America's 10 Richest Counties

There are 3,033 counties in the United States. Which 10 are the richest in terms of median household income? Not surprisingly, those near major economic centers rank high.

In a study based on household income estimates from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey, Loudoun County, Virginia captures the number one spot in America's Richest Counties.

Loudoun County is a Washington, D.C. suburb and is home to Dulles International Airport, as well as a well-educated workforce.

The complete Top 10 list of America's Richest Counties :

1. Loudoun County, Virginia ($115,574)
2. Falls Church City, Virginia ($114,409)
3. Fairfax County, Virginia ($105,416)
4. Los Alamos County, New Mexico ($103,643)
5. Howard County, Maryland ($103,273)
6. Hunterdon County, New Jersey ($100,980)
7. Douglas County, Colorado ($99,198)
8. Fairfax City, Virginia ($97,900)
9. Somerset County, New Jersey ($97,440)
10. Morris County, New Jersey ($96,747)

As a region, it's estimated that 40% of the Washington, D.C. metro area economy can be attributed to federal spending. This helps explain why Falls Church City, Virginia; Fairfax County, Virginia; and Howard County, Maryland all scored high on the list. It's also why Los Alamos ranked 4 -- the largest employer in Los Alamos is the Los Alamos National Laboratory, one of the largest science and technology institutes in the world.

The New Jersey counties are popular commuter areas for homeowners who work in New York City.

As a home buyer in San Diego , the wealth of particular area may matter to you, but it won't be the sole reason you purchase. You may have interest in a quality school district, or a vibrant nightlife, or a a high walkability factor, for example.

For more detailed statistics about the 10 counties at top or other local markets, be sure to ask your real estate agent. 

The Top 10 Cities In Which To Raise A Family

Looking for a great place to raise a family? Forbes Magazine has a list that may help you.

Titled "The Best Cities For Raising A Family", Forbes has compiled and analyzed data from America's 100 largest metropolitan areas, accounting for seven lifestyle factors including cost of living, commuting ease, school quality, crime density, and home affordability.

Given these selection criteria, it's no surprise that Grand Rapids, Michigan took top honors. The area's low median income is offset by an extremely low cost of living and a school system that's among the best in the nation. Nearly 90% of the homes in Grand Rapids are affordable families earning the median income -- the seventh-highest affordability ranking in the country -- and commutes are quick.

Since the housing peak, home prices are down just 12% in Grand Rapids -- a figure below the national average.

The complete Top 10 list for the Forbes "The Best Cities For Raising A Family" piece were:

1. Grand Rapids, Michigan
2. Boise, Idaho
3. Provo, Utah
4. Youngstown, Ohio
5. Raleigh, North Carolina
6. Poughkeepsie, New York
7. Omaha, Nebraska
8. Ogden, Utah
9. Cincinnati, Ohio
10. Worcester, Massachusetts

Now, before you make a home-buying decision based on the Forbes report, remember that real estate is a local market and even city-wide statistics can be too broad to be helpful to everyday home buyers in Encinitas. Even within Grand Rapids, there are some neighborhoods that outperform in terms of home valuations and school quality, for example; and some areas from which a daily work commute may be more cumbersome. 

For accurate, real-time housing data for any of the above markets or for a smaller neighborhood like Eastlake , be sure to ask a real estate professional.

America's To 10 Safest Cities, Ranked

Looking for safe cities in which to live? A recent study may help you.

Titled "America's Safest Cities", Forbes Magazine compiled data from more than 70 cities with populations of 250,000 or more, and ranked them by violent crime rate as reported by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

A "violent crime" is one that can be categorized as murder, robbery, and assault, among others. Then, for each metropolis, local traffic-fatality rates were added to the area's violent crime rate, and averaged into the data.

Forbes presents the 10 safest large cities in America as :

1. Plano, Texas
2. Henderson, Nevada
3. Honolulu, Hawaii
4. Santa Ana, California
5. Lincoln, Nebraska
6. San Jose, California
7. Mesa. Arizona
8. Colorado Springs, Colorado
9. Aurora, Colorado
10. New York, New York

Forbes is quick to note that "gridlocked" traffic patterns help keep cities safe; which may explain why cities like Honolulu and New York City made the Top 10. When cars are forced to move more slowly, the report states, traffic-related fatalities tend to plummet.

Don't rush to make a home-buying decision based on Forbes data alone, however. Like everything else in real estate, data is local and city-wide statistics are too broad to be helpful to an everyday buyer in San Diego.

For accurate, real-time, local crime data, be sure to ask a real estate profession.

The Most Expensive ZIP Codes In The Country (2011 Edition)

In the housing market, amenities and location have as much to do with a home's value as the everyday forces of supply-and-demand. Whereas the latter causes home values to rise and fall over time, the former creates a starting point for said values. 

Where you live -- and the features of your home -- determine your home's price range. Naturally, homes in some areas are consistently higher-valued than homes in others.

Using data compiled by real estate market data firm Altos Research, Forbes Magazine presents America's 10 most expensive ZIP codes. California and the New York Metro area dominate the list.

1. Alpine, NJ (07620) : $4,550,000
2. Atherton, CA (94027) : $4,295,000
3. Sagaponack, NY (11962) : $3.595,000
4. Hillsborough, CA (94010) : $3,499,000
5. Beverly Hills, CA (90210) : $3,469,891
6. New York, NY (10012) : $3,392,574
7. New York, NY (10013) : $3,317,962
8. Water Mill, NY (11976) : $3,300,000
9. Montecito, CA (93108) : $3,099,348
10. Old Westbury, NY (11568) : $3,095,000

In fact, of the top 50 most expensive ZIP codes, only 6 are located outside of California and New York regions. 3 are Colorado resort towns -- Snowmass (81654), Aspen (81611) and Telluride (81435) -- one is in Maryland, one is in Florida, and the last is in Washington State.

Chicago-suburb Kenilworth (60043) is the top-ranked Midwest ZIP code. It placed 86th overall.

The Forbes list may be interesting but, to home buyers or sellers in Temecula , it should not be the final word in home values. Real estate is a local market which means that -- even within a given ZIP code -- prices can vary based on street and neighborhood.

Look past general data and get specific. Talk to your real estate agent for local market pricing.

Getting More Educational Bang For Your Housing Buck

A recent joint report from Forbes and GreatSchools debunks a powerful myth in housing. There's little correlation between Public School Quality and the Median Price Point for a home.

In other words, the most expensive districts don't always have the best schools. And spending per pupil seems only loosely correlated, too.

The study, titled America's Best Schools For Your Housing Buck, puts tiny Falmouth, Maine at the top of its 2011 list.

Falmouth is a city of less than 11,000 people, and its school system educates roughly 2,000 children. With a median home sale price of near $350,000, Falmouth is the only city to score a 100 on the Forbes/GreatSchools list.

The complete Top 10 Best Schools For Your Housing Buck list follows:

1. Falmouth, ME (Score: 100; Median Price: $351,550)
2. Mercer Island, WA (Score: 99.12; Median Price: $708,740)
3. Pelle, IA (Score: 98.25; Median Price: $148,200)
4. Barrington, RI (Score: 97.96; Median Price: $296,010)
5. Bedford, NH (Score: 97.96; Median Price: $293,730)
6. Manhattan Beach, CA (Score: 97.69; Median Price: $1,278,980)
7. Moraga, CA (Score: 97.69; Median Price: $722,010)
8. Parkland, FL (Score: 95.98; Median Price: $426,390)
9. St, Johns, FL (Score: 95.98; Median Price: $181,700)
10. Southlake, TX (Score: 95.74; Median Price: $476,880)

One reason why Falmouth, Maine, tops this list is because the area's Unemployment Rate is low, and so is Teacher Turnover -- just two teachers have left for jobs in other districts since 1998. In fact, each of the ranking cities boast similar strengths.

To see the Top 10 areas in a variety of price ranges, visit the Forbes website.

How Close Do You Live To America's Largest Landfills?

The 1937 opening of the Fresno Municipal Sanitary Landfill marked the birth of the modern landfill.

Today, transporting and burying garbage is a $50 billion annual business with an estimated 3,000 landfills in operation across the country, plus an additional 10,000 municipal "dump" sites.

A recent article by Forbes detailed the nation's 10 largest landfills, collectively profiling the structures as technology-driven, environmentally-responsible, and mostly odor-free.

The 10 largest landfills, according to Forbes:

1. Apex Regional (Las Vegas, NV)
2. Puente Hills (Whittier, CA)
3. Newton County Landfill Partnership (Brook, IN)
4. Okeechobee (Okeechobee, FL)
5. Atlantic Waste (Waverly, VA)
6. Rumpke Sanitary (Colerain Township, OH)
7. Pine Tree Acres (Lenox, MI)
8. El Sobrante (Corona, CA)
9. Veolia Orchard Hills (Davis Junction, IL)
10. Denver Arapahoe Disposal Site (Aurora, CO)

Landfill sites are often "hidden"; blended in to their surroundings. Because of this, when you're shopping for a home, you may not know just how close you're buying to an landfill or dump.

Therefore, be sure to ask your real estate agent about it, and consider following up with the county to learn what materials can be safely disposed at the local site.

America's Most Expensive ZIP Codes (2010 Edition)

The value of a home is based on the basic economic principle of Supply and Demand. When the number of buyers exceeds the number of sellers, home prices rise. Conversely, when sellers outnumber buyers, home prices fall.

There's always a opening price point for negotiation and that figure often factors in specifics like square footage, number of rooms, and finishes and amenities. Location matters, too.

On a ZIP code-by-ZIP code basis, prices can vary wildly and it's tiny, tony 91008 -- located in Duarte, California -- that tops the 2010 Forbes list of America's Most Expensive ZIP Codes. Home to fewer than 1,400 residents of Los Angeles County, the ZIP code's median home cost is $4,276,462.

By contrast, the median home cost across all of Duarte's ZIP codes is just $358,454.

As listed by Forbes, America's 10 most expensive ZIP codes are:

1. Duarte, CA (91008) : $4,276,462
2. Atherton, CA (94027) : $4,010,200
3. Rolling Hills, CA (92074) : $3,892,456
4. Alpine, NJ (07620) : $3,814,885
5. New York, NY (10014) : $3,785,445
6. Beverly Hills, CA (90210) : $3,684,150
7. New York, NY (10065) : $3,626,001
8. Belvedere (94920) : $3,283,269
9. New York, NY (10012) : $3,221,371
10. Santa Barbara (93108) : $3,151,220

The real estate market is a local one, as evidenced by the Forbes list. Even within large cities like New York, there are areas that stand out from the pack in terms of cost and affordability and the same is true for all cities.

Therefore, when you need local market data for Windingwalk , look past the "national statistics".  Talk to a real estate agent with local market knowledge instead. It's the most reliable way to get data that matters.