These Are The 10 Richest Cities In Washington For 2018

Snoqualmie, Sammamish, Woodinville: These cities aren’t just some of the best places to live in Washington. They are also home to some of the richest people in the Evergreen State.

Snoqualmie in particular houses the richest residents in the state thanks, in part, to a median household income of $131,453 and a ridiculously low poverty rate of 1.8%.

If you’re thinking of moving to one of these towns, you’ll probably need to start saving. The richest places in Washington 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 118 places in Washington with more than 5,000 people.

At the end of the day, here’s the set of the 10 richest places in Washington for 2018:

1. Snoqualmie (Photos | Homes For Sale)
2. Sammamish (Photos | Homes For Sale)
3. Woodinville (Photos | Homes For Sale)
4. Mercer Island (Photos | Homes For Sale)
5. Bainbridge Island (Photos | Homes For Sale)
6. Normandy Park (Photos | Homes For Sale)
7. Brier (Photos | Homes For Sale)
8. Ridgefield (Photos | Homes For Sale)
9. Newcastle (Photos | Homes For Sale)
10. Redmond (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 Washington.

Rich people not your cup of tea? Feel free to check out the best places to live in Washington or the poorest.

How We Determined The Richest Places In Washington 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 118 places with more than 5,000 people in Washington, we ranked each place from 1 to 118 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, Snoqualmie, crowned the “Richest Place In Washington For 2018”.

You can learn more about the top ten below or skip to the end to see the rankings for all 118 places.

1. Snoqualmie

Population: 12,510
Median Income: $131,453
Unemployment Rate: 3.8%
Poverty Rate: 1.8%
More on Snoqualmie: Homes For Sale | Data
Snoqualmie (/snokwlmi/ snoh-KWOHL-mee) is a city next to Snoqualmie Falls in King County, Washington. It is twenty-five miles east of Seattle. This city is home to the Northwest Railway Museum. The population was 13,190 in a 2016 census estimate.

2. Sammamish

Population: 62,136
Median Income: $153,253
Unemployment Rate: 4.0%
Poverty Rate: 2.7%
More on Sammamish: Homes For Sale | Data
Sammamish /smæ.m/ is a city in King County, Washington, United States. The population was 63,773 in a 2016 census estimate. Located on a plateau, the city is bordered by Lake Sammamish to the west and the Snoqualmie Valley to the east.

3. Woodinville

Population: 11,549
Median Income: $106,341
Unemployment Rate: 3.6%
Poverty Rate: 4.4%
More on Woodinville: Homes For Sale | Data
Woodinville is a city in King County, Washington, United States. The population was 10,938 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Seattle metropolitan area. There is also a much larger population with Woodinville mailing addresses in adjacent unincorporated areas of King (Cottage Lake) and Snohomish (Maltby) counties. Woodinville has waterfront parks on the Sammamish River, sweeping winery and brewery grounds, and densely wooded residential areas.

4. Mercer Island

Population: 24,467
Median Income: $129,348
Unemployment Rate: 4.6%
Poverty Rate: 4.6%
More on Mercer Island: Homes For Sale | Data
Mercer Island is a city in King County, Washington, United States located on an island of the same name in the southern portion of Lake Washington. Mercer Island is in the Seattle Metropolitan Area, with Seattle located to its west and Bellevue located to its east.

5. Bainbridge Island

Population: 23,576
Median Income: $102,906
Unemployment Rate: 3.9%
Poverty Rate: 5.6%
More on Bainbridge Island: Homes For Sale | Data
Bainbridge Island is a city in Kitsap County, Washington, United States, and is coextensive with the eponymous island in Puget Sound. The population was 23,025 at the 2010 census, making Bainbridge Island the second largest city in Kitsap County.

6. Normandy Park

Population: 6,598
Median Income: $89,425
Unemployment Rate: 4.1%
Poverty Rate: 1.6%
More on Normandy Park: Homes For Sale | Data
Normandy Park is a city in King County, Washington, United States. The population was 6,335 at the 2010 census.

7. Brier

Population: 6,530
Median Income: $105,901
Unemployment Rate: 3.8%
Poverty Rate: 6.1%
More on Brier: Homes For Sale | Data
Brier is a city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. It is bordered by Mountlake Terrace to the west, Lynnwood to the north, Bothell to the east, and the Lake Forest Park to the south. The population was 6,087 at the 2010 census.

8. Ridgefield

Population: 6,112
Median Income: $88,286
Unemployment Rate: 3.1%
Poverty Rate: 4.8%
More on Ridgefield: Homes For Sale | Data
Ridgefield is a city in the pastoral, rolling-hills countryside of northern Clark County, Washington, in the United States. The population was 4,763 at the 2010 census.

9. Newcastle

Population: 11,189
Median Income: $111,955
Unemployment Rate: 4.8%
Poverty Rate: 4.8%
More on Newcastle: Homes For Sale | Data
Newcastle is an Eastside city in King County, Washington, United States. Its population was 10,380 at the 2010 census.

10. Redmond

Population: 59,268
Median Income: $107,341
Unemployment Rate: 4.6%
Poverty Rate: 6.5%
More on Redmond: Homes For Sale | Data
Redmond is a city in King County, Washington, United States, located 16 miles (26 km) east of Seattle, within the high-tech enclave of Seattle metropolitan area. The population is 62,458 in 2016, an increase from the 2010 census, up from 45,256 in the 2000 census. Redmond is commonly recognized as the home of Microsoft and Nintendo of America. With an annual bike race on city streets and the state’s only velodrome, Redmond is also known as the “Bicycle Capital of the Northwest”.

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There You Have It – The Wealthiest Places In Washington For 2018

Like we said earlier, when we set out to identify the richest places in Washington, we weren’t sure what we’d encounter, but it ended up being some of the best places to live in Washington.

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 Washington, according to data:

Poorest: Cheney
2nd Poorest: Pullman
3rd Poorest: Wapato

For more Washington reading , check out:

10 Cheapest Places To Live In Washington

10 Best Places To Raise A Family In Washington

10 Most Dangerous Cities In Washington

Detailed List Of The Richest Cities In Washington

Rank	City	Median Income
1	Snoqualmie	$131,453
2	Sammamish	$153,253
3	Woodinville	$106,341
4	Mercer Island	$129,348
5	Bainbridge Island	$102,906
6	Normandy Park	$89,425
7	Brier	$105,901
8	Ridgefield	$88,286
9	Newcastle	$111,955
10	Redmond	$107,341
11	Mill Creek	$88,345
12	Camas	$94,350
13	Covington	$88,806
14	Edgewood	$83,514
15	Bellevue	$100,703
16	Issaquah	$92,071
17	Kirkland	$95,939
18	Mukilteo	$98,823
19	Kenmore	$93,227
20	Lake Forest Park	$96,217
21	Lynden	$61,828
22	Duvall	$125,123
23	Lake Stevens	$79,975
24	Edmonds	$78,181
25	Milton	$66,744
26	Poulsbo	$60,720
27	Maple Valley	$98,925
28	Bothell	$86,167
29	Mountlake Terrace	$66,512
30	Bonney Lake	$85,975
31	Seattle	$74,458
32	Orting	$71,981
33	Richland	$69,833
34	West Richland	$84,419
35	Renton	$66,050
36	Monroe	$70,270
37	Woodland	$62,344
38	Anacortes	$61,922
39	Prosser	$53,268
40	Tumwater	$62,050
41	Shoreline	$70,398
42	Washougal	$70,943
43	Fircrest	$69,278
44	North Bend	$90,395
45	Selah	$50,107
46	Marysville	$67,027
47	Snohomish	$56,763
48	Arlington	$66,615
49	Dupont	$76,962
50	Steilacoom	$67,500
51	Stanwood	$50,441
52	Puyallup	$64,342
53	Battle Ground	$60,644
54	Gig Harbor	$64,931
55	University Place	$60,947
56	Liberty Lake	$62,428
57	Lynnwood	$53,308
58	Sumner	$57,303
59	Enumclaw	$55,644
60	Des Moines	$59,948
61	Federal Way	$58,855
62	Kent	$61,033
63	Burien	$54,546
64	East Wenatchee	$50,947
65	Port Townsend	$44,753
66	Lacey	$59,624
67	Auburn	$60,262
68	College Place	$40,747
69	Pasco	$57,440
70	Wenatchee	$45,606
71	Fife	$56,871
72	Othello	$48,495
73	Pacific	$53,301
74	Ephrata	$56,989
75	Spokane Valley	$47,567
76	Kennewick	$52,134
77	Vancouver	$52,004
78	Seatac	$48,487
79	Port Orchard	$63,634
80	Ferndale	$56,859
81	Tacoma	$53,553
82	Olympia	$54,523
83	Connell	$49,221
84	Oak Harbor	$46,959
85	Everett	$50,933
86	Moses Lake	$47,005
87	Tukwila	$48,490
88	Mount Vernon	$49,307
89	Union Gap	$37,202
90	Sequim	$38,655
91	Chehalis	$34,257
92	Spokane	$43,274
93	Ellensburg	$31,644
94	Bremerton	$47,358
95	Ocean Shores	$36,950
96	Yelm	$51,405
97	Burlington	$47,500
98	Bellingham	$44,441
99	Quincy	$51,508
100	Walla Walla	$41,817