Too bad SA has no realistic winter resort catering to the very rich. It might just be feasible in high mountain areas – provided weather reports are reliable, as they generally are in Europe and the US. In the US, a Bloomberg survey has indicated that a number of the wealthy – which includes a few super-rich family units in search of peace and recreation – are taking to the high ground for the snow-cold months. What these people seem to desire far more than skiing and fresh mountain air, is an associated phenomenon: they transplant at least some of their assets to the ten highest-ranked “micropolitans” and are in the process of altering their nature. The increasing practice of working from home (on the increase since the digital revolution gathered pace) makes it easier to transplant households to hamlets. – Peter Wilhelm
(Bloomberg) – Few outside the US (and then only a bespoke number) have ever heard of Summit Park, Utah, or Edwards, Colorado. That’s could be because you’re not an avid skier or snowboarder. Ski resorts, however, aren’t the only thing these places have in common – they’re also among the wealthiest small towns in America.
These micropolitan hamlets (about 10,000 to 50,000 in population) have ranked highest in Bloomberg’s index of small-town wealth. This combines measures of household income and home values. A home in Park City Mountain Resort in Utah ranked first with a median household income of $83,336 and median home value of $485,700. Edwards ranked second, with Jackson, Wyoming close behind.
Having sized up their personal assets – whether through investments or inheritance and the crime-rate – among the wealthiest US citizens have weighed such issues as smalltown CPI and security, and opted to go downscale. They live less conspicuously, less subject to activist or celeb harassment, and potential for innovative purchase of opportunist opportunities.
What is it that draws wealthy people to these areas? Natalie Gochnour, the associate dean of the business school at the University of Utah, said it’s the nicely powdered slopes in the winter and crisp mountain air in the summer. Most of these areas encompass ski resorts or are close to one. In the off- season, these towns offer all sorts of outdoor activities such as hiking, biking, fishing and camping that attract the adventurous year-round.
There’s an interesting difference between the towns in Utah and those in Colorado that dominated the top ranks. While Utah has companies like Adobe and Goldman Sachs settling in and creating job opportunities in cities within commuting distance of its mountain towns, Colorado’s big cities are too far from these resorts for people to drive back and forth on a daily basis.
That probably means a good portion of residents in these Colorado towns would need to be living on income they earned in the past. (An increasingly important exception would be people who telecommute). And then wealthy people who buy second (or third or fourth) homes in the area also drive up the cost of living there. “Colorado isn’t benefiting from the location advantages that Utah has,” Gochnour said.
Several of the top non-ski towns on the list also have something in common – they’re all on islands. Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts, a small pocket on President Obama’s favourite vacation spot, Martha’s Vineyard, ranked fourth. Kapaa, Hawaii, on the east coast of Kauai, ranked 10th and Key West, Florida ranked 13th. All three places are touted for their beaches, golf courses and affluent lifestyles.
Bloomberg ranked more than 500 US micropolitan areas (geographic entities that contain an urban core of about 10,000 and 50,000) based on median household income, the share of households making $200,000 or more each year, median home value, and the share of homes worth at least $1,000,000.