Original research

Top 10 US Cities by Median Household Income

PlainCities ranks US cities by median household income from US Census Bureau American Community Survey data.

Compiled by PlainCities Editorial on 2026-05-17

Research question

Among the 28,702 US cities tracked in PlainCities, which report the highest median household income, and how does income concentration correlate with smaller suburban populations versus the larger metropolitan cores?

Methodology

Every number on this page is read from PlainCities' current dataset at the moment you load it, ranked from highest to lowest and limited to the top 10. The page does not hardcode a separate table; it reflects the active, validated dataset.

Values are shown in the units and precision published by U.S. Census Bureau. Where the source reports figures in thousands or millions, we scale them for readability; where the source reports raw counts, we preserve them with standard thousand-separators. Records with a missing or zero value on the ranking metric are excluded rather than shown as artificial zeros.

The U.S. Census Bureau publishes the American Community Survey Income Tables (B19013, S1903) on its own release schedule. PlainCities updates this ranking after it ingests and validates a refreshed release; agency revisions follow the same review path. See the methodology page for the active source vintage and refresh history.

Outliers are shown as published, not silently smoothed or clipped, so readers can judge them in context via the source link. Where the source changes its reporting period, column definitions, or coverage scope between releases, we note it on the methodology page rather than blending incompatible vintages into one ranking.

PlainCities maintains an editorial standards process for how rankings are built, how outliers are handled, and how disputed values are corrected. The byline at the top of this page names the editorial owner accountable for its framing. Every figure traces back to the original U.S. Census Bureau record via the citation below, so independent verification never requires anything beyond the public source. Corrections, takedowns, or clarifications can be requested through the contact channels in the site footer.

Top 10 US cities by median household income

Live Census-derived estimates ranked from the portal database

median household income

What this shows McLean leads this live city ranking; the remaining bars show the income spread across the other top-ranked places.

Source U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates

The ranked top 10

Every row below reflects PlainCities' current dataset (10 rows shown). It changes after PlainCities ingests and validates a refreshed source release.

# City State Median household income Population Median home value
1 McLean VA $250,001 50,232 $1.3M
2 Southlake TX $250,001 31,044 $957,500
3 Los Altos CA $250,001 30,736 $2.0M
4 Wellesley MA $250,001 29,906 $1.5M
5 University Park TX $250,001 25,104 $1.8M
6 Brambleton VA $250,001 23,999 $833,000
7 Orinda CA $250,001 19,472 $1.8M
8 Scarsdale NY $250,001 18,005 $1.7M
9 Hinsdale IL $250,001 17,155 $999,100
10 Wolf Trap VA $250,001 16,020 $1.2M

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, Income Tables (B19013, S1903). Figures are read from PlainCities' current dataset after the source release has been ingested and validated. U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, Income Tables (B19013, S1903). Figures are read from PlainCities' current dataset after the source release has been ingested and validated.

Findings

Top entity in the ranking

The top-ranked record in this dataset is McLean, with a value of $250,001 on the Median household income column. The full top-10 set is rendered in the table above. No number on this page is hardcoded. When U.S. Census Bureau publishes a revision, PlainCities validates and ingests it before the ranking and its prose reflect the new vintage.

Distribution shape

The gap between the top-ranked record ($250,001) and the 10th-ranked record ($250,001) characterizes how concentrated the top of the distribution is. Where the top value is many multiples of the median value of the visible set, the population is highly concentrated, a small number of entities accumulate the bulk of the measured quantity. Where the top and bottom of the visible set are close together, the distribution is relatively flat across the top end. The full distribution beyond this top-10 cut is summarized in the aggregate context section below and explored in the linked entity profiles.

Aggregate context

Across the full population behind this ranking, here are the summary statistics: how many records exist in total, the sum of the ranking metric across all qualifying records, and the mean per-record value. The methodology page documents the exact filter applied (records with null or zero values on the ranking metric are excluded). This aggregate row is computed from the same dataset that powers the ranking above.

Source provenance

The records in this ranking originate from U.S. Census Bureau, specifically the American Community Survey, Income Tables (B19013, S1903). PlainCities serves the current ingested vintage from its dataset rather than a static export. A newly published source vintage appears here after the documented ingest-and-validation process is complete. The methodology page documents the source URL, the vintage date, and how the figures are compiled.

Why this ranking matters

Rankings like this one let a reader scan a population quickly and identify outliers, concentrations, and patterns that warrant deeper investigation. The detail pages linked from each entity in the table above give the full per-entity context: time-series history where available, related metrics from adjacent tables, and links onward to the underlying source records. The methodology page explains how an entity earns inclusion in the dataset and how the ranking column is computed at the source.

What this analysis cannot tell us

Median household income reflects total cash income of all members of a household and is derived from the US Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates. The 5-year aggregation smooths year-to-year variation but lags rapid economic change. A 1,000-resident population floor is applied to exclude very small Census-designated places where ACS income estimates carry the widest margins of error. Median household income does not adjust for cost of living differences across cities; a high median in a high-cost suburb does not imply higher disposable income than a moderate median in a low-cost city. Income concentration in small, affluent suburbs (gated communities, executive enclaves) can produce dramatically higher medians than surrounding metropolitan averages. Household income is not equivalent to per-capita income, individual wages, or wealth; the household measure is sensitive to household size and family composition.

Highest state averages across tracked cities

Average median household income, aggregated from the same city records

average median household income

What this shows This companion view compares state averages calculated from the tracked cities, not statewide household-income estimates.

Source U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates

Related data

Sources

Every figure on PlainCities is rendered directly from Census ACS source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on Census ACS source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.