Welcome to the land of the 1%. Where you’ll find lawyers, and doctors, and business executives. And while they aren’t made of ticky-tacky, they are definitely made of money.
These are the wealthiest neighborhoods that Des Moines has to offer. Where houses go for over 1.78x the national median and household incomes are 2.65x the national median.
But where exactly in Des Moines do the richest of the rich people live? That would be Waterbury where the median income is a cool $145,591.
Here’s a look at the top 10 wealthiest neighborhoods in Des Moines out of 52 for 2024.
The Richest Neighborhoods In Des Moines For 2024
What’s the richest neighborhood to live in Des Moines for 2024? According to the most recent census data, Waterbury looks to be the richest Des Moines neighborhood to live in.
Summing up the median income of those 10 neighborhoods adds up to $872,048. And that, my friend, is more 0s than most of us will see in our bank account for a long, long time — if we ever get that lucky.
Find where your neighborhood ranks amongst the richest in Des Moines.
For more Des Moines reading, check out the best neighborhoods in Des Moines and the worst neighborhoods in Des Moines.
Or, for living around Des Moines, out the best Des Moines suburbs and the worst Des Moines suburbs.
Table Of Contents: Table | Methodology
Richst Neighborhoods In Des Moines For 2024 By Median Income
| Rank | Neighborhood | Median Household Income |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Waterbury | $145,591 |
| 2 | Salisbury Oaks | $95,572 |
| 3 | Waveland Park | $90,268 |
| 4 | Southwestern Hills | $85,573 |
| 5 | Meredith | $82,472 |
| 6 | Linden Heights | $82,279 |
| 7 | Valley High Manor | $74,427 |
| 8 | Ingersoll Park | $73,304 |
| 9 | Beaverdale | $72,005 |
| 10 | Greenwood | $70,557 |
| 11 | Bloomfield-Allen | $70,410 |
| 12 | Westwood | $69,514 |
| 13 | Laurel Hill | $67,838 |
| 14 | Lower Beaver | $67,550 |
| 15 | Garton West | $66,094 |
| 16 | Waveland Woods | $65,250 |
| 17 | Downtown Des Moines | $64,784 |
| 18 | Merle Hay | $60,055 |
| 19 | Fairmont Park | $58,630 |
| 20 | Accent | $56,897 |
| 21 | Douglas Acres | $56,297 |
| 22 | Gray’s Woods | $54,532 |
| 23 | Oak Park | $54,186 |
| 24 | Greater South Side | $52,697 |
| 25 | Union Park | $50,720 |
| 26 | North Of Grand | $50,678 |
| 27 | Drake | $50,473 |
| 28 | Indianola Hills | $49,755 |
| 29 | Woodland Heights | $48,632 |
| 30 | Sherman Hill | $48,500 |
| 31 | Highland Park | $48,216 |
| 32 | Magnolia Park | $47,049 |
| 33 | Arbor Peaks | $46,908 |
| 34 | Chautauqua Park | $44,750 |
| 35 | Mckinley School | $43,808 |
| 36 | South Park | $43,188 |
| 37 | Capitol View South | $42,059 |
| 38 | Cheatom Park | $41,255 |
| 39 | Capitol Park | $39,602 |
| 40 | Fairground | $38,775 |
| 41 | Drake Park | $38,315 |
| 42 | East Village | $37,853 |
| 43 | Capitol East | $36,169 |
| 44 | Mondamin Presidentia | $35,516 |
| 45 | River Bend | $35,134 |
| 46 | Somerset | $34,952 |
| 47 | Martin Luther King Jr Park | $34,053 |
| 48 | New Vision | $32,832 |
| 49 | King-Irving Park | $29,094 |
| 50 | Jordan Park | $26,350 |
| 51 | Kirkwood Glen | $25,865 |
| 52 | Carpenter | $20,714 |
How We Determined The Wealthiest Neighborhoods In Des Moines For 2024
Every city has its best neighborhoods — where everyone wants to live — and the worst neighborhoods — where no one wants to live. And then you have the wealthiest neighborhoods, where no one can afford to live.
And by no one, we mean you because there’s always someone richer than you.
How do you quantify richer than you? We looked at one simple criterion:
Which neighborhoods have the highest median income?
Using Saturday Night Science, we researched income data from the Census and BLS for every neighborhood in Des Moines.
We ranked every neighborhood in Des Moines by median income from highest to lowest. The neighborhood with the highest median income, Waterbury, was named the wealthiest neighborhood in Des Moines.
The richest neighborhoods in Des Moines are Waterbury, Salisbury Oaks, Waveland Park, Southwestern Hills, Meredith, Linden Heights, Valley High Manor, Ingersoll Park, Beaverdale, and Greenwood.
The poorest neighborhood? That would be Carpenter.
The poorest neighborhoods in Des Moines are Carpenter, Kirkwood Glen, Jordan Park, King-Irving Park, and New Vision.
We updated this article for 2024. This is our tenth time ranking the most affluent neighborhoods to live in Des Moines.
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