10 Places With Lowest Median Household Income in Largest Metro Areas

[dimondpark]

Sorry for the mistake in the thread title...

10 Places With Lowest Median Household Income in Metro Areas, 2022

Atlanta MSA:
$37,426---Molena, GA
$36,736---Jersey, GA
$36,563---Porterdale, GA
$36,192---East Newnan, GA
$33,621---Jonesboro, GA
$33,500---Waco, GA
$32,679---Orchard Hill, GA
$32,500---Franklin, GA
$30,833---Sunny Side, GA
$28,955---Experiment, GA

Boston MSA:
$72,017---Onset, MA
$71,250---Hansom AFB, MA
$71,081---Chelsea, MA
$70,046---Lynn, MA
$69,286---Wareham Center, MA
$61,546---Townsend, MA
$53,977---Lawrence, MA
$52,771---West Wareham, MA
$44,664---Farmington, NH
$43,750---Milton, NH

Chicago MSA:
$47,174---Robbins, IL
$47,171---Godley, IL
$46,750---Mount Ayr, IN
$43,086---Ford Heights, IL
$41,144---Riverdale, IL
$40,898---Harvey, IL
$39,250---Verona, IL
$36,874---Gary, IN
$34,934---Wheeler, IN
$24,491---Phoenix, IL

Dallas MSA:
$48,281---Hawk Cove, TX
$46,872---Wolfe City, TX
$46,250---Neylandville, TX
$45,500---Celeste, TX
$41,599---Seven Points, TX
$41,382---Commerce, TX
$41,136---Cross Timber, TX
$39,929---Hutchins, TX
$38,151---Quinlan, TX
$32,225---Western Lakes, TX

Detroit MSA:
$47,801---Lakeport, MI
$45,473---Ecorse, MI
$41,563---Otter Lake, MI
$41,500---North Branch, MI
$39,648---Hamtramck, MI
$38,918---Melvindale, MI
$38,381---Inkster, MI
$37,761---Detroit, MI
$30,341---Highland Park, MI
$26,343---River Rouge, MI

Houston MSA:
$38,750---Crosby, TX
$38,750---Oyster Creek, TX
$38,539---Fifth Street, TX
$38,531---Wallis, TX
$38,239---Aldine, TX
$36,160---Waller, TX
$32,750---Ames, TX
$31,944---Hull, TX
$18,333---Dayton Lakes, TX
$19,238---Prairie View, TX

Los Angeles MSA:
$58,200---Florence-Graham, CA
$57,615---Maywood, CA
$56,928---Laguna Woods, CA
$56,685---Bell, CA
$54,611---Lennox, CA
$54,073---Huntington Park, CA
$53,935---Bell Gardens, CA
$52,384---Willowbrook, CA
$49,958---Westmont, CA
$49,596---Cudahy, CA

Miami MSA:
$41,875---Pembroke Park, FL
$41,644---Laurderdale Lakes, FL
$41,283---Pinewood, FL
$40,656---Leisure City, FL
$38,583---Medley, FL
$36,289---Pahokee, FL
$34,779---Brownsville, FL
$32,177---Franklin Park, FL
$30,101---Opa-locka, FL
$18,843---Lazy Lakes, FL

New York MSA:
$47,708---Fishers Island, NY
$46,917---Rossmoor, NJ
$46,460---Newark, NJ
$45,260---Holiday City-Berkeley, NJ
$42,371---Clearbrook, NJ
$41,304---Leisure Village, NJ
$38,171---Cedar Glen Lakes, NJ
$37,214---Crestwood Village, NJ
$33,625---Silver Ridge, NJ
$27,488---New Square, NY

Philadelphia MSA:
$51,387---Audubon Park, NJ
$51,118---Colwyn, PA
$49,819---Collingdale, PA
$47,594---Marcus Hook, PA
$46,979---Port Deposit, MD
$45,511---Darby, PA
$39,193---Chester, PA
$36,258---Camden, NJ
$35,143---Salem, NJ
$29,821---Penns Grove, NJ

Phoenix MSA:
$40,982---St Johns, AZ
$39,600---Superior, AZ
$37,372---Casa Blanca, AZ
$33,710---Circle City, AZ
$33,182---Hayden, AZ
$33,158---Lower Sartan Village, AZ
$29,457---Winkelman, AZ
$29,347---Sacaton, AZ
$26,339---Maricopa Colony, AZ
$25,917---Blackwater, AZ

Riverside MSA:
$45,444---Lucerne Valley, CA
$41,786---Mountain Center, CA
$38,834---Homestead Valley, CA
$38,668---Desert Edge, CA
$38,411---Mecca, CA
$38,368---Needles, CA
$37,852---North Shore, CA
$31,786---Baker, CA
$27,932---Ripley, CA
$25,335---Oasis, CA

San Francisco MSA:
$80,793---Marin City, CA
$79,226---Bay Point, CA
$79,126---Byron, CA
$77,083---Montalvin Manor, CA
$75,114---Ashland, CA
$75,091---Inverness, CA
$74,405---Stinson Beach, CA
$73,910---Clyde, CA
$72,552---San Pablo, CA
$60,714---Point Reyes Station, CA

Seattle MSA:
$71,167---Boulevard Park, WA
$69,653---Midland, WA
$66,162---Parkland, WA
$65,531---Lakewood, WA
$62,054---Harron Island, WA
$60,375---May Creek, WA
$51,875---Skykomish, WA
$51,679---Ft Lewis, WA
$48,750---Darrington, WA
$48,063---McChord AFB, WA

Washington DC MSA:
$61,293---Prince Frederick, MD
$60,952---Remington, VA
$60,361---Marlow Heights, MD
$58,875---Shepherdstown, WV
$58,619---Bladensburg, MD
$54,613---Seat Pleasant, MD
$53,472---Sabillasville, MD
$51,611---Quantico, VA
$40,000---Washington, VA
$38,092---Innovation, VA

source: data.census.gov 5-year estimates, 2022

[UrbanImpact]

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[UrbanImpact]

Originally Posted by dimondpark

Sorry for the mistake in the thread title...

10 Places With Lowest Median Household Income in Metro Areas, 2022

Miami MSA:
$41,875---Pembroke Park, FL
$41,644---Laurderdale Lakes, FL
$41,283---Pinewood, FL
$40,656---Leisure City, FL
$38,583---Medley, FL
$36,289---Pahokee, FL
$34,779---Brownsville, FL
$32,177---Franklin Park, FL
$30,101---Opa-locka, FL
$18,843---Lazy Lakes, FL

Lazy Lakes is an interesting one. It's consists of a couple of houses (33 people as of 2020) surrounded by the City of Wilton Manors (South Florida's Gayborhood). It is not a poor neighborhood, but, perhaps is low due to non-working residents?
https://maps.app.goo.gl/eyQJCHXE9vR61pS9A

[eschaton]

The New York examples are funny.

Fishers Island is at the extreme eastern end of Long Island, and just within the MSA on a technicality. Very small full-time population.

Rossmoor, Holiday City-Berkeley, Clearbrook, Leisure Village, Cedar Glen Lakes, Crestwood Village, and Silver Ridge are all retiree communities in New Jersey (most of them are quite close to one another).

Newark is Newark.

New Square is a Hasidic enclave.

[montréaliste]

Geez. Lazy Lakes wears its name on its sleeves.

[montréaliste]

Ditto.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by eschaton

The New York examples are funny.

Fishers Island is at the extreme eastern end of Long Island, and just within the MSA on a technicality. Very small full-time population.

Rossmoor, Holiday City-Berkeley, Clearbrook, Leisure Village, Cedar Glen Lakes, Crestwood Village, and Silver Ridge are all retiree communities in New Jersey (most of them are quite close to one another).

I noticed that a lot of the examples in multiple MSAs are quasi-rural edge towns that are included in the MSA by technicality. I grew up in Metro Detroit and have never heard of several of the towns on this list:

Originally Posted by dimondpark

Detroit MSA:
$47,801---Lakeport, MI
$45,473---Ecorse, MI
$41,563---Otter Lake, MI
$41,500---North Branch, MI
$39,648---Hamtramck, MI
$38,918---Melvindale, MI
$38,381---Inkster, MI
$37,761---Detroit, MI
$30,341---Highland Park, MI
$26,343---River Rouge, MI

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by dimondpark

Sorry for the mistake in the thread title...

10 Places With Lowest Median Household Income in Metro Areas, 2022


Los Angeles MSA:
$58,200---Florence-Graham, CA
$57,615---Maywood, CA
$56,928---Laguna Woods, CA
$56,685---Bell, CA
$54,611---Lennox, CA
$54,073---Huntington Park, CA
$53,935---Bell Gardens, CA
$52,384---Willowbrook, CA
$49,958---Westmont, CA
$49,596---Cudahy, CA

source: data.census.gov 5-year estimates, 2022

Interesting, because Laguna Woods, which is in Orange County, is basically a retirement community that decided to incorporate as a city in the late 1990s. The rest are all lower-income areas southeast, south, and southwest of downtown Los Angeles.

[Crawford]

If you did NY by CSA they would likely all be Hasidic enclaves. I believe Kiryas Joel, NY is the poorest municipality in the U.S., but that's now (very weirdly) the Kiryas Joel MSA.

And these communities, while poor, don't really share many characteristic with other poor areas in the U.S. They're in many ways actually wildly successful areas where the community values things above household income. They put their wealth and time into stuff like this:
https://www.rocklanddaily.com/news/s...-in-new-square

[Acajack]

It's fascinating how there is often more to these places than meets the eye.

They're far from all poverty-stricken hellholes.

[pj3000]

Originally Posted by UrbanImpact

Lazy Lakes is an interesting one. It's consists of a couple of houses (33 people as of 2020) surrounded by the City of Wilton Manors (South Florida's Gayborhood). It is not a poor neighborhood, but, perhaps is low due to non-working residents?
https://maps.app.goo.gl/eyQJCHXE9vR61pS9A

$18,843---Lazy Lakes, FL

Yeah, the inclusion of Lazy Lake is ridiculous.

It's a 1950s "village" of about 15 or so million dollar homes.

[TWAK]

Quite a few military bases on there, where the household is one or the spouse ain't workin'. I guess their "home of record" location doesn't matter for census stats too, even though they still might pay state taxes for their HOR.

Originally Posted by Acajack

It's fascinating how there is often more to these places than meets the eye.

They're far from all poverty-stricken hellholes.

My zillow and redfin are ready to go for Stinson Beach and Pt Reyes, as property values should match these or be close.

[3rd&Brown]

Originally Posted by Crawford

And these communities, while poor, don't really share many characteristic with other poor areas in the U.S. They're in many ways actually wildly successful areas where the community values things above household income.]

Interesting take. You mean we pay for it because a wild number of them are scamming the system and on public assistance while not actually being poor because they live and work in cash economies.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by 3rd&Brown

Interesting take. You mean we pay for it because a wild number of them are scamming the system and on public assistance while not actually being poor because they live and work in cash economies.

I know this is a very common take, but I'm not sure it's true relative to other demographics.

I work with members of this community, BTW, and have never got a sense of scamming the system and the like. They're generally very warm, family and faith oriented people. I think the one major issue is their large family size necessitates a bunch of public assistance, but these communities have a pretty robust tax base too, and they cost exactly 0 in public schooling, which is the largest piece of most local budgets.

Their cultural practices are, to me, weird, but inoffensive, and their formula for cultural preservation and community growth is pretty wildly successful. Their system of internal wealth transfers is pretty amazing. Every kid goes to private school. Every family eats well on the high holidays. Their rich really pay for the poor.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

I noticed that a lot of the examples in multiple MSAs are quasi-rural edge towns that are included in the MSA by technicality. I grew up in Metro Detroit and have never heard of several of the towns on this list:

Yeah, the same applies to some of the Chicago ones as well.

Despite living in Chicagoland for my entire life, l literally had to look up the bolded places on the list below on Google maps because I have never once heard of them.

Chicago MSA:
$47,174---Robbins, IL
$47,171---Godley, IL
$46,750---Mount Ayr, IN
$43,086---Ford Heights, IL
$41,144---Riverdale, IL
$40,898---Harvey, IL
$39,250---Verona, IL
$36,874---Gary, IN
$34,934---Wheeler, IN
$24,491---Phoenix, IL


Those 4 are all utterly tiny little towns of less than 500 people WAY out on the periphery that have nothing to do with "metropolitan".

The other 6 are much more of what this thread is trying to get at. Gary goes without saying as one of the most impoverished and blighted cities in the nation. Robbins, Harvey, Riverdale and Phoenix are all contiguous with each other in the south cook county burbs, and together constitute the largest concentration of suburban poverty in Chicagoland (not counting Gary). Ford Heights is also down in southern cook county, but a bit further out in the far SE corner of the county.

[edale]

Originally Posted by Crawford

I know this is a very common take, but I'm not sure it's true relative to other demographics.

I work with members of this community, BTW, and have never got a sense of scamming the system and the like. They're generally very warm, family and faith oriented people. I think the one major issue is their large family size necessitates a bunch of public assistance, but these communities have a pretty robust tax base too, and they cost exactly 0 in public schooling, which is the largest piece of most local budgets.

Their cultural practices are, to me, weird, but inoffensive, and their formula for cultural preservation and community growth is pretty wildly successful. Their system of internal wealth transfers is pretty amazing. Every kid goes to private school. Every family eats well on the high holidays. Their rich really pay for the poor.

Well there was a very high profile case of Hasidic Jews making a concerted effort to take over the school board in East Ramapo, NY because they don't send their kids to public schools and didn't like paying to support the education of non-Hasidic kids (mostly non-Jews in general). Once they gained control of the school board they gutted the local schools, stopped funding extracurriculars, arts, etc. Really disgusting selfishness from a community that receives a ton of public assistance. This American Life did a story on it which is how I first learned of the situation there, but I imagine this type of story plays out in many communities where Hasids move in great numbers. Like other religious extremists, they're an insular and backwards group who doesn't really care about anyone outside of their little tribe. Definitely not great neighbors.

https://www.thisamericanlife.org/534...imple-majority

[Buckeye Native 001]

Some of that stuff in the Phoenix MSA like St. Johns is hours away from Phoenix

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by edale

Well there was a very high profile case of Hasidic Jews making a concerted effort to take over the school board in East Ramapo, NY because they don't send their kids to public schools and didn't like paying to support the education of non-Hasidic kids (mostly non-Jews in general).

Yeah, I know about this case, but don't see how it's different than with other groups.

There are school districts in Rockland and Orange County, NY (and Ocean County, NJ) where like 90% of voters are Ultra-Orthodox Jews. Not surprisingly, they don't want to fund largely empty public schools. Same goes for the cranky seniors, childless households and "I've got mine, FU" crowds.

Voters not wanting to pay for things that doesn't benefit them has very deep and broad roots and isn't an exclusively Orthodox thing.

And the local people complaining about the Orthodox underfunding the schools are often the same people who sold their properties at wildly inflated prices to the Orthodox. I'm guessing they aren't complaining about their windfall.

[3rd&Brown]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Yeah, I know about this case, but don't see how it's different than with other groups.

There are school districts in Rockland and Orange County, NY (and Ocean County, NJ) where like 90% of voters are Ultra-Orthodox Jews. Not surprisingly, they don't want to fund largely empty public schools. Same goes for the cranky seniors, childless households and "I've got mine, FU" crowds.

Voters not wanting to pay for things that doesn't benefit them has very deep and broad roots and isn't an exclusively Orthodox thing.

And the local people complaining about the Orthodox underfunding the schools are often the same people who sold their properties at wildly inflated prices to the Orthodox. I'm guessing they aren't complaining about their windfall.

Who says the schools are empty? Just because they're a majority doesn't mean there aren't kids in the balance of the town that don't need a good education. It's absolutely self serviing.

If the school district was shrinking, one would presume enrollment would be dropping (perhaps precipitously) and that the staffing (and thus money needed) would organically shrink over time.

[3rd&Brown]

Originally Posted by Crawford

I work with members of this community, BTW, and have never got a sense of scamming the system and the like. They're generally very warm, family and faith oriented people. I think the one major issue is their large family size necessitates a bunch of public assistance

Both can be true, you know. Plenty of mob bosses genuinely love their children.

You can love your children and be generous with your family and neighbors and absolutely scam the government.

Also your last point supports my narrative no? If these people are not actually poor, why are they teeming from every public housing project in and around South Williamsburg? I wouldn't be surprised soon if they became the default residents of the Marcy Projects, which would be INSANE but also expected given Hasids have moved into the NW portion of BedStuy, which was unimagineable not even 10 years ago.