A bison stands in front of Mount Moran, north of Jackson Hole Wyoming. Many of the richest cities in … [+]
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In a series of recent studies, we analyzed and identified the richest cities in a couple of Rocky Mountain states. These included the richest cities in Colorado and Utah. Now, we turn our focus on one of their neighbors; the state that is the least populated in the United States — Wyoming.
We analyzed over 200 cities in the state in order to identify the richest cities in Wyoming. The way we evaluated and scored each city’s ranking is detailed below. Read on to find out what the richest city in Wyoming is, plus the top 50 wealthiest cities in the state overall.
What Is the Richest City in Wyoming?
In order to assemble a list of the richest cities in Wyoming, we pulled data from the Census Bureau’s 2022 American Community Survey, and we constructed a four-factor scoring system to help identify the wealthiest cities in Wyoming:
- Median household income
- Mean (average) household income
- Median home value
- Median property taxes paid
When it comes to Census data, for certain factors its numbers have upper limits. For example, for median household income, the Census Bureau has an upper limit of “$250,000+”. For median home value, the upper limit is “$2,000,000+”. And, lastly, for median property taxes paid, the upper limit is “$10,000+”. For these reasons, the mean or average household income dataset is especially important because the Census Bureau has exact figures for it. All four of these metrics were scored, added up, and then ranked by the cities’ combined scores.
50 Richest Cities in Wyoming
Below you’ll find a table detailing the top 50 richest cities in Wyoming and their respective dollar figures for each metric:
The No. 1 richest city in Wyoming in our ranking is Hoback, a census-designated-place (CDP) of 830 households, situated in the Jackson micropolitan area. Indeed, the Jackson Hole Gun Club is just outside of Hoback, to the north. Not surprisingly for the richest city in Wyoming, according to Data USA, the main occupation by employment is Management Occupations, accounting for 26.2% of the workforce. The top three industries in Hoback are Construction (23.2% of the workforce), Health Care & Social Assistance (17.3% of the workforce), and Retail Trade (12.7%). The median household income in Hoback is $130,236, while its average household income is the highest out of the 200+ cities in Wyoming we analyzed, at $195,161. The reported median home value in Hoback is $930,700 — the third highest in Wyoming — and the median property taxes paid by households is $4,188 per year.
The second richest city in Wyoming is South Park, which, like Hoback, is located in Teton County, and is part of the Jackson micropolitan area. South Park is home to the very classy Club at 3 Creek golf club, as well as Jackson Hole High School and Jackson Hole Classical Academy. The median home value in South Park is just shy of $1.33 million, which is the highest in Wyoming and its median property taxes paid is the second highest, at $7,363 per year. While 13 cities have higher median household incomes than South Park’s $99,907, the average household income in South Park is the second highest in Wyoming, at $163,152. Thus, these four factors combined, not merely its median household income, are the reason South Park is the No. 2 richest city in Wyoming.
A geographic pattern is clearly developing here: The No. 3 richest city in Wyoming is Moose Wilson Road, another town located in Teton County and, more specifically, in the Jackson micropolitan area. The median household income in Moose Wilson Road — $96,056 — is not one of its most impressive figures. Instead, it is the mean household income, which at $162,057, makes it the third highest in Wyoming. Furthermore, the reported median home value in Moose Wilson Road is well over $1.22 million, the second highest in Wyoming. The gap between Moose Wilson Road’s median household income and its average household income suggest that income inequality may be an issue here. And, indeed, according to Census data, the Gini index of income inequality in Moose Wilson Road is 0.5165 versus 0.4818 for the U.S. overall (the Gini index ranges from 0 — representing perfect income equality — to 1, which represents complete income inequality).