(NEXSTAR) — As many across the U.S. continue to grapple with the high cost of nearly everything due to inflation, it can be hard to imagine people are getting richer.
But, according to a new study, the 19th-century saying that alludes to “the rich getting richer” still rings true today. Just last month, an anti-poverty advocacy group predicted the world could see its first trillionaire within the next 10 years.
Since 2020, billionaires have become 34% richer as their wealth grows three times the inflation rate, the report explained. It doesn’t take a billion — or even a million — dollars to be considered among the richest Americans, though.
A 2022 Pew Research Center analysis found a family of three with a household income of $156,000 could be considered among the upper class, albeit on the lower end (that benchmark can vary based on where you live). The threshold to be among the upper class in the U.S. could be much higher: GOBanking Rates reported in December that it may take a household income of $250,000 or more to be considered upper class.
The personal finance site used a slightly lower median household income, $200,000, to analyze where the richest Americans are getting richer.
The analysis, released Wednesday, reviewed 100 of the country’s largest cities and ranked them based on how the mean household income in each changed between 2019 and 2022, as well as the change in the number of households with an income of $200,000 or more.
Unsurprisingly, California largely dominated GOBankingRate’s list. The top city where “the rich are getting richer,” analysts found, was Los Altos, where the average household income exceeded $400,000 in 2022, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. No other city on the list had a household income above $400,000.
Los Altos was one of seven California cities to land in the top 10. Overall, 37 California cities made the list.
One Virginia city made the top 10 list. McLean placed third. McLean experienced a 22% change in mean household income over the period of three years. McLean went from 52% of its population earning $200,000 or more in 2019 to 61% in 2022: an 18% increase.
GOBankingRate found the wealthiest on both coasts are getting wealthier. Texas is the only state in the South to have a city land in the top 25 on the list, though cities from Alabama and Florida did land on the full list shared with Nexstar.
In 78 of the 100 cities analyzed, the average household income was at or above $200,000 in 2022: nine were at or above $300,000, while 13 fell below that threshold.
At the bottom of GOBankingRate’s list was Parkland, Florida. The average household income is above $200,000, but almost half of its population earns more. The city saw the second-lowest change in the average household income between 2019 and 2022.
Below is an interactive table of GOBankingRate’s full list, as well as each city’s mean household income in 2022, the three-year percentage change in average household income, and the three-year percentage change in the population with an income of more than $200,000.
Two cities in Washington — Bainbridge Island and Issaquah, both near Seattle — saw the largest percentage change (48% and 43%, respectively) in household incomes over the three-year period. Between 2019 and 2022, Bainbridge Island saw the largest percentage change — almost 57% — in population earning more than $200,000.
Overall, 20 states were represented in GOBankingRates’ analysis.
Having an income of $200,000 or more may not be enough in some areas, though. A recent study by personal finance site SmartAsset found that on average, a $100,000 salary is worth only about $70,700 after taking into account taxes and the cost of living in the nation’s largest cities.
A recent analysis by a group of Congressional Republicans shows the impact of inflation on the average household in every state. (While the joint committee is chaired by a Democrat, the report and data were put out by its Republican members.) The report uses January 2021 as a benchmark “because it was the last time inflation was within recent historical norms.”
The report claims most American households would need to spend an additional $10,000 or more just to afford the same goods and quality of life they had less than three years ago.
It also doesn’t seem to be getting any better.
Though inflation has eased considerably in the past year, the Labor Department reported last week that consumer prices remain well above the Fed’s 2% target.
The Fed has left rates unchanged at its last four meetings.
The Associated Press and Nexstar’s Alix Martichoux contributed to this report.