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GOBankingRates
America’s 50 Richest Beach Towns
By J. David Herman,
11 days ago
Whether for the natural beauty, a more relaxed atmosphere, easy access to beach-related activities or scientifically proven health benefits, living near the water is a dream for many. Due to high costs, it remains just a dream for a lot of folks.
With so many people willing to pay top dollar to live on or near the beach, it makes sense that beach towns tend to be magnets for high earners. But levels of wealth vary widely in beach towns around the U.S.
GOBankingRates set out to rank U.S. beach towns by wealth, using $200,000 annual household income as a peg. For this study, we’ve used percentages of households earning that amount to determine the rankings. To compile our list, we’ve analyzed data from U.S. Census American Community Survey and multiple other sources. (Our full methodology is included at the end of this story.)
Of the 50 wealthiest beach towns by this measurement, 12 are in California. That includes six of the top 10. Other states with high totals include Hawaii (9), Florida (7) and North Carolina (6).
It’s worth noting that not all beach towns are crawling with $200,000 earners. Some don’t have any, or at least not enough to register percentage-wise.
Percentage of households earning $200,000+ annually: 37.3
Ron_Thomas / iStock.com
Newport Beach, California
Population: 85,159
Number of households: 38,636
Monthly total cost of living: $25,367
Percentage of households earning $200,000+ annually: 39.5
jeremyiswild / Getty Images/iStockphoto
Malibu, California
Population: 10,698
Number of households: 4,401
Monthly total cost of living: $26,407
Percentage of households earning $200,000+ annually: 45.9
Methodology: For this study, GOBankingRates analyzed waterfront cities to determine the highest concentration of households earning $200,000 a year or more. GBR gathered a list of waterfront cities from USA Today’s Most Affordable Waterfront Cities, WSAZ’s 100 Best Beach Towns, Travel + Leisure’s Best Beach Towns and Best Secluded Beaches, U.S. News & World Report’s Best Places to Live Near the Beach, loveEXPORING’s Destinations, TripSavvy’s Best Beach Towns in the U.S., and Realtor’s Most Affordable Beach Towns for Homebuyers. For each city, GBR determined total population, total households, household median income, household mean income and the percentage of households that earn more than $200,000 (all sourced from the U.S. Census American Community Survey); cost-of-living indexes (sourced from Sperling’s BestPlaces); the average single-family home value from April 2024 (sourced from Zillow Home Value Index); and livability index (sourced from AreaVibes). For each home value, the average mortgage cost was calculated by assuming a 10% down payment and using the national average 30-year fixed mortgage rate. The average expenditure costs were calculated using cost-of-living indexes, and the national average expenditure costs for all residents as sourced from the Bureau of Labor Statistics 2022 Consumer Expenditure Survey. The average expenditure cost and mortgage cost were used to find the total monthly cost of living for each city. The percentage of households that earn $200,000 or more was used with the total households to calculate the number of households that earn over $200,000 a year. The cities were sorted by the percentage of households that earn $200,000 or more. All data was collected on and is up to date as of June 10, 2024.
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