Community Corner
Is Kane County Among Richest Counties in U.S.?
Recent statistics released by the United Census Bureau ranks the richest counties in the country. We ain't one of 'em.
Residents living in Kane County have relatively high incomes compared to counties across the United States, according to recent statistics released by the United Census Bureau.
But residents living here are nowhere near the Census Bureau’s list of the top 30 highest-income counties in the United States in 2012, which went to several counties on the east coast including five counties in northern Virginia.
Falls Church, VA, ranked highest on that list where residents have a median household income of $121,250 while Rockwell County, TX, rounded off the list with a median income of $85,164.
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The data is from the Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates program, which provides the only current, single-year income and poverty statistics for all sizes of counties and school districts — roughly 3,140 counties and nearly 14,000 school districts nationally.
"Metropolitan counties along the East Coast continued to have the highest median household income and lowest poverty in the country," said Lucinda Dalzell, chief of the Census Bureau's Small Areas Estimates Branch.
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Meanwhile, a handful of Chicago-area counties—including DuPage, Kendall and McHenry counties—were ranked among the top-income counties in the United States, with a range of median household income from around $75,000 to $121,250. In DuPage County, residents had a median household income of $78,131.
From 2007 to 2011, the median household income for Wheaton residents was $84,980.
Here is how the median household income ranked for other suburban counties:
- Kendall County: $84,816
- McHenry County: $76,417
- Lake County: $74,459
- Will County: $72,395
- Kane County: $64,870
- Cook County: $52,160
Meanwhile, the poverty rate in DuPage County was among the lowest in the state at 7.3 percent.
Here is how the poverty rate ranked for other suburban counties:
- Kendall County: 5.1 percent
- McHenry County: 7.6 percent
- Will County: 8.1 percent
- Lake County: 9.4 percent
- Kane County: 11.9 percent
- Cook County: 18.1 percent
Five-Year Data on Income
When looking at census bureau data over the past five years, more suburban counties fall under the bureau's current highest-income bracket of over $75,000.
This data shows the average median household income from 2008 to 2012 ranked as follows for suburban counties:
- Kendall County: $83,835
- Lake County: $79,085
- DuPage County: $78,538
- McHenry County: $77,325
- Will County: $76,352
