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You either have to own Dunder-Mifflin, Hershey's Chocolate, or be a descendant of President James Buchanan, to live in our top ten richest cities in Pennsylvania for 2020.
If you're looking for safe cities and neighborhoods, amazing schools, and high-end shopping, with a bank account to match, you can stop your search. There are cities in The Keystone State that have these 5-star amenities, and then some. Yes, the Commonwealth has many cities that cater to the lifestyle of the Pennsylvania rich and famous. How does one get their hand on one of these Pennsylvania cities where living your best life 'ain't no thing'? Well, a couple of things have to fall into place for you.
First off, you need to find a job that pays on average $90,000/year. Might we suggest a job in real estate in our number one richest city? The median home price in this city is currently $190,000, and is projected to rise an additional 2% this year. That's a lot of Pennsylvania cheddar, folks. Secondly, you have to be a hard worker. Unemployment rates and poverty rates in most of these affluent Pennsylvania cities hovers just above 4%.
Monetary wealth does make a city rich, but there are cities on our list that are both rich in the dollar as well as rich in amenities. Cities on our list like Perkasie provide the backdrop for fancy wine tasting, and cities like Camp Hill provide multiple outlets for the one activity that rich people like to do most: head to the spa. To see which cities top the richest cities in Pennsylvania for 2020, grab a Philly cheesesteak and a Yuengling and take a look at the list below.
At the end of the day, here's the set of the 10 richest places in Pennsylvania for 2020:
- Jefferson Hills (Photos | Homes For Sale)
- Economy (Photos | Homes For Sale)
- Collegeville (Photos | Homes For Sale)
- Pleasant Hills (Photos | Homes For Sale)
- Franklin Park (Photos | Homes For Sale)
- Wyomissing (Photos | Homes For Sale)
- Doyle (Photos | Homes For Sale)
- Plum (Photos | Homes For Sale)
- Conshohocken (Photos | Homes For Sale)
- Ridley Park (Photos | Homes For Sale)
It's not lost on us that there are multiple cities on our best cities to live in Pennsylvania for 2020 that are also on our richest list. (It's worth a google.) Wealthy cities tend to have it all.
To narrow down the richest cities in the Quaker State, we looked at several factors: poverty rate, median household income, and unemployment rate. The cities also had to have a population of at least 5,000.
This left us with 187 cities in the 33rd largest state and the sixth most populous state in the country.
What's the weathiest place in Pennsylvania? Without further adieu, the one city that has it all on our richest cities in Pennsylvania list is Jefferson Hills.
So, if you care about living where there are great jobs and wealthy people, take a look the list below. The state with 'Virtue, Liberty, and Independence' is calling.
Rich people not your cup of tea? Feel free to check out some more reading about Pennsylvania:
The 10 Richest Cities In Pennsylvania For 2020
/10
Population: 11,231
Rank Last Year: 4 (Up 3)
Median Income: $88,625
Unemployment Rate: 2.7%
Poverty Rate: 3.6%
More on Jefferson Hills: Real Estate | Data | Photos
Jefferson Hills is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States. It includes the community of Large. In the 2010 census the population was 10,619. Jefferson Hills was created as Jefferson Township, incorporating on January 22, 1828, and named after Thomas Jefferson. The borough is a part of West Jefferson Hills School District. Before 1998, the borough was known as Jefferson.
/10
Population: 9,207
Rank Last Year: 1 (Down 1)
Median Income: $80,208
Unemployment Rate: 3.7%
Poverty Rate: 3.4%
More on Economy: Real Estate | Data | Photos
Economy is a borough in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 8,970 at the 2010 census.
/10
Population: 5,170
Rank Last Year: 2 (Down 1)
Median Income: $110,921
Unemployment Rate: 4.1%
Poverty Rate: 1.3%
More on Collegeville: Real Estate | Data | Photos
Collegeville, sometimes referred to as "Little Philly" is a borough in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia on the Perkiomen Creek. Collegeville was incorporated in 1896. It is the location of Ursinus College, opened in 1869. The population was 5,089 at the 2010 census.
/10
Population: 8,184
Rank Last Year: 36 (Up 32)
Median Income: $73,164
Unemployment Rate: 3.6%
Poverty Rate: 5.6%
More on Pleasant Hills: Real Estate | Data | Photos
Pleasant Hills is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 8,268. Pleasant Hills is a suburb of Pittsburgh.
/10
Population: 14,448
Rank Last Year: 3 (Down 2)
Median Income: $122,028
Unemployment Rate: 4.3%
Poverty Rate: 2.6%
More on Franklin Park: Real Estate | Data | Photos
Franklin Park is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 13,470 at the 2010 census.
/10
Population: 10,452
Rank Last Year: 15 (Up 9)
Median Income: $82,600
Unemployment Rate: 3.7%
Poverty Rate: 5.9%
More on Wyomissing: Real Estate | Data | Photos
Wyomissing is a borough in Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States, established on July 2, 1906. As of the 2010 census, the population was 10,461, compared to 8,587 at the 2000 census. The population growth of the borough was largely due to its merger in January 2002 with neighboring Wyomissing Hills. Wyomissing is the most populous borough in Berks County. The borough is recognized as a Tree City USA and selected as a "Contender" for the best places to live in Pennsylvania by Money magazine.
/10
Population: 8,307
Rank Last Year: 8 (Up 1)
Median Income: $77,841
Unemployment Rate: 2.5%
Poverty Rate: 7.8%
More on Doyle: Real Estate | Data | Photos
/10
Population: 27,304
Rank Last Year: 12 (Up 4)
Median Income: $75,326
Unemployment Rate: 3.9%
Poverty Rate: 4.3%
More on Plum: Real Estate | Data | Photos
Plum is a borough in Allegheny County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. A suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, it is located northeast of the city of Pittsburgh, in what is commonly referred to as the East Hills suburbs. The population was 27,126 at the 2010 census.
/10
Population: 8,010
Rank Last Year: 20 (Up 11)
Median Income: $85,861
Unemployment Rate: 3.1%
Poverty Rate: 7.8%
More on Conshohocken: Real Estate | Data | Photos
/10
Population: 7,035
Rank Last Year: 32 (Up 22)
Median Income: $76,967
Unemployment Rate: 3.8%
Poverty Rate: 5.4%
More on Ridley Park: Real Estate | Data | Photos
Ridley Park is a borough in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 7,002 at the 2010 census. Ridley Park is the home of The Boeing Company's CH-47 Chinook helicopter division.
How We Determined The Richest Places In Pennsylvania For 2020
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 2014-2018 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 187 places with more than 5,000 people in Pennsylvania, we ranked each place from 1 to 187 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, Jefferson Hills, crowned the "Richest City In Pennsylvania For 2020". You can download the data here.
You can learn more about the top ten below or skip to the end to see the rankings for all 187 places.
There You Have It - The Wealthiest Places In Pennsylvania For 2020
Like we said earlier, when we set out to identify the richest places in Pennsylvania, we weren't sure what we'd encounter, but it ended up being some of the best places to live in Pennsylvania.
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 Pennsylvania, according to data:
Poorest: Johnstown
2nd Poorest: Duquesne
3rd Poorest: Indiana
For more Pennsylvania reading, check out:
- Best Places To Raise A Family In Pennsylvania
- Best Places To Retire In Pennsylvania
- Best Counties To Live In Pennsylvania
Detailed List Of The Richest Cities In Pennsylvania
| Rank | City | RichScore |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jefferson Hills | 6.67 |
| 2 | Economy | 12.33 |
| 3 | Collegeville | 15.33 |
| 4 | Pleasant Hills | 16.33 |
| 5 | Franklin Park | 17.0 |
| 6 | Wyomissing | 17.33 |
| 7 | Doyle | 18.0 |
| 8 | Plum | 18.0 |
| 9 | Conshohocken | 18.67 |
| 10 | Ridley Park | 19.0 |
| 11 | Perkasie | 19.33 |
| 12 | Fox Chapel | 20.0 |
| 13 | Camp Hill | 22.0 |
| 14 | Forest Hills | 22.67 |
| 15 | Emmaus | 27.0 |
| 16 | Lititz | 27.33 |
| 17 | Souderton | 29.0 |
| 18 | Red Lion | 30.33 |
| 19 | Swarthmore | 32.33 |
| 20 | Oakmont | 32.67 |
| 21 | Mount Joy | 33.0 |
| 22 | Helle | 34.67 |
| 23 | New Holland | 35.0 |
| 24 | Downin | 35.67 |
| 25 | Lansdale | 35.83 |
| 26 | Mechanicsburg | 36.0 |
| 27 | Baldwin | 36.0 |
| 28 | Bellefonte | 36.33 |
| 29 | White Oak | 36.67 |
| 30 | Brookhaven | 38.33 |
| 31 | Hatboro | 38.67 |
| 32 | St. Marys | 39.0 |
| 33 | Whitehall | 41.0 |
| 34 | Brentwood | 41.33 |
| 35 | Dormont | 42.67 |
| 36 | Selinsgrove | 43.33 |
| 37 | Northampton | 43.33 |
| 38 | Glenolden | 43.67 |
| 39 | Ambler | 47.0 |
| 40 | Kennett Square | 50.33 |
| 41 | Lower Burrell | 50.33 |
| 42 | Hollidaysburg | 51.33 |
| 43 | Elizabet | 52.33 |
| 44 | Morrisville | 52.33 |
| 45 | Palmerton | 52.67 |
| 46 | Moosic | 53.0 |
| 47 | Media | 53.0 |
| 48 | New Cumberland | 54.33 |
| 49 | Grove City | 54.67 |
| 50 | Phoenixville | 55.0 |
| 51 | Castle Shannon | 55.33 |
| 52 | Catasauqua | 55.67 |
| 53 | Lansdowne | 56.33 |
| 54 | South Williamsport | 57.0 |
| 55 | Prospect Park | 57.33 |
| 56 | Birdsboro | 57.83 |
| 57 | Norwood | 58.33 |
| 58 | West View | 59.67 |
| 59 | Crafton | 60.67 |
| 60 | Hermitage | 62.0 |
| 61 | Blakely | 62.33 |
| 62 | Quake | 62.67 |
| 63 | Bristol | 63.0 |
| 64 | Bellevue | 65.0 |
| 65 | Exeter | 65.33 |
| 66 | Folcroft | 66.33 |
| 67 | Milton | 66.33 |
| 68 | Olyphant | 66.67 |
| 69 | Archbald | 67.0 |
| 70 | Shillington | 67.33 |
| 71 | Canonsburg | 69.67 |
| 72 | Wilson | 70.67 |
| 73 | Dunmore | 71.67 |
| 74 | Old Forge | 73.0 |
| 75 | Palmyra | 73.33 |
| 76 | Monaca | 74.33 |
| 77 | Ephrata | 75.0 |
| 78 | Hanover | 76.0 |
| 79 | Bethlehem | 78.0 |
| 80 | Kingston | 78.67 |
| 81 | Dubois | 82.33 |
| 82 | Greenville | 83.0 |
| 83 | Dickson City | 83.33 |
| 84 | Edinboro | 84.0 |
| 85 | Munhall | 85.67 |
| 86 | Carnegie | 86.33 |
| 87 | Carlisle | 88.0 |
| 88 | Sharon Hill | 88.33 |
| 89 | West Chester | 90.33 |
| 90 | Millersville | 90.33 |
| 91 | Chambersburg | 91.67 |
| 92 | Kut | 91.67 |
| 93 | West Mifflin | 93.0 |
| 94 | Lewisburg | 93.0 |
| 95 | Bridgeville | 93.33 |
| 96 | Easton | 94.0 |
| 97 | Yeadon | 94.67 |
| 98 | Schuylkill Haven | 96.0 |
| 99 | Oxford | 96.67 |
| 100 | Nazareth | 97.33 |
This is kind of a pointless list. The most affluent area in all of Pennsylvania – Philadelphia’s Main Line Suburbs – is not even represented, I assume due to your definition of “place”. Gladwynne, Villanova, Radnor, Devon… All of these places are far more affluent than any on your list.
Uh, Mt. Lebanon comes to mind. My hometown was thought to be pretty nice too.