What Tri-Cities Zip Codes Are Pulling In the Big Bucks? It’s Not Richland!?

It might surprise you that the highest wage earners in the Tri-Cities aren't just in Richland Washington.

When I moved to Tri-Cities in 2007 I was told that the "rich" folks lived in Richland but I'm surprised to discover after a little digging that another town in the Tri-Cities area is pulling down bigger bucks in the #1 slot for the Columbia Basin

Get our free mobile app

Stacker.com has done the heavy lifting for us and the zip codes pulling down the most "cheddar" in the Tri-Cities area might be a little surprising to you. Richland ranks high but it's not the #1 wage earner in the Tri-Cities.

Stacker's compilation says that several factors determine their rankings, here's what they said about their findings:

Education levels and occupation contribute mightily to salaries, but where a worker lives can give a boost to employees across the board—or result in diminished earnings. It’s not just a location’s tax rates and cost of living, either.

According to a Brookings study, simple geography is responsible for a large variation in earnings: Sebring, Florida, for example, has a low median earning of just $26,000, while the metro area of San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara in California boasts a median earning figure of $65,000.

The same study found that overall workers in the top-earning 30 locations across the U.S. earn an average of 37% more than the workers in the bottom 30 locations.

So, how do the Tri-Cities zip codes stack up when it comes to making the big bucks?

Here are the top 5 zip codes in the Tri-Cities area that Stacker.com says are pulling in the most money:

#5. 99354 (Richland)
- Median household income: $73,369
- Households earning over $100,000: 36.2%%

#4. 99337 (Kennewick)
- Median household income: $74,158
- Households earning over $100,000: 32.8%%

#3. 99352 (Richland)
- Median household income: $81,410
- Households earning over $100,000: 42.8%%

#2. 99353 (West Richland)
- Median household income: $102,021
- Households earning over $100,000: 51.1%%

#1. 99338 (Kennewick)
- Median household income: $114,429
- Households earning over $100,000: 55.9%%

As you can see, Richland residents are doing just fine with their money but Kennewick in the 338 is doing a little bit better.

There are a bunch more zip codes that you can check from Stacker.com and see where your household ranks when it comes to pulling down the money.

Read more here