(Photo: Keith J. Shipman | Flickr)Just as counties are made up of more than towns and cities, the income of county residents depends on more than the local businesses. What follows are the five richest counties in America, according to the Average Income by County report from the Census Bureau, which includes the average annual household income from 2006-2010.
These counties don’t just contain Fortune 500 business headquarters (though some of them do), and they're not just appealing vacation destinations (although two are) and it’s not just the acres of upscale retail that at least one county has that’s providing all the jobs and high incomes. In many of the following cases, the high income of a county is directly tied to the nearest commutable city. Although the workplace is becoming ever more virtual and working remotely has never been more possible, commuting to major metropolitan centers is clearly still a factor driving local economies.
5. Hunterdon County, NJ
Average income: $130,723
Hunterdon County is located in the northwestern part of New Jersey between this list’s No. 9 county, Morris, to the northeast, and No. 7, Somerset County, to the east. It’s more rural than its Central Jersey neighbors and is a destination for fishing and hunting white tail deer. In Hunterdon, commuters are split between New York City and Philadelphia.
