The Silicon Valley town that billionaires Eric Schmidt of Google and Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg have called home is America’s richest community for the third year in a row.
Atherton, California, whose household income averaged $450,696 in 2017, topped the Bloomberg Richest Places annual index.
Atherton Mayor Bill Widmer said the tree-lined streets and lot sizes of at least an acre offer residents privacy with Stanford University, Google and Facebook all a short drive away.
“We value a semi-rural environment,” said Widmer, who moved to Atherton in 1996. “There are few sidewalks and many places don’t have streetlights.”
Scarsdale, New York, north of Manhattan, moved up to the No. 2 spot on this year’s list as its residents enjoyed a $30,000 increase, on average, in annual household income from the prior year.
“We moved here, as many did, because of the outstanding school system,” said Scarsdale Mayor Dan Hochvert, a 40-year resident. “That’s one of the primary drivers.”
Location, Location, Location
Accessibility to a city center is also a key characteristic. Atherton is a short ride to San Francisco and Scarsdale is a hop on the train away from New York City. Cherry Hills Village, Colorado, No. 3 on the list, is a 15- to 20-minute drive to both downtown Denver and the city’s tech center.
“It happens to be located kind of beautifully,” said Steve Blank, a managing broker at Sotheby’s International Realty in Denver.
Boldface names with homes in Cherry Hills Village include Super Bowl-winning Denver Broncos quarterbacks Peyton Manning and John Elway.