Census Bureau names richest community

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WASHINGTON, Feb. 11 (UPI) -- Nearly 18 percent of households in a New York suburb are in the top 5 percent of the country's income levels, tops in the country, the government said Monday.

The U.S. Census Bureau said the highest concentration of households with incomes at $191,469 or higher out of any community in the country was the Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, Conn., area, considered a bedroom community just north of New York City.

Two communities tied for having the lowest concentration of wealthy households, Danville, Va., and, coincidentally, Danville, Ill.

They each have a concentration of wealthy families of 1.1 percent, while the Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk area has a wealth concentration of 17.9 percent.

"This report addresses one aspect of the growing interest in income distribution by examining the geographic spread of high-income households," said David Johnson, chief of the Census Bureau's Social, Economic and Housing Statistics Division in statement.

The study found that wealth lives near the water. "Coastal areas had large proportions of counties with high concentrations of high-income households, particularly the New England, Middle Atlantic and Pacific divisions," the Census Bureau said. "Conversely, the East South Central division, comprised of Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee, tended to have low concentrations of such households."

Wealth also favors company, the Census Bureau said. "The most 50 populous metro areas contained 52 percent of all U.S. households and 72 percent of high-income households." a study released Monday said.