Cash and clout
This Dallas community now ranks as one of 10 richest in the country
The rich are getting richer in Highland Park. The town now ranks among the 10 wealthiest communities in the country, according to a new analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data.
The analysis, done by the Bloomberg news service, shows the average household income in Highland Park rose 9 percent from 2015 to 2016. In 2015, the average household income was $303,332. A year later, it had jumped to $330,703 — a difference of $27,371.
Based on the 2016 data, Highland Park — home to nearly 9,200 residents — sits at No. 9 among the country’s wealthiest communities and is the richest place in Texas, according to Bloomberg. In Bloomberg’s rankings released last year, Highland Park held down the No. 14 spot.
Bloomberg attributes Highland Park’s five-notch climb up the wealth ladder to its location in a state that lacks an income tax and to “its relatively low overall tax burden.”
At No. 17 on Bloomberg’s list is a Highland Park neighbor, University Park, where average household income was $286,107 in 2016, up 9.8 percent from $260,497 a year earlier. Elsewhere in Dallas-Fort Worth:
- Southlake comes in at No. 40, with household income of $252,415 in 2016, up 3.9 percent from $243,029 a year earlier.
- Colleyville appears at No. 81, with household income of $209,259 in 2016, up 0.9 percent from $207,438 a year earlier.
Twenty-one of the wealthiest cities on Bloomberg’s list are in California, with the majority in the San Francisco Bay Area. In all, six communities in Texas make the list; four of them are in DFW. The two others are in the Houston area:
- West University Place takes the No. 11 spot, with average household income in 2016 of $317,665, up 8.5 percent from $292,902 a year earlier.
- Bellaire lands at No. 44, with average household income in 2016 of $247,367, up 3.5 percent from $239,105 a year earlier.
No cities in the Austin or San Antonio areas cracked Bloomberg’s top 100.
