Bundle Data: 25 Big-Spending Suburbs
Couldn't Cribs technically run on the Discovery Channel? After all, the lives unfolding beyond the hedges, behind the gates, at the end of those long driveways, feel about as familiar — and comprehensible — as anything Stephen Hawking ever described. Nestled in enclaves mere miles outside of diverse city centers, many of America's wealthiest seem to live a life apart, on a planet where the sink never piles up with dishes, travel is always first-class, and the bills never wait for payday. Our fascination with rich people begins with money, but ends with what we imagine that money would buy: a better, easier, freer life.
But is it true? Thankfully, there's data. Last month, Bundle examined the spending habits of the 100 biggest cities in the country. Today, we've expanded our analysis to include an additional 200-plus suburbs, digging into the wealthiest bedroom communities around the country — places like Darien, Connecticut, with a median income of $190,000. What are they spending all that money on? And what, if anything, could that tell us about our own spending habits?
In fact, the differences can be staggering. People who live in places like Armonk, N.Y., spent more on restaurants in one month, on average, than other towns spent the entire year. Residents of Medina, Wash., spent $50,692 on shopping alone in 2009 — the most in the country, and more than four times what their neighbors in Seattle spent. Even the television is richer: residents of Winnetka, Ill., spent $1,428 on cable and satellite services in 2009, compared to the national average of $568. And they don't even have 3-D TV yet. (Do they?)
Amid these big numbers, however, lies proof that rich and poor cities are more alike than they might think. Residents of the biggest-spending suburb on our list, Kenilworth, Ill. averaged $16,740 in grocery spending last year, while Torrance, a modest L.A. suburb, averaged $3,791. In both cases, though, this accounts for about 11 percent of their daily budgets. We keep using the phrase "personal inflation" around Bundle headquarters, so let's reiterate one more time: If we don't pay attention, we're simply going to spend the money we have — however much that is. And then when we're rich, people are going to wonder what we blew it on.
Below are some snapshots of the 25 big-spending U.S. suburbs, broken down by average annual household spending for 2009, followed by a complete list of the high-spending and (low-spending) areas.
About the data: Bundle examined 305 cities and suburbs across the U.S., with additional on those suburbs surrounding major cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, New York, and Chicago, among others. (Do you think your area's residents are big spenders? Send us a note: data@bundle.com and we'll take a closer look.)
The same methodology applies here as it does to all of Bundle's data: Our numbers are based on data compiled from Citi, the U.S. government and third-party research. As frequent Bundle community members know, the spending data does not include mortgage and rent, so we're looking at consumer spending habits across categories including Food & Drink, Shopping, Health & Family, Travel & Leisure, Getting Around (auto and gas), and House & Home-related expenses. Here's a full breakdown of what each Bundle spending category includes.
U.S. Suburb Snapshots
1. Kenilworth, Ill.
Average 2009 household spending: $150,340
Driving north from Chicago along Lake Michigan, it would be easy to miss Kenilworth. North of Evanston (No. 48), south of Winnetka (No. 6), the town has no grocery store, no movie theater, no commercial strip. There's just one beach, one train stop, and 2,397 very wealthy residents - who spent on average $150,340 per household last year, nearly four times the national average. Or, put another way, Kenilworth residents spent more on shopping ($40,865) than the average American household spent on everything ($37,782).
But they didn't spend all the money in Kenilworth. There's next to nothing to buy, so it's a 4-minute drive to nearby Wilmette (No. 16) for a latte, or an 18-minute express train ride to the shopping in downtown Chicago. And while some residents have been clamoring for more retail development, the town's size is also part of its appeal: kids still walk to the single elementary school and, often, home again for lunch.
Sound good? To buy a house in the village, figure on at least $750,000, says Jean Wright, owner of Jean Wright Real Estate in Winnetka. And that'd be a bargain: some homes have sold for as much as $9 million. But once you're in, you're in. "The kids in the $800,000 houses go to the same school as the other children in the village, and they have all the same advantages," says Wright. "It's wonderfully friendly."
2. & 3. New Canaan, and Darien, Conn.
Average 2009 household spending: $145,883 & $144,758
Yes, the median incomes are over six figures, and residents of these neighboring towns did spend more than $1,000 per month on average in restaurants alone in 2009, more than anyone else in the country. But the past 18 months have not been kind to the Connecticut towns that many investment bankers and hedge fund managers call home. In the small waterfront town of Darien, a beachfront improvement project has been delayed, non-profit programs are less well-funded, and restaurants are noticeably emptier.
And when the market crashed, Tucker Murphy, director of the New Canaan Chamber of Commerce, noticed a subtle change in the community the bigger but no less spendy city five miles north of Darien: there were suddenly more men hanging around — watching soccer practice, shuttling the kids to school, or networking over a glass of wine at the Roger Sherman Inn.
These towns will, of course, be fine. An hour's train ride from Grand Central Station in New York City, these are idyllic bedroom communities, with stellar public schools, active arts organizations, and a Whole Foods scheduled to open this spring. Plus, noted Murphy, people help each other. During recent flooding that left some New Canaanites without power for five days, there were offers of free meals, she said, "And the library stayed open until 11pm, so people could be warm and charge their phones and their iPods."
(Photo credit:http://www.medina.govoffice.com/)
4. Medina, Wash.
Average 2009 household spending: $144,582
Where does America's richest man live? Yes, yes: Anywhere he wants to. And where he wants to is Medina, a 1.4 square-mile suburb of Bellevue, once itself a suburb of Seattle. The Gates lakefront mansion — 66,000 square feet, indoor-outdoor swimming pool, man-made estuary — is a regular sail-by for Lake Washington boaters.
His neighbors aren't doing too badly either — even if they've resigned themselves to a more average Medina home for around $1.5 million. You'd never know it to look at them: In 2009, they spent $17,695 per household on clothes and shoes, seven times more than what New Yorkers spent, and more than any other town in the U.S. Their walk-in closets are casual: Brooks Brothers, Coach, and J. Crew all take a back seat to Eddie Bauer, which is the No. 1 clothes merchant for Medina residents.
Of course, it's not all shopping and sailing. A spokesman for Medina City Hall says people move to Medina because it's family-oriented and has a top-notch school system. (Also, they can afford to!) In August, the city celebrates "Medina Days," a weeklong bash filled with softball games, concerts and neighborhood block parties, which is a perfect time for families to "meet the nice, young couple that moved in down the street."
12. Los Altos, Calif.
Average 2009 household spending: $120,282
In Silicon Valley's spendiest community, there's a special name for the older, one-story ranch houses that sell for bargain prices like $1.5 million: they're called scrapers, because people buy them, scrape them to the ground, and build another. It's a reflection of the desirability of the area — more than 300 days of sunshine a year, not a single murder in a decade — and the wealth of its residents, many of whom work in nearby Mountain View (Google), Sunnyvale (Yahoo!), and Cupertino (Apple) but come home to very residential Los Altos.
Still, even when they're off the clock, Los Alto residents bring a spirit of innovation to the community, locals say. They give money — $7,210 per household in 2009, more than any other town in the U.S. — and time: without the budget to accommodate school buses, local parents have devised "walk-pools," in which adults take turns walking a group of children to school and back. And even a trip to Draeger's for some bread and cheese can turn into an impromptu TED conference if you bump into one of the Adobe co-founders, the CFO of Agilent or ex-Hewlett Packard CEO and aspiring senator Carly Fiorina. No need to dress up, of course — bike helmets and bermuda shorts are in fashion here — but you might want to wear your nice Crocs, just in case.
21. Georgetown, Texas
Average 2009 household spending: $85,031
A half-hour north of Austin and home to Southwestern University, Georgetown doesn't look like the typical spendypants small town. Median incomes hover around an estimated $61,000, single-family houses still sell for less than $200,000, and only 36 percent of the city's residents hold a bachelor's degree. What gives?
Two words: Grandma and grandpa. Sun City, a sprawling retirement community, opened in Georgetown in the late 1990s. Since then, thousands of seniors from all over the country have moved in, drawn to the warm weather, the proximity to Austin's excellent medical facilities, and a local law that prevents property taxes from rising after a homeowner turns 65. The development begat development, and today there's a second supermarket, a luxury mall, and crosstown traffic can be, by small town standards, brutal.
Seniors aren't the only ones moving in. As prices have gone up in Austin (the top-spending big city in the country), residents have fled to Georgetown's historic Victorian homes, which sell for half to one-third the price of a comparable house in the state capitol. The slow migration has tinted the red community a distinct purple, says a spokesman for the city. The town elected its first Democratic state representative in the 2008 election, and several precincts went blue. The mayor, however, is still a Republican — and, for the first time in Georgetown's 173-year history, a resident of Sun City.
25 BIG-SPENDING SUBURBS
Average household spending, 2009 (not including mortgage/rent)
1. Kenilworth, Ill. ($150,340)
What's with Illinois and cable? Of the cities analyzed by Bundle, the three top-spending suburbs for cable/satellite were in the Land of Lincoln: 1. Kenilworth ($1,630) 2. Winnetka ($1,428) and 3. Highland Park ($1,374).
2. New Canaan, Conn. ($145,883)
New Canaan tops the other big-spending suburbs in Bundle's "Getting Around" category, which includes gas and auto expenses. Its household average ($15,430) also is 204 percent higher than the household average in Sacramento, Calif.
3. Darien, Conn. ($144,758)
Darien households spent the most on Dining Out ($13,428 avg.) in 2009.
4. Medina, Wash. ($144,582)
Medina leads the other big-spending 'burbs when it comes to shopping. Households there averaged $50,692 in that category for 2009, which was nearly $10,000 higher than the second-biggest spenders in Kenilworth ($40,865).
5. Armonk, N.Y. ($139,675)
For Bundle's list, Armonk was tops in House & Home-related spending (not counting mortgage/rent), averaging $32,536 per household in 2009. That's more than three times what a household in Ann Arbor, Mich., spent during the same period.
6. Westport, Conn. ($137,754)
Can you hear them now? Westport households were the third-highest spenders on phone-related expenses, averaging $2,867 in 2009. That's nearly twice what a household in San Jose spent during the same period.
7. Winnetka, Ill. ($136,586)
Of the cities analyzed by Bundle, Winnetka spent the most on electronics ($2,282).
8. Bedford, N.Y. ($134,834)
Bedford leads the other 'burbs in gas spending, averaging $6,501 per household in 2009.
9. Greenwich, Conn. ($133,330)
Greenwich was the highest-spending suburb for healthcare on this list, with an average $7,447 spent per household in 2009. That's 863 percent higher than average annual spending by residents in Miami ($773).
10. Highland Park, Ill. ($127,628)
Highland Park households spent $9,068 on school-related expenses.
11. Rye, N.Y. ($123,969)
Households in this New York suburb spent the most on travel ($11,844 avg.) in 2009. That's 1,634 percent higher than the average household travel budget in Memphis, TN ($683).
12. Los Altos, Calif. ($120,282)
Los Altos, Calif. is the most charitable 'burb in Bundle's study, with $7,210 in average household spending for 2009.
13. Los Gatos, Calif. ($118,634)
Behind Winnetka (No. 7), Los Gatos and Los Altos in the Bay Area rank second and fourth, respectively, when it comes to household electronics spending. (Wouldn't you think tech execs would get all that stuff for free?)
14. Southport, Conn. ($108,695)
Southport households averaged $4,428 on personal care in 2009. By comparison, a household in Costa Mesa, Calif., spent $785 in the same category.
15. Scarsdale, N.Y. ($105,832)
Scarsdale households averaged $10,443 in grocery spending for 2009. The biggest grocery spender on Bundle's list was Kenilworth, with $16,740.
16. Wilmette, Ill. ($101,198)
Wilmette households averaged $1,155 in pet spending for 2009. Top pet spenders on Bundle's list were in New Canaan ($3,170).
17. Beverly Hills, Calif. ($99,624)
Beverly Hills residents spent 521 percent more on charity in 2009 than the U.S. household average ($5,623 vs. $906). They also spent 374 percent more on Personal Care than the U.S. average ($3303 v. $697).
18. Mercer Island, Wash. ($98,618)
Mercer Island households averaged $5,864 on travel expenses in 2009, more than twice what Seattle residents spent ($2,658).
19. Oyster Bay, N.Y. ($94,749)
Households here averaged $1,457 on entertainment last year. By comparison, New York City residents (all boroughs) averaged $681.
20. Great Neck, N.Y. ($85,946)
Residents here averaged $5,709 on clothing and shoes in 2009. That's more than twice what the combined boroughs of New York City averaged ($2,506).
21. Georgetown, Texas ($85,031)
In 2009, Georgetown households spent 27 percent more on average than neighboring Austin, America's spendiest big city ($85,031 vs. $67,076). But they spent just 14 percent of their daily budget on shopping ($12,297), while Austin spent 23 percent ($15,501).
22. Harrison, N.Y. ($84,533)
Harrison was the former headquarters of Texaco before the oil company merged with Chevron. In 2009, Harrison households averaged $3,539 on gas spending. That's 228 percent more than NYC's five boroughs combined ($1,078).
23. Menlo Park, Calif. ($84,357)
In 2009, Menlo Park households spent 2.5 times more than San Francisco on pets ($1,170 vs. $441).
24. Newport Beach, Calif. ($83,527)
On average, Newport Beach households ($83,527 in 2009) outspent Miami Beach ($49,419), Virginia Beach ($42,403), and Long Beach ($32,414). Newport Beach residents also outspent the combined totals of Miami Beach ($616), Virginia Beach ($585), and Long Beach ($493) on home maintenance ($1,984 vs $1,694).
25. Palo Alto, Calif. ($81,835)
Residents of Palo Alto (home of Stanford University) spent, on average, 221 percent more than households in Berkeley (home of rival UC Berkeley) in hobbies ($2,253 vs. $701), but were outspent in utilities ($1,951 vs. $2,158).
AND 10 LOW-SPENDERS
10. North Hollywood, Calif. ($26,598)
9. Erie, Pa. ($25,293)
8. Lake Worth, Fla. ($24,533)
7. West Palm Beach, Fla. ($24,272)
6. Oceanside, Calif. ($24,193)
5. Alhambra, Calif. ($24,011)
4. Garden Grove, Calif. ($23,754)
3. Woodside, N.Y. ($23,479)
2. Ridgewood, N.Y. ($22,948)
1. Elmhurst, N.Y. ($22,473)
Related Links:
Bundle Report: See the surprising numbers on how Americans spent last year
The 25 Top-Spending Cities in the U.S.: Who's No. 1?
All 50 States: Get rankings of the biggest spenders around the country
5 high-tech, low-stress, money-saving tools
America's most romantic restaurants: Worth it?
5 ways to get a great deal on flowers for Valentine's Day
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