Top 100 US Counties, Ranked by Average Annual Salary

dimondpark · #1 Posted **May 8, 2007, 5:03 PM**

According to the US Dept of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis,
Released April 26, 2007

36061 New York NY $83,200
51075 Goochland VA 72,728
06085 Santa Clara CA 71,774
09001 Fairfield CT 69,578
02185 North Slope Borough AK 69,058
51013 Arlington VA 68,151
06075 San Francisco CA 66,398
11001 District of Columbia DC 66,018
25025 Suffolk MA 65,567
06081 San Mateo CA 65,525
32011 Eureka NV 65,085
35028 Los Alamos NM 63,905
34035 Somerset NJ 63,374
51919 Fairfax, Fairfax City + Falls Church VA 60,759
16023 Butte ID 60,753
34027 Morris NJ 59,446
48065 Carson TX 57,198
51099 King George VA 56,609
25017 Middlesex MA 55,910
34017 Hudson NJ 55,512
36119 Westchester NY 54,788
13121 Fulton GA 54,550
24031 Montgomery MD 53,539
51510 Alexandria (Independent City) VA 53,245
06001 Alameda CA 52,783
34013 Essex NJ 51,889
08014 Broomfield CO 51,767
42029 Chester PA 51,636
06041 Marin CA 51,595
37063 Durham NC 51,507
51107 Loudoun VA 51,477
06013 Contra Costa CA 51,416
34039 Union NJ 51,330
34003 Bergen NJ 51,285
09003 Hartford CT 51,272
34021 Mercer NJ 51,055
53033 King WA 50,963
34023 Middlesex NJ 50,940
42091 Montgomery PA 50,929
34019 Hunterdon NJ 50,877
51181 Surry VA 50,636
27053 Hennepin MN 50,537
39159 Union OH 49,688
18101 Martin IN 49,666
48113 Dallas TX 49,575
10003 New Castle DE 49,458
08031 Denver CO 49,432
26125 Oakland MI 49,277
17031 Cook IL 49,256
37119 Mecklenburg NC 48,843
48201 Harris TX 48,700
17097 Lake IL 48,698
25021 Norfolk MA 48,379
08005 Arapahoe CO 48,107
17043 DuPage IL 47,922
48085 Collin TX 47,730
08013 Boulder CO 47,471
24027 Howard MD 47,417
24510 Baltimore (Independent City) MD 47,223
26163 Wayne MI 46,965
06059 Orange CA 46,872
26111 Midland MI 46,819
48425 Somervell TX 46,718
42101 Philadelphia PA 46,655
02240 Southeast Fairbanks Census Area AK 46,427
06037 Los Angeles CA 46,228
24037 St. Mary's MD 45,987
41067 Washington OR 45,867
22089 St. Charles LA 45,839
51760 Richmond (Independent City) VA 45,456
36059 Nassau NY 45,432
09007 Middlesex CT 45,347
48453 Travis TX 45,344
29510 St. Louis (Independent City) MO 45,281
33011 Hillsborough NH 45,101
06067 Sacramento CA 44,603
06111 Ventura CA 44,557
34031 Passaic NJ 44,416
18067 Howard IN 44,368
27123 Ramsey MN 44,318
24033 Prince George's MD 44,279
13067 Cobb GA 44,167
48057 Calhoun TX 44,152
51087 Henrico VA 44,072
26099 Macomb MI 43,861
21209 Scott KY 43,817
39061 Hamilton OH 43,780
17179 Tazewell IL 43,724
34025 Monmouth NJ 43,680
22047 Iberville LA 43,505
38065 Oliver ND 43,478
26161 Washtenaw MI 43,460
06073 San Diego CA 43,419
21091 Hancock KY 43,313
34005 Burlington NJ 43,312
24003 Anne Arundel MD 43,296
18129 Posey IN 43,234
09009 New Haven CT 43,230
36103 Suffolk NY 43,170

Jersey Mentality · #2 Posted **May 8, 2007, 5:26 PM**

12 of the 21 counties in Jersey made the list

34035 Somerset NJ 63,374
34027 Morris NJ 59,446
34017 Hudson NJ 55,512
34013 Essex NJ 51,889
34039 Union NJ 51,330
34003 Bergen NJ 51,285
34021 Mercer NJ 51,055
34023 Middlesex NJ 50,940
34019 Hunterdon NJ 50,877
34031 Passaic NJ 44,416
34025 Monmouth NJ 43,680
34005 Burlington NJ 43,312

What is that 5 digit code on the left of each county?
Also why is this data so much different then the list Thewatusi posted?

dimondpark · #3 Posted **May 8, 2007, 5:34 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jersey Mentality

12 of the 21 counties in Jersey made the list

34035 Somerset NJ 63,374
34027 Morris NJ 59,446
34017 Hudson NJ 55,512
34013 Essex NJ 51,889
34039 Union NJ 51,330
34003 Bergen NJ 51,285
34021 Mercer NJ 51,055
34023 Middlesex NJ 50,940
34019 Hunterdon NJ 50,877
34031 Passaic NJ 44,416
34025 Monmouth NJ 43,680
34005 Burlington NJ 43,312

What is that 5 digit code on the left of each county?
Also why is this data so much different then the list Thewatusi posted?

The number on the left is a code used by the Bureau of Economic Analysis to identify places, cant say why this is different from any other thread, but this is according to the Dept of Commerce.

UglymanCometh · #4 Posted **May 8, 2007, 5:46 PM**

Wayne County, with Detroit, crappy economy and all, made the list.

Jersey Mentality · #5 Posted **May 8, 2007, 8:44 PM**

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=130736

This list Diamond Park
This is the 2006 100 counties by Highest Per Capita Income, posted by Thewatusi

LMich · #6 Posted **May 8, 2007, 10:35 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by UglymanCometh

Wayne County, with Detroit, crappy economy and all, made the list.

Kind of surprising, huh?

UglymanCometh · #7 Posted **May 8, 2007, 10:43 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by LMich

Kind of surprising, huh?

In some ways, yes.... but mostly not.

Even people that live here forget how much money is still in the city proper. Then you add the Grosse Pointes, Northville, Plymouth, Canton, Dearborn, etc... and you get the point.

dimondpark · #8 Posted **May 9, 2007, 4:02 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jersey Mentality

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=130736

This list Diamond Park
This is the 2006 100 counties by Highest Per Capita Income, posted by Thewatusi

per capita income is the total some of income divided by every man, woman and child.

the above ranking is only wages earned by working adults.

Jersey Mentality · #9 Posted **May 10, 2007, 1:46 AM**

^ Gotcha

austin356 · #10 Posted **May 12, 2007, 9:25 AM**

I am actually somewhat surprised some of the urban counties made the list. I know there is insane wealth in counties like Fulton, Ga but there is also alot of poverty too, dragging down the numbers significantly.

PremierAtlanta · #11 Posted **May 12, 2007, 8:34 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by austin356

I am actually somewhat surprised some of the urban counties made the list. I know there is insane wealth in counties like Fulton, Ga but there is also alot of poverty too, dragging down the numbers significantly.

It was my understanding of the list, as explained above by another poster, that this list is the average of working adults. I would think that those that are impoverished (not all but probably a large portion) are probably on some sort of government assistance. That would exclude them as wage earners I would think.

hudkina · #12 Posted **May 13, 2007, 6:22 PM**

The only surprising thing about Wayne County is that it has a large retired population.

BTinSF · #13 Posted **May 13, 2007, 6:29 PM**

Once again, is this salaries paid in the country or paid to residents of the county? It almost has to be salaries paid in the county because I've never before seen a ranking that had San Francisco ahead of Marin and San Mateo when ranked by the salaries earned by county residents. But, of course, most of the highest paid residents of those counties work in San Francisco so the salaries paid in San Francisco are probably higher.

While most of these rankings are fairly pointless, I do take note that the two "big city" counties near the top are NY and SF (followed closely by DC). Surprise, surprise!

barneyg · #14 Posted **May 15, 2007, 11:46 AM**

Keep in mind that the average is used and not the median, so the extremely high wages bring the average up while very low wages don't bring the average down that much. For example, if you have a county with 10 working people, one who makes $1.82 million while the other 9 earn $20,000, the average for that county is $200,000, while the median is still $20,000. Depending on what your objective is, you might make a point that the median is more representative (just like home prices).

austin356 · #15 Posted **May 18, 2007, 6:01 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by barneyg

Keep in mind that the average is used and not the median, so the extremely high wages bring the average up while very low wages don't bring the average down that much. For example, if you have a county with 10 working people, one who makes $1.82 million while the other 9 earn $20,000, the average for that county is $200,000, while the median is still $20,000. Depending on what your objective is, you might make a point that the median is more representative (just like home prices).

that makes the differentiation between median and average a measurer of income inequality.

Someone should do some analysis and compile a list of the "spread" between median and average.

Hot Rod · #16 Posted **May 19, 2007, 12:42 AM**

this may be true and all, but I think you need to look at the total dollars per county to really see the magnitude. Just out of curiosity, using 2006 census ests;

Los Angeles County,CA assuming 9.95M residents?? = $464.2B
Cook County,IL assuming 5.3M residents = $262B
Harris County, TX assuming 3.9M residents =$190B (doggon Oil Companies!!)
New York County,NY assuming 1.6M residents = $133.1B+
Dallas County,TX assuming 2.3M residents =$114B+
King County,WA assuming 1.8M residents = $91.7B+
SF County,CA assuming 744K residents = $49.4B