Sorry, New York and California. The state with the richest neighborhoods is ... Maryland.
A new ranking of the 100 richest neighborhoods in America finds that three of the top five are in "The Old Line State," all of them close to Washington, D.C.
This follows another recent study that found Maryland also has the highest population of millionaires per capita, suggesting the area around the nation's capital is becoming one of the leading centers of wealth in the U.S.
The new neighborhood list, called the Higley Elite 100, is compiled by Stephen R. Higley, professor emeritus of urban geography at the University of Montevallo in Alabama. The list ranks neighborhoods—rather than ZIP codes or cities—by mean household income and census data.
Higley said that since the census income measure tops out at $2 million, it doesn't give more credit to the super-rich earners. That could lower the rankings for neighborhoods in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Still, the list is a good measure of overall affluence—if not superwealth.
