New York, N.Y. is a helluva town -- at least for those who want fat paychecks.
Tax filers living in New York County -- a.k.a. Manhattan -- reported $96,941 on average in wage and salary income last year, the highest among counties in the United States.
That's according to an analysis of preliminary 2013 IRS tax return data by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC).
At the other end of the spectrum is Catron County, N.M., which had the lowest reported wage and salary income ($16,280) of all counties in the country.
Of course, a paycheck is hardly the only component of a high income. Investment income can also come in handy.
Related: Income of top 1% vs. bottom 99% in every state
When taking investments into account, Wyoming's Teton County -- home to Jackson Hole -- takes the top spot.
Teton County only ranks 195th among counties in terms of average wage and salary income ($47,715) but it was No. 1 in terms of average adjusted gross income ($296,778), dividend income ($32,793) and interest ($8,604).
The icing on the cake for Teton County residents is that they got to keep much more of that income than they would in many other places, since the state of Wyoming doesn't tax income, whether derived from a paycheck or investments.
By contrast, the county with the lowest reported average AGI in the country was Gooding County, Idaho ($15,379).
Among states overall, Connecticut secured the top spot in terms of AGI ($91,417) while Mississippi came in last ($44,972).
10 highest earning counties
| | |
---|---|---|
Rank | County | Average wages and salaries |
1 | New York County, NY | $96,941 |
2 | Falls Church City, VA | $92,948 |
3 | Fairfield County, CT | $91,188 |
4 | Loudoun County, VA | $87,534 |
5 | San Mateo County, CA | $85,955 |
6 | Santa Clara County, CA | $85,402 |
7 | Westchester County, NY | $82,326 |
8 | Somerset County, NJ | $82,099 |
9 | Morris County, NJ | $81,555 |
10 | Williamson County, TN | $79,161 |