Pair of Wealthy O.C. ZIP Codes Put the Zap on Beverly Hills’ 90210

Forget 90210. The hottest Southern California ZIP Codes might now be 92657 and 92861.

Eat your heart out, Beverly Hills, home to the most famous ZIP Code of all--or at least the only one most of us know besides our own. For ZIP Codes in Newport Beach and Villa Park boast a higher percentage of household incomes over $100,000 yearly than the one with a TV series named after it.

This according to a report released Wednesday by Arkansas-based Acxiom Corp., a data analysis firm that said more than a million California households will earn six-figure incomes by decade’s end.

About 9% of the state’s households now have incomes over $100,000--one-third more than the national average, Acxiom consultant John Karevoll said. The U.S. government has estimated the poverty level for a family of four at $16,450.

Topping the list of California communities with the highest percentage of households pulling down more than a hundred grand: Atherton, in the hills above the Silicon Valley, where 63.3% of the households enjoy six-figure incomes.

Second place overall and first in Southern California is the Newport Coast area of Newport Beach, where 62.9% of residents make more than $100,000. The San Jose suburb of Danville is third, Bel-Air is fourth, Menlo Park is fifth, and bucolic Villa Park is sixth, followed by Century City in Los Angeles.

The 90210 code of Beverly Hills ranks eighth, with just 50% of its households earning more than $100,000.

Newport Beach, home to a Mercedes-Benz dealership tying for top sales in the United States and the largest pleasure-boat harbor in the world, lives up to the stereotype. But Villa Park beating Beverly Hills?

“Villa Park--I don’t know where that is,” Ted Gibson, chief economist for the state Department of Finance, said of the North County city whose biggest business is a Ralphs grocery store. “That’s a place I’ve never heard of.”

Karevoll noted that Villa Park fought fiercely to have its own ZIP Code apart from neighboring Anaheim, and it paid off.

“Villa Park,” he said, “would otherwise not have made this list bunched in with another community.”

Santa Ana is home to Orange County’s ZIP Codes with the lowest percentage (1.9%) of households with combined income exceeding $100,000, Karevoll said. They are 92701 and 92703.

Household income does not necessarily mean richness, which is more often defined by assets. The people in Beverly Hills and San Marino, which tied in percentage of six-figure households, may well be richer than elsewhere, Gibson said.

By county, Marin has the highest portion of incomes surpassing $100,000. Orange County is fourth; Ventura County is sixth. Agricultural Yuba County had the smallest share of six-figure households.

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Golden State Gold

Orange County ranks fourth in the state in the percentage of households with annual incomes of more than $100,000. And two ZIP Codes in the county rank among the top 10 in the state:

Richest Counties

Marin: 18.4%

Santa Clara: 13.6%

San Mateo: 13.5%

Orange: 13.0%

Contra Costa: 12.1%

Ventura: 10.4%

Richest ZIP Codes

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Zip Total Households City Code Households $100,000+ Atherton 94027 3,245 63.3% Newport Beach 92657 1,410 62.9 Danville 94506 6,777 59.0 Bel Air 90077 4,353 55.4 Menlo Park 94028 3,082 52.8 Villa Park 92861 2,139 51.4 Los Angeles 90067 2,272 51.1 Beverly Hills 90210 10,427 50.0 San Marino 91108 5,835 49.9 Palos Verdes 90274 10,403 46.8

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Source: Acxiom Corp.