High Income Urban Neighborhoods
The Higley 1000 does a grave disservice to urban neighborhoods. The diversity of urban places, the very life-blood that makes them so desirable to their residents, can not possibly be captured by the Block Group data that is the basis for the Higley 1000. High income urban neighborhoods are mixtures of condominiums, rental apartments, and townhouses with occasional blocks of single family homes. Therefore the mean household incomes of these places tend to be much lower than in the suburbs. With the exception of the Block Groups along Fifth Avenue and Park Avenue (see the New York, New York to the left), the urban neighborhoods represented in the Higley 1000 are stray Block Groups that are representative of those neighborhoods. As I have written in my Methodology section, the list has a strong bias towards small, homogeneous suburban neighborhoods.
In order to look beyond suburbia and explore the state of racial integration in Urban America, I have also examined the racial makeup of America’s wealthiest and most prominent urban places. One should note that the neighborhoods listed below will be based on entire city neighborhoods. The geographic definition for an urban neighborhood on this page will not consist of the richest contiguous Block Groups but entire neighborhoods. Obvious outliers like public housing projects such as the Lathrop Homes in Lincoln Park will be dropped from the data in the interest of the goals of this site.
Determining what is “urban” and what is “suburban” is a bit of a call in some situations. In general, I have used average household size as an indicator. Urban neighborhoods have an average household size between 1.5 and 2.0 (versus the 2.5 to 3.o people per household found in suburbia. I have also dropped suburban places with high densities as they often are characterized by high-rises in a suburban setting. A good example of this would be the Friendship Terrace complex in Bethesda, Maryland. Through a complicated intersection of geography and Block Group data, I was able to isolate this large, luxurious high-rise complex. Atlhough Friendship Terrace reaches all of the benchmarks to be listed as an “urban neighborhood”, it is located in the bowels of suburbia and therefore is not on the list.
Here is a graph of the racial makeup of all the neighborhoods combined:
The list below contains 65 urban neighborhoods that are highly desirable. What is striking about this list is the racial segregation that occurs in urban places. Rich neighborhoods in the city are slightly more likely to be integrated than their counterparts in suburbia, but strikingly similar. Once again, New York City dominates the list in terms of shear numbers of households.
The Wealthiest Urban Neighborhoods (Alphabetical by City)
1: Old Town (Alexandria)
Mean Household Income: $169,658, Total Households: 2,057
0.70% Black, 1.40% Asian, 1.70% Hispanic and 95.10% Non-Hispanic White.
2: Buckhead (Atlanta)
Mean Household Income: $122,747, Total Households: 34,018
5.90% Black, 2.50% Asian, 4.00% Hispanic and 86.30% Non-Hispanic White.
3: Boston Harbor (Boston)
Mean Household Income: $124,419, Total Households: 1,446
0.50% Black, 7.20% Asian, 1.80% Hispanic and 90.50% Non-Hispanic White.
4: Back Bay (Boston)
Mean Household Income: $122,731, Total Households: 6,767
0.90% Black, 5.90% Asian, 2.70% Hispanic and 88.70% Non-Hispanic White.
5: Beacon Hill (Boston)
Mean Household Income: $109,569, Total Households: 5,702
2.20% Black, 3.50% Asian, 2.50% Hispanic and 91.00% Non-Hispanic White.
6: South End (Boston)
Mean Household Income: $86,601, Total Households: 9,059
14.50% Black, 6.90% Asian, 10.60% Hispanic and 65.80% Non-Hispanic White.
7: Riverdale (Bronx)
Mean Household Income: $88,890, Total Households: 4,855
8.70% Black, 3.10% Asian, 9.40% Hispanic and 78.20% Non-Hispanic White.
8: Cobble Hill (Brooklyn)
Mean Household Income: $128,123, Total Households: 2,423
0.90% Black, 4.30% Asian, 5.80% Hispanic and 86.00% Non-Hispanic White.
9: Brooklyn Heights (Brooklyn)
Mean Household Income: $116,952, Total Households: 11,509
5.80% Black, 5.40% Asian, 5.10% Hispanic and 82.20% Non-Hispanic White.
10: Park Slope (Brooklyn)
Mean Household Income: $95,920, Total Households: 13,769
6.50% Black, 4.50% Asian, 7.30% Hispanic and 78.60% Non-Hispanic White.
11: Charleston Historic District (Charleston)
Mean Household Income: $106,349, Total Households: 2,392
4.80% Black, 1.30% Asian, 1.50% Hispanic and 92.50% Non-Hispanic White.
12: The Gold Coast (Chicago)
Mean Household Income: $153,358, Total Households: 6,781
1.90% Black, 2.50% Asian, 1.70% Hispanic and 92.70% Non-Hispanic White.
13: Lake Shore East (Chicago)
Mean Household Income: $122,145, Total Households: 3,246
11.60% Black, 8.60% Asian, 3.70% Hispanic and 73.10% Non-Hispanic White.
14: Lincoln Park (Chicago)
Mean Household Income: $115,856, Total Households: 35,069
2.50% Black, 3.90% Asian, 3.60% Hispanic and 88.80% Non-Hispanic White.
15: Streeterville (Chicago)
Mean Household Income: $107,276, Total Households: 10,255
4.90% Black, 11.80% Asian, 2.50% Hispanic and 78.30% Non-Hispanic White.
16: The Near North (Chicago)
Mean Household Income: $105,586, Total Households: 11,871
9.60% Black, 7.20% Asian, 4.10% Hispanic and 77.30% Non-Hispanic White.
17: Old Town (Chicago)
Mean Household Income: $104,060, Total Households: 2,610
8.10% Black, 3.80% Asian, 4.30% Hispanic and 80.00% Non-Hispanic White.
18: River North (Chicago)
Mean Household Income: $100,607, Total Households: 2,971
10.90% Black, 6.40% Asian, 4.50% Hispanic and 74.40% Non-Hispanic White.
19: Sandberg Village (Chicago)
Mean Household Income: $95,876, Total Households: 5,205
3.80% Black, 3.90% Asian, 3.10% Hispanic and 87.40% Non-Hispanic White.
20: The Loop (Chicago)
Mean Household Income: $91,033, Total Households: 1,025
7.80% Black, 4.40% Asian, 9.50% Hispanic and 73.40% Non-Hispanic White.
21: Dearborn Park-Printers Row (Chicago)
Mean Household Income: $88,482, Total Households: 3,652
23.20% Black, 7.70% Asian, 2.90% Hispanic and 63.60% Non-Hispanic White.
22: Near West Side-River West (Chicago)
Mean Household Income: $86,168, Total Households: 4,372
13.40% Black, 10.30% Asian, 3.40% Hispanic and 71.20% Non-Hispanic White.
23: Mount Adams (Cincinnati)
Mean Household Income: $82,073, Total Households: 993
1.40% Black, 2.50% Asian, 1.60% Hispanic and 94.50% Non-Hispanic White.
24: Meridian Corridor (Indianapolis)
Mean Household Income: $102,599, Total Households: 1,122
5.30% Black, 0.30% Asian, 0.50% Hispanic and 93.90% Non-Hispanic White.
25: Marina (Los Angeles)
Mean Household Income: $151,934, Total Households: 2,449
2.40% Black, 2.00% Asian, 4.20% Hispanic and 89.50% Non-Hispanic White.
26: Beekman Place (Manhattan)
Mean Household Income: $201,623, Total Households: 803
0.00% Black, 1.20% Asian, 5.20% Hispanic and 93.50% Non-Hispanic White.
27: Sutton Place (Manhattan)
Mean Household Income: $176,980, Total Households: 6,822
0.20% Black, 3.50% Asian, 2.80% Hispanic and 92.10% Non-Hispanic White.
28: Tribeca (Manhattan)
Mean Household Income: $163,425, Total Households: 4,013
5.70% Black, 6.20% Asian, 4.80% Hispanic and 80.90% Non-Hispanic White.
29: Battery Park (Manhattan)
Mean Household Income: $150,075, Total Households: 4,440
2.80% Black, 15.90% Asian, 4.30% Hispanic and 74.40% Non-Hispanic White.
30: Upper East Side (Manhattan)
Mean Household Income: $143,323, Total Households: 115,792
1.80% Black, 5.60% Asian, 4.90% Hispanic and 86.30% Non-Hispanic White.
31: Central Park South (Manhattan)
Mean Household Income: $141,085, Total Households: 2,736
2.20% Black, 5.10% Asian, 4.60% Hispanic and 85.90% Non-Hispanic White.
32: Midtown East (Manhattan)
Mean Household Income: $129,650, Total Households: 31,962
1.50% Black, 10.60% Asian, 4.40% Hispanic and 81.30% Non-Hispanic White.
33: Upper West Side (Manhattan)
Mean Household Income: $124,960, Total Households: 96,146
6.50% Black, 5.50% Asian, 9.20% Hispanic and 76.80% Non-Hispanic White.
34: SoHo (Manhattan)
Mean Household Income: $114,846, Total Households: 5,593
1.90% Black, 4.80% Asian, 5.40% Hispanic and 85.10% Non-Hispanic White.
35: Greenwich Village (Manhattan)
Mean Household Income: $112,546, Total Households: 40,775
2.00% Black, 5.10% Asian, 4.10% Hispanic and 86.40% Non-Hispanic White.
36: Downtown (Manhattan)
Mean Household Income: $106,745, Total Households: 3,526
3.90% Black, 13.80% Asian, 4.80% Hispanic and 74.00% Non-Hispanic White.
37: Murray Hill (Manhattan)
Mean Household Income: $105,821, Total Households: 22,096
2.20% Black, 9.30% Asian, 4.80% Hispanic and 81.70% Non-Hispanic White.
38: Gramercy (Manhattan)
Mean Household Income: $90,000, Total Households: 39,151
4.10% Black, 9.20% Asian, 6.60% Hispanic and 78.00% Non-Hispanic White.
39: Midtown (Manhattan)
Mean Household Income: $86,427, Total Households: 4,486
8.00% Black, 11.10% Asian, 10.10% Hispanic and 66.90% Non-Hispanic White.
40: Central Gardens (Memphis)
Mean Household Income: $82,620, Total Households: 2,210
6.90% Black, 2.30% Asian, 1.40% Hispanic and 88.30% Non-Hispanic White.
41: Grove Isle-Bayshore (Miami)
Mean Household Income: $206,683, Total Households: 758
0.00% Black, 0.00% Asian, 20.20% Hispanic and 79.80% Non-Hispanic White.
42: Dinner Key (Miami)
Mean Household Income: $137,210, Total Households: 597
0.00% Black, 0.00% Asian, 18.90% Hispanic and 79.60% Non-Hispanic White.
43: Brickell Avenue (Miami)
Mean Household Income: $88,772, Total Households: 5,487
0.80% Black, 2.10% Asian, 51.70% Hispanic and 44.10% Non-Hispanic White.
44: East Side (Milwaukee) (Milwaukee)
Mean Household Income: $107,082, Total Households: 1,632
2.60% Black, 1.00% Asian, 0.20% Hispanic and 94.60% Non-Hispanic White.
45: Garden District (New Orleans)
Mean Household Income: $90,702, Total Households: 1,130
2.90% Black, 1.20% Asian, 0.70% Hispanic and 92.40% Non-Hispanic White.
46: French Quarter (New Orleans)
Mean Household Income: $58,571, Total Households: 2,909
2.60% Black, 0.50% Asian, 3.20% Hispanic and 91.00% Non-Hispanic White.
47: Rittenhouse Square (Philadelphia)
Mean Household Income: $115,773, Total Households: 1,222
0.00% Black, 6.90% Asian, 0.00% Hispanic and 93.10% Non-Hispanic White.
48: Society Hill (Philadelphia)
Mean Household Income: $107,504, Total Households: 3,635
2.10% Black, 4.00% Asian, 2.60% Hispanic and 91.30% Non-Hispanic White.
49: Chestnut Hill (Philadelphia)
Mean Household Income: $101,471, Total Households: 4,267
15.30% Black, 2.70% Asian, 1.80% Hispanic and 78.20% Non-Hispanic White.
50: Point Breeze (Pittsburgh)
Mean Household Income: $99,669, Total Households: 2,437
5.80% Black, 2.10% Asian, 0.30% Hispanic and 90.10% Non-Hispanic White.
51: Squirrel Hill (Pittsburgh)
Mean Household Income: $97,553, Total Households: 3,761
3.00% Black, 8.90% Asian, 0.90% Hispanic and 85.60% Non-Hispanic White.
52: East Side (Providence) (Providence)
Mean Household Income: $116,158, Total Households: 3,569
1.10% Black, 3.00% Asian, 0.40% Hispanic and 94.80% Non-Hispanic White.
53: Pacific Heights (San Francisco)
Mean Household Income: $158,937, Total Households: 8,794
0.40% Black, 8.40% Asian, 2.90% Hispanic and 86.70% Non-Hispanic White.
54: Telegraph Hill (San Francisco)
Mean Household Income: $133,977, Total Households: 924
0.90% Black, 16.80% Asian, 1.10% Hispanic and 80.40% Non-Hispanic White.
55: The Embarcardero (San Francisco)
Mean Household Income: $129,610, Total Households: 1,543
1.80% Black, 15.30% Asian, 1.80% Hispanic and 79.80% Non-Hispanic White.
56: Marina (San Francisco)
Mean Household Income: $124,750, Total Households: 5,413
0.30% Black, 8.10% Asian, 2.80% Hispanic and 86.80% Non-Hispanic White.
57: South of Market (San Francisco)
Mean Household Income: $117,921, Total Households: 3,500
5.90% Black, 16.60% Asian, 5.20% Hispanic and 69.10% Non-Hispanic White.
58: Russian Hill-North Beach (San Francisco)
Mean Household Income: $114,645, Total Households: 8,292
0.80% Black, 16.90% Asian, 3.50% Hispanic and 77.10% Non-Hispanic White.
59: Nob Hill (San Francisco)
Mean Household Income: $108,870, Total Households: 3,078
1.80% Black, 24.50% Asian, 3.60% Hispanic and 72.30% Non-Hispanic White.
60: Noe Valley (San Francisco)
Mean Household Income: $105,335, Total Households: 8,850
1.30% Black, 6.60% Asian, 9.40% Hispanic and 79.90% Non-Hispanic White.
61: Haight-Ashbury (San Francisco)
Mean Household Income: $82,713, Total Households: 4,830
8.30% Black, 5.20% Asian, 6.20% Hispanic and 76.50% Non-Hispanic White.
62: Queen Anne Hill (Seattle)
Mean Household Income: $82,420, Total Households: 14,719
1.40% Black, 4.30% Asian, 2.70% Hispanic and 88.70% Non-Hispanic White.
63: Summit Hill (St. Paul)
Mean Household Income: $78,166, Total Households: 3,712
1.80% Black, 1.10% Asian, 2.90% Hispanic and 93.30% Non-Hispanic White.
64: Georgetown (Washington DC)
Mean Household Income: $152,209, Total Households: 2,724
3.20% Black, 2.00% Asian, 4.00% Hispanic and 89.40% Non-Hispanic White.
65: Kalorama Heights (Washington DC)
Mean Household Income: $140,157, Total Households: 1,530
3.70% Black, 5.80% Asian, 6.40% Hispanic and 87.50% Non-Hispanic White.