Hood Rich
One of my last posts of 2010, addressed the wealthiest living areas in the country.
Today, we go from macro to micro...so feast your eyes on America's most affluent neighborhoods.
Surprise, surprise... ain't it ya'll!?
Once upon a time selling equities in Dallas was akin to a military post in Antarctica for the average finance professional. Not so anymore. Times keep changing.
The tiny town of Westlake, Texas is the most fiscally exclusive domestic playground in the nation.
Imagine living in a place where the average annual income is $250,000.
Hard to fathom for a blue collar guy like me. The block I grew up on you would have to keep that sort of money buried...next to your own corpse if anybody caught wind of it.
Not surprisingly a Chicago, Boston and New York area suburban hideaway cracked the top 5, but shockingly (to me at least)...the number 3 spot went to Mission Hills, Kansas, home of former Royals legend George Brett.
I am tempted to say that this quick micro economic snapshot is indicative of a change in wealth distribution among the country's fiscal elites. I am also quite surprised by the lack of Newport Beach, California on this list.
What does this list say to you guys, if anything at all?
Are we seeing a slow but steady demographic changing of the guard in the ranks of America's wealthy?
Which will be the richest neighborhoods in the country come two decades from today?
With the impending doom presiding over their respective state budgets, I am tempted to say that California, Illinois and New York will have zero representatives in the top 5, within the next twenty years.
Who's with me? Why or why not?
Hmm top spot in Texas huh? Wonder if taxes have anything to do with that.
last time i checked you're bringing home $200 per week more on every $100K earned in texas vs ny/dc/la
so... ya think??
10K in my pocket every year would be a nice incentive to move
Let's also keep in mind what Uncle Eddie referred to as G.R.I.T.S. -- Girls Raised In The South!
Not only do I have a friend who lives in Westlake, I can confirm that a current member of WSO slept with George Brett's ex-wife. So there's that.
That's shocking George Brett's wife would be inclined to cheat on him, as he's running around shitting himself in the Mirage in Vegas
That's shocking George Brett's wife would be inclined to cheat on him, as he's running around shitting himself in the Mirage in Vegas
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Haha that shitting in the Mirage video is classic. Perhaps more so than the pine tar incident.
Eddie, this current WSO member is either full of shit or has mistaken his current wife for his ex wife. He's only been married to one woman.
There's no way these rankings anywhere near accurate. I'm from Kansas City and grew up by Mission Hills. It's a very nice area but at least half of the homes in this town of a few thousand people are pretty modest. The 250K + jobs in KC are few and far between and Mission Hills has a lot of old money. People with decent jobs who inherited a shit load of money. In addition, there's only 2 billionaires living in MH, so it's not like there's any kind of skewness going on here. There's no way Mission Hills trumps some tony suburb out in Silicon Valley or Connecticut or even Houston.
You told me you'd keep that between us dude
Eskimo brothers?
you really have to define the parameters (ex: population size, w/e) rankings will drastically change and you can really make any good place #1 if you limit your scope
westlake has 702 residents and income is 250k this is not that impressive as places like atherton have 7500 people (2500 households) with avg (household) income of 380k
Agreed. Towns that have so few residents can definitely be skewed by a few incredibly wealthy residents, which may not give an accurate picture of the whole neighborhood. Most of these places are "villages" anyway - try looking at places with 2500+, 5000+, 7500+, etc. population (like Atherton).
I would live in shanty in Highland Park before a manse in Westlake.
That snark is probably only relatable for a tiny fraction of the WSO audience,
That's the funny thing. Highland Park and Preston Hollow are considered the nicest neghborhoods in Dallas. Preston Hollow is insane. I'm surprised it's not on there.
to be a parky you have to carry a skateboard and a lacrosse stick around everywhere though, and that is just too cumbersome
Agreed wholeheartedly. Highland Park is first class, but I'd still rather live in Preston Hollow.
North of NW Highway? I assumed it was all farmland.
If you do PH it has to be real Preston Hollow (West of the tollway).
Averages can be misleading, though... all it takes is for one billionaire to move into a small town, and the average income of the town can shoot up like crazy even if everybody is making $60k a year. If the MEDIAN income was $250,000 I'd be way more impressed...
The numbers listed ARE the medians
Texas has come a long way over the last few decades, and I expect to see more communities on that list from Texas in the future. However, I believe the the presence of many other inland communities on that list, along with the fall from grace of New York and California are cyclical occurrences. New York and California always tend to do very well when times are good, and very poorly when times are bad. There's a reason why real estate in New York and California continue to be incredibly expensive, even in times like now. It's because a very large number of America's elite view moving inland as giving up on their dreams. If you don't believe me, talk to some ivy leaguers and see how many of them plan on moving to the Midwest at some point in their lives.
I will vouch for this area as absurdly wealthy being as that I work here. It's worth noting, that Southlake (next door) is basically the same area as Westlake. My coworkers and I pass by Mark Teixeira old home while on our way to a BBQ restaurant across the street from Sandra Bullock's home. There is a lot of money here and everyone who lives here knows it, plus a alot of good looking wives!
Well, it all depends on what constitutes an "area". I could circle three adjacent houses in Bumfuck, Montana to create an "area" with an income larger than 250K. But if I stretch it out to include the nearby Indian reservation, the average income drops to $500.00.
So the question is, how are the boundaries of these "areas" determined?
kind of a stupid article. I live in an exclusive community behind gates with less than 50 houses and the average income is much higher. Take out the one really rich guy who's on the Forbes list and the average is still probably over 500k. I know the salaries of a few friends in there and I can't think of anyone below 500k.
And I don't consider it to be super rich. Just well above average.
I'm actually surprised that given the tenor of the article the average isn't 10 times as high or more.
Totally agree, most of these studies are horseshit. Forget the millionaires with average incomes in the six figures, how about billionaires per capita? I imagine Manhattan would win by a long stretch. If some russian or middle eastern oligarch wants to buy a place in the US where he is most likely to bump into billionaires in his neighborhood, dallas would not be the first place to look.
Interesting article, the more I read about Texas the more interested I get...
Ha! This is quite amazing. I'm literally weeks away from moving to Mission Hills, KS (or right adjacent to it). The most arrogant Manhattanite would be envious of some of the beautiful, huge houses in Mission Hills. I kind of assumed wealth there was "relative" but given the figure of $243,000 for median household income and I'd say that place is downright rich. By the way, there are 3,100 residents of Mission Hills, KS so it's not like there are 10 rich people.
Stupid article. The fact that nothing from California is an indicator of that. Between Silicon Valley, LA and the OC there should have been enough to make up at least 3 to 5 of the top 10.
A college roommate of mine went to Westlake HS, said for a public school it is nicer than any private one around.
your roommate went to high school in Austin...also a very nice area, but different westlake.
Yep, easily confusable. Wesltake in Austin is home to many loaded folks, including Michael Dell. Their football team is dominant bc of the money spent on training those kids since lower school--trust me it's ridiculous. I thought that was the Westlake on here at first too. Too bad Westlake (Austin) kids are dbags.
Any private school worth it's salt also spends that money on athletic scholarships for broke kids.
Despite the debate over how and why the lines are drawn where they are, you can't argue Texas' emergence as a place where more and more UHNW individuals are living/moving.
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