Richest Counties in America as of 2014:

9. Somerset County, NJ

Median household income: $95,574
Somerset County first became a settlement in the late-sixteen hundreds in the centre of New Jersey county. In the 1960’s the region’s economy grew due to the increasing pharmaceutical industry making its presence felt in the area. Somerset County is now home to many high-flying New York City commuters.

8. Stafford County, VA

Median household income: $95,927
Stafford County was where first President of the United States, George Washington, spent his childhood and now has a population of one-hundred and twenty thousand people. The majority of residents are employed by insurance company Geico, the county government or school system, or a number of government bodies, including the FBI.

7. Arlington County, VA

Median household income: $99,255
Arlington County is home to many of the federal government’s most important agencies, with the Department of Defense and the Drug Enforcement Agency just two. This owes much to the region’s close proximity to Washington D.C.

6. Hunterdon County, NJ

Median household income: $103,301
Hunterdon County’s population is approximately one-hundred and twenty-eight thousand people. It is situated in Western New Jersey and is part of the New York City Metropolitan Statistical Area. The region has thrown off its rural shackles and is now a leafy suburb which the workers of New York and Philadelphia call home.

5. Fairfax County, VA

Median household income: $106,690
Fairfax County is Virginia’s most populated, with over one million people living there. The vast majority of the county’s population is either employed in the public sector or contractors. Furthermore, Fairfax County is home to the headquarters of the CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

4. Howard County, MD

Median household income: $108,234
Howard County is situated between Washington and Baltimore and also has the lowest unemployment rate in the entire state. Major employers in the state include Verizon Wireless and the John Hopkins’ applied Physics Lab.

3. Los Alamos County, NM

Median household income: $112,115
Around half of Los Alamos County’s population of eighteen thousand people is employed by the National Laboratory. With the laboratory having an annual budget of $2.2 billion it is not difficult to see why the area is so affluent.

2. Loudoun County, VA

Median household income: $118,934
This Virginia suburb was established before the Revolutionary War and steady population growth has seen the residents swell to three-hundred and fifty thousand people, making it the state’s third largest county. Surprisingly the most common employer of those people is the county public school system.

1. Falls Church City, VA

Median household income: $121,250
Falls Church City was once part of Fairfax County; however it was given county status in 1948. According to city-facts.com over half of Falls Church City’s houses are worth more than $500,000, explaining its position as the United State’s most affluent county.