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’.

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 Most Dangerous Cities In Washington

10 Safest Places In Washington

10 Best Places To Raise A Family In Washington

Detailed List Of The Richest Cities In Washington

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