Palm Beach, Belle Isle, Pinecrest: These cities aren’t just some of the best places to live in Florida. They are also home to some of the richest people in the Sunshine State.
Palm Beach in particular houses the richest residents in the state thanks, in part, to a median household income of $115,050 and a ridiculously low poverty rate of 5.4%.
If you’re thinking of moving to one of these towns, you’ll probably need to start saving. The richest places in Florida share common characteristics such as having a genius level populous, sky high home prices, and a Pleasantville level of married couples.
How did we come up with these mega wealthy cities? We analyzed Census data from the 2012-2016 American Community Survey for the 217 places in Florida with more than 5,000 people.
- Palm Beach (Photos | Homes For Sale)
- Belle Isle (Photos | Homes For Sale)
- Pinecrest (Photos | Homes For Sale)
- Coral Gables (Photos | Homes For Sale)
- Key Biscayne (Photos | Homes For Sale)
- Surfside (Photos | Homes For Sale)
- Gulf Breeze (Photos | Homes For Sale)
- Parkland (Photos | Homes For Sale)
- Longboat Key (Photos | Homes For Sale)
- Palm Beach Gardens (Photos | Homes For Sale)
For more on how we calculated the top ten, read on or skip to the end for the full list of the richest cities in Florida.
Rich people not your cup of tea? Feel free to check out some more reading about Florida:
How We Determined The Richest Places In Florida For 2018
The first thing that comes to most people’s minds when they think about determining the richest places is to simply identify personal incomes. After all, rich people have really high salaries.
However, we don’t believe that one statistic wholly encompasses what it means to be one of the “richest places”. So we looked at this set of criteria from the newly released 2012-2016 American Community Survey:
- Poverty Level
- Median Household Income
- Unemployment Rate
Median household income is the most digestible way to understand how rich a place really is. The unemployment rate tries to capture the prospects for more people to become rich. If more people are employed, the richer the future looks.
After we collected the data for all 217 places with more than 5,000 people in Florida, we ranked each place from 1 to 217 for each of the criteria, with 1 being the richest.
We then averaged all the rankings for a place into a “Rich Score” with the place having the lowest overall Rich Score, Palm Beach, crowned the “Richest Place In Florida For 2018”.
You can learn more about the top ten below or skip to the end to see the rankings for all 217 places.
/10
Population: 8,501.0
Median Income: $115,050.0
Unemployment Rate: 2.3%
Poverty Rate: 5.4%
More on Palm Beach: Real Estate | Data | Photos
The Town of Palm Beach is an incorporated town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The Intracoastal Waterway separates it from the neighboring cities of West Palm Beach and Lake Worth. In 2000, Palm Beach had a year-round population of 10,468, with an estimated seasonal population of 30,000.
/10
Population: 6,542.0
Median Income: $75,135.0
Unemployment Rate: 3.5%
Poverty Rate: 2.7%
More on Belle Isle: Real Estate | Data | Photos
Belle Isle is a city in Orange County, Florida, United States. The population was 5,988 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford Metropolitan Statistical Area.
/10
Population: 19,272.0
Median Income: $130,900.0
Unemployment Rate: 4.7%
Poverty Rate: 5.4%
More on Pinecrest: Real Estate | Data | Photos
Pinecrest is an affluent suburban village in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States of America. The population was 18,223 as of the census of 2010. Pinecrest is governed by a five-member Village Council and operates under the Council-Manager form of government. 33156, the zip code that encompasses all of the village, has been consistently ranked as one of the most expensive in the United States.
/10
Population: 50,533.0
Median Income: $91,452.0
Unemployment Rate: 3.9%
Poverty Rate: 7.5%
More on Coral Gables: Real Estate | Data | Photos
Coral Gables (/krl eblz/), officially the City of Coral Gables, is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States, located southwest of Downtown Miami. The United States Census Bureau estimates conducted in 2013 yielded the city had a population of 49,631. Coral Gables is home to the University of Miami.
/10
Population: 12,935.0
Median Income: $124,504.0
Unemployment Rate: 4.7%
Poverty Rate: 7.0%
More on Key Biscayne: Real Estate | Data | Photos
Key Biscayne is an island town in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. The population was 12,344 at the 2010 census.
/10
Population: 5,810.0
Median Income: $72,266.0
Unemployment Rate: 3.7%
Poverty Rate: 6.7%
More on Surfside: Real Estate | Data | Photos
/10
Population: 6,205.0
Median Income: $98,308.0
Unemployment Rate: 5.3%
Poverty Rate: 6.4%
More on Gulf Breeze: Real Estate | Data | Photos
/10
Population: 28,354.0
Median Income: $128,292.0
Unemployment Rate: 5.8%
Poverty Rate: 3.5%
More on Parkland: Real Estate | Data | Photos
/10
Population: 7,158.0
Median Income: $87,201.0
Unemployment Rate: 5.3%
Poverty Rate: 5.6%
More on Longboat Key: Real Estate | Data | Photos
Longboat Key is a town in Manatee and Sarasota counties along the central west coast of the U.S. state of Florida, located on and coterminous with the barrier island of the same name. Longboat Key is south of Anna Maria Island, between Sarasota Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. It is almost equally divided between Manatee and Sarasota counties. The town of Longboat Key was incorporated in 1955 and is part of the Bradenton–Sarasota–Venice Metropolitan Statistical Area.
/10
Population: 51,865.0
Median Income: $72,805.0
Unemployment Rate: 5.0%
Poverty Rate: 6.2%
More on Palm Beach Gardens: Real Estate | Data | Photos
Palm Beach Gardens is a city in Palm Beach County in the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2010 United States Census[update], the population was 48,452. The city has a number of gated communities.
There You Have It – The Wealthiest Places In Florida For 2018
Like we said earlier, when we set out to identify the richest places in Florida, we weren’t sure what we’d encounter, but it ended up being some of the best places to live in Florida.
When you look at the data, the cities and places mentioned above meet the criteria for being at the very top of the income ladder for everyone that lives there.
If you’re curious enough, here are the poorest cities in Florida, according to data:
Poorest: Florida City
2nd Poorest: Marianna
3rd Poorest: Avon Park
For more Florida reading, check out:
- These Are The 10 Best Counties To Live In Florida
- 10 Safest Places In Florida
- 10 Best Places To Raise A Family In Florida
