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The richest neighborhoods in the Philadelphia region

Where do the wealthiest live in the Philadelphia region?

Where do the wealthiest live in the Philadelphia region?

According to an analysis by geographer Stephen Higley, it's the Alapocas community in New Castle County, Del., that has the highest mean household income of $370,420.

Twenty-seven communities in the Philly region made Higley's list of America's 1,000 richest neighborhoods. The Alapocas community ranked number 95 overall. Seven neighborhoods in Lower Merion Township were ranked, including Villanova, Bryn Mawr, and Gladwyne, among others.

Only three New Jersey neighborhoods in the area made the list: two in Moorestown and one in Cherry Hill. However, more than 50 New Jersey communities in the New York City region made the top 1,000.

The majority of the Philly area towns are in Bucks, Chester and Montgomery counties.

Overall, affluent communities in Connecticut and New York dominated the list.

Higley compiled his analysis by using data from the 2006-2010 American Community Survey. He indentified contiguous block groups – a subdivision of Census tracts – with a mean household income of at least $200,000. The whole country is covered by these geographical tracts. View Higley's full methodology on his website here.

Below are the results for the Philadelphia region:

1: Alapocas (New Castle Cty, DE)
Mean household income: $370,420

2: Villanova East (Lower Merion Twp)
Mean household income: $348,699

3: Bryn Mawr East (Lower Merion Twp)
Mean household income: $338,076

4: Washington Crossing (Solebury Twp)
Mean household income: $338,016

5: Gladwyne (Lower Merion Twp)
Mean household income: $335,5949

6: Ardmore South (Ardmore)
Mean household income: $331,867

7: Moorestown East (Moorestown Twp)
Mean household income: $328,400

8: Upper Makefield Township North (Upper Makefield Twp)
Mean household income: $306,081

9: Winterthur-Centreville (New Castle Cty, DE)
Mean household income: $294,510

10: Penn Valley (Lower Merion Twp)
Mean household income: $294,412

11: Waterloo (Easttown Twp)
Mean household income: $291,200

12: Southern Willistown Township-White Manor CC (Willistown Twp)
Mean household income: $277,608

13: Welsh Valley-Hagys Ford (Lower Merion Twp)
Mean household income: $270,998

14: Wilderness Acres-Short Hills (Springdale)
Mean household income: $268,658

15: Ardmore East (Ardmore)
Mean household income: $266,771

16: Haverford East (Lower Merion Twp)
Mean household income: $266,314

17: Laurel Creek Country Club-East Moorestown (Moorestown Twp)
Mean household income: $265,086

18: Easttown South (Easttown Twp)
Mean household income: $259,467

19: Rosemont (Lower Merion Twp)
Mean household income: $256,825

20: Lower Makefield Township Northwest (Lower Makefield Twp)
Mean household income: $251,846

21: Woodside Northwest (Lower Makefield Twp)
Mean household income: $250,465

22: Waynesborough Country Club (Tredyffrin Twp)
Mean household income: $248,834

23: Haverford West-Merion Golf Course (Haverford Twp)
Mean household income: $246,475

24: Thompson Mill-Dutchess Farm Estates (Upper Makefield Twp)
Mean household income: $245,588

25: Newtown Square-Aronimink Golf Course (Newtown Square)
Mean household income: $245,372

26: Greenville (Greenville, DE)
Mean household income: $242,605

27: Meadowbrook (Abington Twp)
Mean household income: $242,217

Urban neighborhoods were highlighted in a separate report due to the mixture of housing types (condos, rentals, townhomes) and their tendency to have lower mean household incomes. In Philadelphia, the three neighborhoods that made Higley's list are:

  1. Rittenhouse Square: Mean income of $115,773

  2. Society Hill: Mean income of $107,504

  3. Chestnut Hill: Mean income of $101,471

 View Higley's full report here >

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