These Are the Richest Towns in America

When you think of neighborhoods where the wealthy reside, places like Beverly Hills or New York City's Upper East Side probably come to mind. But what about Hillsborough, California? Or Bronxville, New York?

In fact, few of the names on Bloomberg's latest list of the richest places in America probably ring a bell. But what unifies them are the high salaries of the people who live there, with the top spots reporting average household incomes well into the six figures.

Here are the areas that made this year’s top 10, along with the size of their residents’ paychecks.

10. Darien, Connecticut: $327,901
9. Highland Park, Texas: $330,703
8. Bronxville, New York: $334,848
7. Old Greenwich, Connecticut: $334, 911
6. Hillsborough, California: $350,917
5. Short Hills, New Jersey: $354,479
4. Los Altos Hills, California: $350,917
3. Scarsdale, New York: $387,558
2. Cherry Hills Village, Colorado: $390,224
1. Atherton, California: $443,403

So what's the least amount you can make to be considered rich, anyway? According to Bloomberg's data, it's just under $200,000.

Atherton is a six-square-mile town near Palo Alto and Menlo Park, California, where many big Silicon Valley companies are located, so it’s not surprising that it took the top spot both this year and last year. But the highest concentration of the richest areas were still in the Connecticut, New Jersey and New York tri-state area, which boasted 36 of the top 100 spots.

So what’s the least amount you can make to be considered rich, anyway? According to Bloomberg’s data, it’s just under $200,000 – the No. 100 town, Highland Park, Illinois, had an average household income of $198,423. But the average American has much loftier expectations: In a recent GOBankingRates survey of over 5,000 people, more than a quarter felt you had to make $1 million or more to be labeled rich. Less than 15% said that $200,000 fit that bill, while nearly 13% said you needed to make a whopping $10 million or more.

Consider it proof that wealth really is in the eye of the beholder – and that most people seem to think that they're part of the middle class, no matter how much money they have.