Marin County Tops State in Family Income

Marin County has the highest family income of California’s 58 counties with an annual average of $59,157, while San Jose has the highest family income of the state’s 23 metropolitan areas with an average of $53,670, according to U.S. census data released Thursday.

Among California counties, Yuba has the lowest average family income at $24,364 annually. Among metropolitan areas, Visalia-Tulare was lowest at $26,697.

Altogether, 32 of California’s 58 counties ranked in the top quarter of the nation’s 3,141 counties in family earnings. No California county was in the bottom quarter.

Among metropolitan areas, San Jose trailed only Stamford, Norwalk and Danbury, Conn.; the Nassau-Suffolk region of New York; the Middlesex-Somerset area of New Jersey, and the Washington, D.C., area in average family income.

Twelve of California’s 23 metropolitan areas were in the top quarter of the nation’s 334 metropolitan areas, while four were in the bottom quarter of the national rankings.

The Visalia-Tulare area was 315th nationally, 19 from the bottom. Chico, at $28,314, ranked 295th nationally; Merced at $28,269 was 297th, and Yuba City, at $27,667, ranked 306th.

Among counties, Marin was followed by Santa Clara, which ranks 25th nationally at $53,670, and San Mateo, which ranks 27th nationally at $53,430.

Orange County ranked fifth in the state and 43rd nationally with an average income of $51,167. California’s largest county, Los Angeles, was 18th in the state but still in the top 10% of the nation’s counties at 228th with $39,035 average family income.

Just above Yuba’s low of $24,364 were Trinity County at $25,009 and Imperial County at $25,147.

All data is based on the 1990 census.