High-income households can generally afford to spend more within their communities, both via local business and the tax base. The business mix of a city may be greatly influenced by the relative population of high-income earners. Similarly, the prevalence of high-income households also can help describe the relative quality of life of a population, or tell stories about potential wealth gaps or local growth. Changes in a city's relative proportion of households earning high income may change due to dynamics in the local job market, housing market, cost of living, age demographics, opportunities elsewhere, and beyond.
With this in mind, SmartAsset ranked 352 U.S. cities based on the percentage change in the proportion of households earning $200,000 or more annually over one year. Other data examined includes the new estimates of high-earning households, the number of high-income households added, and the local median income.
Data comes from the U.S. Census Bureau 1-Year Community Survey for 2023 and 2022. The study includes 352 cities with a population of 100,000 or more for which data was available. Cities were ranked based on the growth in high-income households as a percentage of total households between 2022 and 2023. High-income households are defined as those making an income of $200,000 or more.
This story was produced by SmartAsset and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.