Housing News

Forget 90210: These Are the 10 Most Expensive ZIP Codes in America

November 4, 2024

Where do the uber-rich, those for whom money is no object, buy sprawling mansions with killer views?

It probably won’t come as a huge surprise that many of the most exclusive addresses, those that only 0.01% can afford are in the San Francisco Bay Area, along with the New York City and Los Angeles metropolitan areas.

And for the eighth year in a row, the Atherton, Calif. ZIP Code of 94027 was named the most expensive in the nation, according to a study by PropertyShark.com.

“Atherton has been expensive for decades now, and the continued growth of Silicon Valley’s tech economy has further boosted prices,” said Eliza Theiss, a senior writer at PropertyShark.com who reports on real estate trends.

To come up with its findings, PropertyShark looked at condo, co-op, single-family, and two-family home sales between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30, 2024. Only ZIP Codes with at least five sales were included.

Atherton, about 30 miles south of San Francisco, is an exclusively residential enclave with a small-town feel. Many of the homes are on the larger side, some set on at least an acre of land.

The population was just over 6,800 residents as of July 2023, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

She added that it doesn’t hurt that the town is close to prestigious high-profile tech companies, such as Google and Facebook, as well as Stanford University.

“Its’ increasing national profile and its growing popularity among the absolute highest earners in the country have led to prices rising higher and higher,” said Theiss.

Where are the nation’s most expensive ZIP Codes?

California dominated the list of the nation’s priciest places, with seven ZIPs in the top 10.

The coastal city of Newport Beach, in southern California, was the first city to earn three spots in the top 10. That tied it with Los Angeles for the title of the second most-expensive city in the country.

“The 10 most expensive ZIP Codes are generally located in some of the [wealthiest] communities in the country and are dominated by single-family homes with generous footprints and high-end amenities,” said Theiss.

The top 100 rankings have shifted in the last few years, with heavily populated ZIP Codes moving down the line.

“Most are waterfront communities, and some are actually situated on islands, such as Miami Beach’s 33109 on Fisher Island or Newport Beach’s 92662 on Balboa Island,” said Theiss.

The top 10 ZIP Codes with the highest median sale prices: