealthiest neighborhoods in the United States, the information is so fine grained, that the larger picture can be lost. In order to give my readers a bit of perspective I have totaled up the the number of [...]