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Old Posted Aug 18, 2008, 5:05 PM
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Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: livinginurbansac.blogspot
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Friday, August 15, 2008
Region’s rich reside in Roseville, Elk Grove; Sacramento lags
Elk Grove beat Roseville in median income and home values, but fewer earn more than $200K

Sacramento Business Journal

Hefty paychecks and higher-valued homes helped Roseville and Elk Grove become two of the nation’s 50 wealthiest communities with at least 100,000 residents, at least before the free fall of the real estate market.

Sacramento — which boasts deep pockets in areas such as East Sacramento, the Fabulous 40s and Land Park — finished at No. 88, between Inglewood and Reno, Nev.

Of course, California’s once-booming housing market created some of the wealth factor, with five of the Top 10 cities and 17 of the Top 20, according to a just-released Bizjournals report based on 2006 data, the latest available.

Roseville, with median household income of $71,450 and a median home value of $473,600, finished at No. 37, the highest rating in the four-county region. Almost 5 percent — or one of every 20 — households earned at least $200,000.

Elk Grove, the nation’s fastest-growing city a few years ago and now better known as one of the hardest-hit foreclosure markets, finished at No. 43, just a few spots below cross-region rival Roseville. Elk Grove actually had higher median household income and median home values — $77,064 and $477,700, respectively — but fewer households that earned $200,000 or more per year, about 4.5 percent. Roseville’s per-capita income also outpaced Elk Grove, $33,916 vs. $28,379.

Sacramento ranked much lower, with median household income of about $46,000 and the median home value at $365,000.

While Roseville can enjoy some bragging rights, the city pales compared to others nationwide — and even a few less than 100 miles away.

Bizjournals identified 10 wealth centers — communities that manage to blend substantial size (populations above 100,000) with considerable affluence.

America’s top-rated wealth center, according to the study, is Arlington, Va., a densely settled suburb directly across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. Its population is 199,800.

Arlington residents are highly educated, with one-third of local adults holding graduate degrees. They have their pick of government, law or lobbying positions in Washington or high-tech research jobs in northern Virginia.

The result was a 2006 per-capita income of $53,543 in Arlington, the highest figure among the 261 U.S. communities with populations in excess of 100,000. That’s more than twice the national average of $25,267. Bizjournals ranked 261 communities. You can see the rankings at bizjournals.com/edit_special/69.html.

Bizjournals created a six-part formula to analyze the relative affluence of all cities, incorporated towns and unincorporated urban areas above the 100,000-person cutoff. The strongest scores went to places with high income levels and large inventories of expensive homes.

The study’s raw data come from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2006 American Community Survey, the most recent source for federal statistics at the local level. All figures are for specific municipalities, not for the broader metropolitan areas to which they belong.

Arlington leads the pack because of its consistently strong performance in all six categories. It ranks first in the study group for personal capital income, second for the percentage of households with incomes of $200,000 or more, third for its upper 20 percent income threshold (the dollar figure that surpasses 80 percent of local earnings), and fourth in median household income.

Wealthiest cities
1. Arlington, Va.
2. Thousand Oaks
3. Naperville, Ill.
4. Alexandria, Va.
5. Stamford, Conn.
6. Irvine
7. San Francisco
8. Scottsdale, Ariz.
9. Huntington Beach
10. Sunnyvale
37. Roseville
43. Elk Grove
88. Sacramento

Show me the money
• The collective per-capita income for the Top 10 communities is $43,782, which is 73 percent more than the national average.
• Almost 11 percent of all households within the designated wealth centers draw annual incomes higher than $200,000. The corresponding figure for the whole country is 3.4 percent.
• Median home values range from $416,400 to $806,700 in the 10 places atop Bizjournals’ rankings. The national median is $185,200.
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