If Forbes and PropertyShark are going to assign swaggering media marketing titles of "America's Richest," or "America's Most Expensive Zip Codes" as clickbait, let's at least do it right, apples-to-apples:
Every year the San Francisco Peninsula Towns of Atherton and Hillsborough chart high on "America's Most Expensive Zip Codes" rankings compiled by media giants such as Forbes, Bloomberg, and PropertyShark. But there's much more than meets the eye. Atherton 94027 has ranked #1 in the country the last six years on Median Sales Price. But by digging deeper in the numbers, we reveal huge holes in the rank-by-Zip Code system, and discrepancies that make the Peninsula's iconic towns ever more impressive in actuality.
Per PropertyShark 2022 Top 100 Most Expensive Zip Code rankings, only 5 Zip codes in America achieved a $5,000,000+ Median Sales Price:
- Atherton,CA 94027 $7,732,500
- Sagoponack, NY 11962 $5,750,000
- Ross, CA 94957 $5,500,000
- Miami Beach, FL 33109 $5,200,000
- Beverly Hills, CA 90210 $5,122,000
Atherton 94027 was #1 in the country with a $7,732,500 Median Sales Price. The Town of Hillsborough, which is its own stand-alone municipality, but shares the 94010 Zip Code with neighboring Burlingame, ranked only #22 on the PropertyShark list, despite its median sale price of $5,500,000 (which should be good for #3 national ranking). When Burlingame sales are factored into the mix of the 94010 Zip Code, the median dips down to $3,525,000, only #22 nationally. Egregious! Zero accuracy and zero big picture. It's as if the #3 ranked Zip Code of Ross, CA (its own Town in Marin County with a $5,500,000 Median) was to be blended into neighboring City of San Rafael, it would surely drop below #30 on the rankings. In actuality the Town of Hillsborough should be tied for #3 with Ross, CA with its $5,500,000 median sales price. Southern California uber-enclaves of Bel-Air and Holmby Hills suffer the same fate as they are part of the City of Los Angeles and get watered down in the Zip Code system. Unlike Bel-Air and Holmby Hills, the distinction in Hillsborough's case is that it is actually its own Town municipality, totally separate from any other City. This is similar to Beverly Hills 90210, which ranks #5 as its own City and Zip Code.
If Forbes and PropertyShark are going to assign swaggering media marketing titles of "America's Richest," or "America's Most Expensive Zip Codes" as clickbait, let's at least do it right, apples-to-apples: on a per-Town basis or even a per-neighborhood basis. America's Most Expensive Towns or America's Most Expensive Neighborhoods surely will tell the story more accurately and not mis-appropriate the Town of Hillsborough as #22 when it is actually ranked #3 in the nation on median sales price. And Woodside, CA 94062? Woodside is indisputably one of the country's premier luxury home capitals, with a $4,875,000 median sales price in 2022, (should be good for sixth place nationally on the PropertyShark list) yet the blended Zip code with neighboring Redwood City keeps it off the list.
Digging deeper, if we assess by neighborhood, Atherton's prime West Atherton region between El Camino and Alameda posted an astounding $11,250,000 Median Sales price for 2022, with an average price per sq. ft. of $2,237. Hillsborough's #1 neighborhood of Lower North posted a $7,700,000 Median Sales Price and average price per sq. ft. of $1,769. These staggering, and most accurate numbers, could surely be repeated by going granular in other regions of Southern California, Boston, New York, and Florida. Only then would we paint the true picture of the "richest," "most expensive" clickbait titles that are inaccurate year in and year out by the big media.
