Posted on 01/02/2014 3:17:23 PM PST by markomalley
The small suburban independent city of Falls Church, Va.—which is treated as the equivalent of a county by the Census Bureau--had a higher median household income in 2012 than any county in the United States, according to data released in December by the Census Bureau.
In the Census Bureau’s ranking of the 30 counties with the highest median household incomes, the City of Falls Church rose from the No. 2 spot in 2011 to the No. 1 spot in 2012, overtaking Loudon County, Va.
While treated as the equivalent of a county by the Census Bureau, the City of Falls Church had a population of only 13,229 in 2012, as estimated by the Census Bureau, and is merely 2.2 square miles in size.
It is also a place where, the Census Bureau estimates, 31.3 percent of the civilians who are 16 or older and who are employed work for the government.
The median household income in the City of Falls Church in 2012 was $121,250; in Loudon County it was $118,934. Loudon had an estimated population of 336,898 in 2012.
Falls Church is less than nine miles by road from the District of Columbia line, according to Google Maps, while the Loudon County line is about 25 miles by road from the D.C. line.
The only county among the Top 5 for median household income not located near Washington, D.C., was No. 3 Los Alamos County, N.M.—which is the smallest county in that state, and which is also home to the U.S. Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory. The median household income in Los Alamos County in 2012, according to the Census Bureau, was $112,115.
In Los Alamos County, the Census Bureau estimates, 28.2 percent of the civilians 16 or older who have a job work for government.
After No. 1 Falls Church City, No. 2 Loudon County, Va., and No. 3 Los Alamos County, Howard County, Md., ranked No. 4 with a median household income of $108,234; and Fairfax County, Va., ranked No. 5 with a median household income of $106,690.
Other than Los Alamos, Falls Church City, and the three D.C. suburban counties of Loudon, Howard and Fairfax, Hunterdon County, N.J. was the only county in the nation with a six-figure median household income in 2012. The median household income there was $103,301.
The other Washington, D.C.-area jurisdictions in the Top 30 included: No. 7 Arlington County, Va.; No. 9 Stafford County, Va.; No. 12 Montgomery County, Md.; No. 13 Prince William County, Va.; No. 18 Charles County, Md.; No. 23 Calvert County, Md.; No. 24 Anne Arundel County, Md.; No. 25 Fairfax City, Va.; and No. 29 St. Mary’s County, Md.
Santa Clara County, Calif., home to Silicon Valley, ranked No. 17 with a median household income of $91,195.
The Census Bureau’s American Community Survey has estimated various economic characteristics for the nation as a whole and for individual communities over the five-year period from 2008 through 2012.
According to these estimates, in the United States as a whole, 14.9 percent of those who were employed worked for government. In the City of Falls Church, 31.3 percent worked for government.
In the United States as a whole, 6.3 percent were self-employed in their own not-incorporated business. In Falls Church, only 4.4 percent were self-employed in their own not-incorporated business.
In the United States as a whole, 76.1 percent of the people who commuted to work did so alone in a car, truck or van. In Falls Church, only 61.8 percent did that. In the nation as a whole, only 5.0 percent commuted to work via public transportation; in Falls Church, 16.9 percent did.
Also, according to the Census Bureau, more people worked at home in the City of Falls Church (7.2 percent) than in the country as a whole (4.3 percent).
A spokesman for the Census Bureau said that communities such as Falls Church City, Va., and Fairfax City, Va., are included in the list of counties with the highest median household income because the Census Bureau treats independent cities as county equivalents.
Here, according to the Census Bureau, are the 30 counties that had the highest median household income in 2012:
| County | Median Household Income |
| 1. Falls Church City, Va | $121,250 |
| 2. Loudon County, Va | $118,934 |
| 3. Los Alamos County, N.M | $112,115 |
| 4. Howard County, Md | $108,234 |
| 5. Fairfax County, Va | $106,690 |
| 6. Hunterdon County, N.J | $103,301 |
| 7. Arlington County, Va | $99,255 |
| 8. Douglas County, Colo | $98,426 |
| 9. Stafford County, Va | $95,927 |
| 10. Somerset County, N.J. | $95,574 |
| 11. Morris County, N.J. | $95,236 |
| 12. Montgomery County, Md | $94,365 |
| 13. Prince William County, Va | $93,011 |
| 14. Williamson County, Tenn | $93,003 |
| 15. Putnam County, N.Y. | $92,950 |
| 16. Nassau County, N.Y. | $92,543 |
| 17. Santa Clara County, Calif | $91,195 |
| 18. Charles County, Md | $89,203 |
| 19. Marin County, Calif | $88,654 |
| 20. Hamilton County, Ind | $88,429 |
| 21. Delaware County, Ohio | $87,470 |
| 22. Forsyth County, Ga | $87,380 |
| 23. Calvert County, Md | $87,215 |
| 24. Anne Arundel County, Md | $87,083 |
| 25. Fairfax City, Va | $86,963 |
| 26. Scott County, Minn | $86,324 |
| 27. Fort Bend County, Texas | $86,037 |
| 28. Suffolk County, N.Y | $85,717 |
| 29. St. Mary’s County, Md | $85,478 |
| 30. Rockwall County, Texas | $85,164 |
Unexpected????
Center - periphery confict.
Capitol enriching itself at the expense of the provincials.
Yeah, how long before we have to ship off two kids there each year to get slaughtered?
yeah.
DC = Cornucopia
Fly over country = District 12
My In-Laws live there.
And they’re farmers...
Public servants?
Have the covert biggov supporters announced this is nothing by "class warfare and wealth envy" yet?
Falls Church is home of Northrop Graumman, Dyncorp, CSC and several other major defense contractors.
Fairview Park, which is located right by 495 and route 50 in Falls Church has half a dozen major military contractors in it.
I would say 75% of Falls Church earns its money as either working for the gov’t, or a contractor
So this is all nothing by “class warfare and wealth envy” right?
Seems every time someone talks about the politicians, the well connected and those in government lining their pockets and getting wealthy, someone always comes along tells us it’s all about the military and the troops.
Very odd.
This article is actually referring to the tiny independent city. Those companies are in Fairfax County — which is also high on the list!
Grew up in #4 but that was before the big onset of the lib population.
In 1975 my husband was transferred to Virginia from Long Island. We had a huge 4 bdr. 3 bath house, with a large piece of property, in a really nice suburb. Naively we expected Northern Virginia to be fairly inexpensive being a mostly southern state. Wow, were we in for a surprise. We did have the option of moving further from his office, in Falls Church, but decided the commute wasn’t worth it. We bought a brand-new house in a brand new subdivision. The smallest house in the neighborhood and it was awful. Most of our neighbors were NOT gov’t workers. We had a doctor and a fellow who wound up being the vice president of the Marriott Corp. Happiest day of my life was being transferred out of there, to southern NJ which was very affordable, and ,at the time, had very reasonable property taxes. We eventually wound up in an idyllic town in MA.
My husband grew up in rural Kentucky. Something we've both noticed in talking to people from there, vs. people from here (central MD) -- when you ask "how far is it from A to B?" In KY they'll give you the distance in miles. Here, they'll give it to you in time (i.e., "it's about a half-hour drive").
Government workers are paid better because they steal from people like us...
DC is a volcano spewing money into the surrounding area.
For the southern Md counties to have incomes among the top 25 wealthiest counties in the nation, the situation must be out of control. Not too many years ago Calvert, Charles, and St Mary’s counties were just rural tobacco and market garden farmer communities. Incomes were low! Now even they are bedroom communities for the hundreds of thousands of people on the taxpayer payroll.
No wonder Martin O’Malley and the rest of the blue-state MD legislature have no worries about crazy budgets.
Tough to take it seriously when they can’t spell Loudoun.
At least we now know where Elysium is . . .
Combined General and Maryland “Freak State” PING!
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