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Salaries Required To Be Considered Rich In 40 U.S. Cities

CR Staff - February 11, 2023

14. Los Angeles, California: more than $131,900

• How much money it takes to be in the top 1% in California: $453,772

• Median income in Los Angeles: $65,950

• Metro-area population: 13.3 million

Los Angeles is an iconic global city with a vast local economy driven by media and entertainment (including Hollywood motion pictures, television production, video games, a music recording industry, and production companies), international trade, aerospace, technology, petroleum, fashion, apparel, and international tourism. Other major industries in the City of Angels include finance, telecom, legal, health care, and transportation. Of the six major film studios in the United States, two are located within the city: Paramount Pictures and 20th Century Fox. Believe it or not, Los Angeles is also the number one manufacturing hub in the Western United States. Its ports make it the fifth busiest port city in the world and an integral center for Pacific Rim trade.

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13. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: more than $131,992

• How much money it takes to be in the top 1% in Pennsylvania: $360,343

• Median income in Philadelphia: $65,996

• Metro-area population: 6.1 million

Philadelphia is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the anchor of economic activity in the state. The City of Brotherly Love has five Fortune 1000 corporations within its city limits and an annual gross domestic product in excess of $400 billion, making it the eighth-largest metro economy in America. Philadelphia has many productive sectors in its economy, including financial services, health care, biotechnology, information technology, manufacturing, oil refinement, food processing, and tourism. The number one sector in Philadelphia by revenue and capitalization is its financial industry, but the city also boasts some of the largest local health, education, and research sectors in the United States. The Port of Philadelphia is one of the busiest ports by tonnage in the United States and is expanding its facilities to accommodate even more shipping.

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12. Chicago, Illinois: more than $132,040

• How much money it takes to be in the top 1% in Illinois: $416,319

• Median income in Chicago: $66,020

• Metro-area population: 9.5 million

In the United States, the city of Chicago ranks number three among metro areas for gross domestic product, with an annual GDP in excess of $670 billion. Its economy is highly robust and extremely diversified. In fact, Chicago has been rated the “most balanced economy” in the United States due to its unusually high level of economic diversification. The city has also been named the fourth “most important business center” in the world according to the MasterCard Worldwide Centers of Commerce Index. Chicago also boasts a high number of new or recently expanded corporate facilities. The metro area has the third-largest science and engineering workforce of any metro area in America. The city of Chicago is also home to 12 Fortune 500 companies and 17 Financial Times 500 companies. The city hosts two Dow 30 companies: aerospace titan Boeing (which moved its headquarters from Seattle to Chicago in 2001) and Kraft Heinz.

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11. Portland, Oregon: more than $137,352

• How much money it takes to be in the top 1% in Oregon: $312,839

• Median income in Portland: $68,676

• Metro-area population: 2.4 million

Portland is well-positioned geographically and has several other advantages due to its economic profile that make it a great place to do business for many industries. It has relatively low regional industrial energy costs, readily available natural resources, north-south and east-west Interstates, international air terminals, large ocean shipping facilities, and a hub for both West Coast intercontinental railroads. Portland’s marine shipping terminals process over 13 million tons of cargo annually, and has one of the largest commercial dry docks in the country, allowing it to be the third largest port by annual export tonnage on the American West Coast. Portland is the leading wheat shipper in the United States, and second-largest wheat port in the world. The city has two Fortune 500 companies that call it home: Precision Castparts and Nike.

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10. San Diego, California: more than $141,648

• How much money it takes to be in the top 1% in California: $453,772

• Median income in San Diego: $70,824

• Metro-area population: 3.3 million

San Diego’s very diverse economy is comprised of U.S. national defense, tourism, international trade, research and development, and manufacturing. San Diego has been named by Forbes Magazine as the best city in America to start a small business or startup venture. The southern California city has made tremendous capital out of its deepwater port, which allows the city to host the only significant submarine and shipbuilding yards on the Pacific Coast. Multiple prominent private national defense contractors for the United States Department of Defense were founded and remain headquartered in the city. The commercial aspects of San Diego’s port and its geographic location on the Mexican border make it an important hub for international commerce and the city has federal authorization to act as a Foreign Trade Zone. Because of the city’s mild and pleasant climate, beaches, and attractions, tourism makes up a major part of San Diego’s economy.

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9. Austin, Texas: more than $142,000

• How much money it takes to be in the top 1% in Texas: $424,507

• Median income in Austin: $71,000

• Metro-area population: 2.1 million

Austin is one of the leading cities in high tech innovation. Each year the engineering and computer science schools of the University of Texas at Austin mint thousands of new graduates, feeding a steady stream of new employees to power the Texas city’s vast technology and defense contractor industries. High tech companies that operate in Austin include: 3M, Apple, Amazon, AMD, Apartment Ratings, Applied Materials, ARM Holdings, Bigcommerce, BioWare, Blizzard Entertainment, Buffalo Technology, Cirrus Logic, Cisco Systems, Dropbox, eBay, PayPal, Electronic Arts, Flextronics, Facebook, Google, Hewlett-Packard, Hoover’s, HomeAway, Hostgator, Intel Corporation, National Instruments, Nvidia, Oracle, Polycom, Qualcomm, Inc., Rackspace, RetailMeNot, Rooster Teeth, Samsung Group, Silicon Laboratories, Spansion, United Devices, Xerox, and Facebook. Like other major Texas metros, Austin also boasts a thriving biotech industry and many pharmaceutical companies- 85 in all.

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8. New York City: more than $143,794

• How much money it takes to be in the top 1% in New York: $517,557

• Median income in New York City: $71,897

• Metro-area population: 20.2 million

The Big Apple. New York City is the largest in the United States by population and has the most powerful and influential economy in the world, leading America and the globe in finance, culture, and media. A global powerhouse of commerce, New York City is home to the world’s largest financial sector on Wall Street, as well as major retailing, global trade, transportation, tourism, real estate, media, marketing, law firms, accounting, insurance, theater, fashion, and the arts. As technology transforms commerce in the 21st century, New York City’s massive economy is being serviced by a rapidly expanding tech industry referred to as Silicon Alley. New York is also a major port city, which was originally a major part of its success as it historically developed into a world class Alpha city.

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7. Denver, Colorado: more than $143,852

• How much money it takes to be in the top 1% in Colorado: $410,716

• Median income in Denver: $71,926

• Metro-area population: 2.9 million

The Greater Denver metropolitan statistical area boasts an annual gross domestic product in excess of $157 billion, making it the 18th largest metro economy in America. The Mile High City’s local economy draws much of its strength from its geographic location, serving as a hub for some of America’s major transportation systems, and a point of storage and distribution to other cities in the region. That is due in part also to the fact that Denver is the largest city in a 500-mile radius, so it is an ideal city to service the Mountain and Southwest states in close proximity, extending to all Western states in general. Almost exactly in the middle between the large metros of the American Midwest, and the major Pacific Rim cities (such as Los Angeles and San Francisco), Denver makes for a perfect connecting hub.

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6. Minneapolis, Minnesota: more than $146,462

• How much money it takes to be in the top 1% in Minnesota: $411,022

• Median income in Minneapolis: $73,231

• Metro-area population: 3.6 million

The Greater Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area (referred to as the Twin Cities) is ranked number 3 for economy influence in the American Midwest, after Chicago and Detroit. As the area was being settled, the credit needs of wheat farmers in the area catalyzed the growth of a robust banking sector, and Minneapolis remains an important financial center today. Other prominent sectors in the Twin Cities economy include trade and distribution, rail and long haul trucking, health services, and various industrial concerns that create metal and automobile products, chemical and agriculture goods, electronic components, computers, medical instrumentation and devices, plastics, and industrial machinery. There are five Fortune 500 companies that call Minneapolis home: Target Stores, U.S. Bancorp, Xcel Energy, Ameriprise Financial, and Thrivent Financial.

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5. Seattle, Washington: more than $157,224

• How much money it takes to be in the top 1% in Washington: $387,854

• Median income in Seattle: $78,612

• Metro-area population: 3.8 million

World-famous for its iconic Space Needle, Seattle is a city with continued strong ties to its economic past even as it looks forward to the economy of the future. With a diverse mix of classic industry and Internet / information technology companies, the greater metro area’s annual gross domestic product tops $230 billion annually, which puts it at number 11 out of all metropolitan economies in the United States for wealth creation. The city’s economy is largely comprised of major corporations, including five Fortune 500 companies: Amazon (which has made its founder Jeff Bezos the richest man in the world), Starbucks, Nordstrom, Expeditors International of Washington, and Weyerhaeuser.

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4. Boston, Massachusetts: more than $164,760

• How much money it takes to be in the top 1% in Massachusetts: $539,055

• Median income in Boston: $82,380

• Metro-area population: 4.8 million

The capital city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and a second-tier global city ranked among the top 30 most powerful metros in the entire world, Boston boasts the sixth largest economy in the United States and the 12th largest for any metro area internationally, with an annual gross domestic product in excess of $360 billion annually. The cities dozens of prominent universities and colleges are highly sought after institutions of higher learning that attract a third of a million students from around the world every year, bringing nearly $5 billion USD with them to contribute to the local economy. Boston’s tech schools and companies make the city a global leader in science, technology, and engineering, including economic and social sciences as well as highly technical and applied sciences.

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3. Washington, DC: more than $191,686

• How much money it takes to be in the top 1% in Washington, DC: $544,719

• Median income in DC: $95,843

• Metro-area population: 6.1 million

Washington DC is the seat of the federal government of the United States of America, and resides within a special federal district under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Congress, so it does not belong to any U.S. state. The many functions of the federal government and the private contracting industry that services its many departments make up a recession-proof local industry that carries on even during national and global economic downturns. Many defense and civilian contractors, law firms, non-profits, lobbyists, trade associations, and professional groups comprise this unique local economy and have their headquarters in Washington DC. Annually the gross domestic product of the greater Washington metropolitan area exceeds $430 billion, which makes it the sixth-largest metro by GDP in the United States.

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2. San Francisco, California: more than $193,354

• How much money it takes to be in the top 1% in California: $453,772

• Median income in San Francisco: $96,677

• Metro-area population: 4.7 million

Currently an Alpha world city, San Francisco is a historic American city which came to prominence in the United States during the California gold rush of the late 1840s and early 1850s. At that time it established itself as an enduring financial powerhouse of the West Coast, with many calling Montgomery Street in its financial district “the Wall Street of the West.” Technology has been the greatest driver of economic growth in San Francisco in recent years, with high tech jobs making up only 1 percent of San Francisco’s job market in 1990, quadrupling to 4 percent over the next two decades by 2010, and rapidly doubling to 8 percent of the city’s economy by 2013. The San Francisco Bay Area is the global epicenter of Internet start-ups, dot coms, and social media giants.

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1. San Jose, California: More than $220,080

• How much money it takes to be in the top 1% in California: $453,772

• Median income in San Jose: $110,040

• Metro-area population: 2 million

It takes a lot of money to be considered rich in San Jose by the rest of the country’s standards, and this extremely affluent American city has some of the highest costs of living in the state of California and the entire nation, driven primarily by the exorbitant real estate prices and rents in the area, which soar above the national average and cater to households with the largest average disposable income of any city in the United States of half a million residents or more. San Jose is home to the headquarters of: Adobe, Altera, Brocade Communications Systems, Cadence Design Systems, Cisco Systems, eBay, Lee’s Sandwiches, Lumileds, PayPal, Rosendin Electric, Sanmina-SCI, and Xilinx.

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