Here’s How Much Income You Need In Colorado's 'Richest County'

DOUGLAS COUNTY, CO – It’s not uncommon to find a dog wearing a sweater in America. But you might look twice if that pooch is wearing Prada. And while we’re not dogging all the stylish Scotties out there, a new report suggests you might find them in Douglas County, which was just named the richest county in Colorado.

The typical household in DougCo rakes in about $111,154 a year, according to a report published last week by the financial news and opinion site 24/7 Wall St. That’s about $46,000 a year more than the typical Colorado household, the authors found.

Here’s what the authors had to say:

Douglas County residents are much more likely to work in certain high-paying professions than those who live in lower-income areas. For instance, 12 percent of Douglas County’s labor force works in either finance, insurance, or real estate — all of which tend to be better paying than the average job. Nationwide, just 6.6 percent of workers are employed in these fields.

Though Colorado is one of the wealthier states, Douglas County is doing much better in several key economic measures. While Colorado’s poverty rate of 11.5 percent is well below the 14.6 percent U.S. poverty rate, in Douglas County, the poverty rate is just 3.6 percent.

Across the U.S., the typical household in the wealthiest counties earned between $58,000 and $130,000 a year, with Loudoun County, Virginia, coming in as the richest county in America. The authors said Loudoun’s proximity to Washington, D.C., and access to “countless jobs” help bolster its strong unemployment rate of just 2.3 percent, well below the national rate of 3.8 percent. Moreover, many of those jobs are high-skilled — and high-paying.

About 60 percent of adults in Loudoun County have earned at least a bachelor’s degree — about twice as many as the country overall — and the typical household earns about $130,000 a year, the highest income of any county by more than $12,000.

DougCo joins other counties in the" six-figure income" club, including Howard County, Maryland ($115,576); Hunterdon County, New Jersey ($110,969); Los Alamos County, New Mexico ($110,190); Santa Clara County, California ($106,761); Nassau County, New York ($105,744); Williamson County, Tennessee ($103,543); and Delaware County, Ohio ($100,229).

Meanwhile, Arizona’s Maricopa County earned the lowest amount out of all the wealthiest counties at $58,580. That’s about $5,000 more than what the typical Arizona household earns. Interestingly, Maricopa County is actually the only Arizona county that earns more than the national median of $58,580.

“While it is the wealthiest in the state, the county’s median of $58,580 is only slightly higher than that of the nation,” the authors noted.

Patch national staffer Dan Hampton contributed to this report.

Image via Shutterstock

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