Where America's rich folk live (and it's not New York City): Fascinating map of U.S. reveals areas with highest concentration of wealthy people

It may be the nation's financial capital but New York City does not boast the greatest concentration of wealth in the country, according to new information released by the Census.
That honor falls to the residents of the Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk corridor along the Connecticut coast of Long Island Sound where nearly one-in-five households have an income of at least $191,469 - or the top five-percent.
In addition the new American Community Survey found that the wealthiest Americans cluster around each other, specifically around the country's largest cities on either coast and mostly in the Northeast, California and Virginia.

 

New U.S. Census Bureau report shows the concentration of High-Income Households for each county in the United States from 200-2011 data

 

While New York and Los Angeles may both boast huge and wealthy populations, it is the hedge fund haven of Bridgeport, a small city of 150,000 that claims the the title of the wealthiest high income households in the nation.

But while Bridgeport only has a median household income of $41,000 and a 22 percent poverty rate, it is nearby towns such as a Westport and its wealthy residents who push the area to the top of the list.

 

This map reveals the number of households in each county across the United States

 

The Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk corridor along the Connecticut coast of Long Island Sound where nearly one-in-five households have an income of at least $191,469 is the top ranked region

 

 

 

Closely following in the Connecticut towns wake is the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara region of northern California and the Washington D.C. metro areas which boast the next highest concentrations of wealth - with 15.0 percent and 14.1 percent of households in the country's top earners.
This information comes from The Geographic Concentration of High-Income Households , an American Community Survey brief, which contains findings from the 2007-2011 five-year survey estimates according to Forbes.
'This report addresses one aspect of the growing interest in income distribution by examining the geographic spread of high-income households,' said David Johnson, chief of the Census Bureau's Social, Economic and Housing Statistics Division.
The report examines where these high-income households are located and which areas have the highest concentrations of such households.

 

Bridgeport, Connecticut is home to a population where one-in-five people has incomes of almost $200,000

 

 

Arlington and the surrounding Washington D.C. area ranked third among all metro regions with high concentrations of households in the top 5 percent, a group that begins at $191,500

At the other end of the scale, Southeastern states including Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee unsurprisingly had the lowest concentrations of high-earning households.
And two cities both named Danville, in Virginia and Illinois, had the lowest concentrations of wealth per household, with 1.1 percent of homes in the areas achieving the top tier of income levels according to the Census.
The report will not be a shock - New York and California both boast the United States' highest concentration of billionaires such as Michael Bloomberg and Google's Larry Page.
But even though the south is not significantly represented, it is home to Jim Walton, of the Wal-Mart chain who lives in Arkansas and Jack Taylor of Enterprise-Rent-a-Car who hails from Missouri.

 

Danville, in Illinois, had the lowest concentrations of wealth per household, with 1.1 percent of homes in the areas achieving the top tier of income levels according to the Census

 

Danville in Virginia also ranked at the bottom of the list - which was topped by metropolitan regions from the east and west coast

 

 

According to the survey, coastal areas had large proportions of counties with high concentrations of high-income households, particularly the New England, Middle Atlantic and Pacific regions.
The Census information gathered between January 2006 through to November 2011 found the 50 largest metropolitan areas are home to 51.9 percent of U.S. households and also 71.9 percent of the nations total wealthy homes.

The 'Gold' coast of Long Island Sound: The Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk corridor along the Connecticut coast

It is no surprise that Nearly 20% of residents in the Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, Conn., area reach the high income of the top five percent of the country.

The area is the so-called gold coast, stretching across Long Island Sound, where financiers and many, many hedge fund mangers build homes.

Ray Dalio, the man who runs America’s largest hedge fund, sleeps there. As do SAC Capital’s Stevie Cohen and Paul Tudor Jones, II.

Other famous residents include film producer Harvey Weinstein and actor Robert Redford.

Past residents have included legendary actor Paul Newman and actress Bette Davis

Across the country, the rich were slightly more likely to be found in suburbs than cities, with six percent living outside the center and 4.9 percent calling metropolitan areas home.
In households outside metro areas, 1.9 percent of households were in the top 5 percent.
Missing from that list are rural areas with high concentrations of wealth because the Census chose to only concentrate on the metropolitan areas.