The FINANCIAL — According to Richest Places annual index Atherton, California tops the list for the fourth year in a row with an annual household income of $525,324. In Atherton live roughly 7,000 people and it is located in the heart of Silicon Valley, just miles away from the headquarters of Facebook and Google. A Microsoft cofounder’s $35 million mansion located in Atherton just sold.
Atherton was named the richest place to live in the U.S. as part of Bloomberg’s 2020 “Richest Places Annual Index” that ranks the 100 richest communities in the U.S. Bloomberg determined its list by evaluating the average household income, adjusted for inflation, in locations with a minimum of 2,000 households based on the U.S. Census. Two other California towns listed in the top 10 richest communities included Hillsborough and Los Altos Hills with average incomes of $430,681 and $405,073, respectively, International Business Times reported.
Atherton became the first and so far only community to top the half-million dollar mark since Bloomberg started compiling the index in 2017. In Atherton, the cheapest house on the market is currently listed for $2.5 million, according to real estate marketplace Zillow.com. Numerous tech billionaires have called the town home, including Google’s Eric Schmidt, Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg and Microsoft’s late co-founder Paul Allen, whose former residence there was sold last week for more than $35 million. Golden State Warriors athlete Stephen Curry bought an Atherton estate last year for $31 million, according to Bloomberg.
In second place for the second straight year is Scarsdale, New York, less than 25 miles outside Manhattan, with an average $452,000 in annual household income. Also making the top 10 are a town near Denver, two northern suburbs of Chicago, and a wealthy enclave in Dallas, Texas, MSN wrote.
Altogether, 16 states are represented on the list, the same number as in previous years — suggesting that the concentration of wealth in certain regions remains largely unchanged over time. Also, the richest communities continue to get richer. This year, in order to make the top 100, a neighborhood needed an average household income of $220,000 — up from $209,000 last year, National Mortgage News wrote.
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. New Jersey and Connecticut – both home to many suburbs close to New York City – also had a high number of towns on the list. Four cities made the list for the first time: Blackhawk, California; New Albany, Ohio; Long Grove, Illinois; and Darnestown, Maryland, Daily Mail reported.
Here is a Top 10:
Atherton, California – $525,324
Scarsdale, New York – $452,041
Hillsborough, California – $430,681
Cherry Hills Village, Colorado – $406,314
Los Altos Hills, California – $405,073
Short Hills, New Jersey – $388,760
Highland Park, Texas – $365,025
Glencoe, Illinois – $358,543
Winnetka, Illinois – $353,700
Darien, Connecticut – $352,839
A Microsoft cofounder’s $35 million mansion in the most expensive town in the US just sold. The 18,000-square-foot home was owned by Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen, who died in 2018. The home was the highest sale in the neighborhood since 2017. Allen’s Atherton property first went on the market in October, asking nearly $41.5 million. In a sale that closed on February 11, the house sold for $35.25 million, Business Insider reported.
