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Forbes
The most expensive ZIP codes in America
Just how tony is your neighborhood? Jupiter Island, Florida ranks No. 1 with a median home price of $5.6 million.
By Betsy Schiffman, Forbes
In many parts of the United States, the old real estate axiom "location, location, location" could also be "ZIP code, ZIP code, ZIP code."
When they were first introduced by the U.S. Postal Service in 1963, ZIP codes were intended to make mail delivery faster and more effective. ZIP codes, an aptly coined acronym for zoning improvement plans, quickly developed a different sociological meaning that its creators may never have imagined. Because they often broke down cities and towns along geographical fault lines that separated one neighborhood from another, they became instant delineators of wealth and status.
Today there are tens of thousands of ZIP codes across the country. Some have become fashionable, while others have been relegated to the perimeters of prestige -- or even further down the property pecking order.
Living within a desirable ZIP has its advantages, but it also has some drawbacks; property taxes tend to be higher, and residents usually become targets for every cold-caller and mass-mailer in the country.
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Fame doesnt equal fortune
Yet when we set out to determine the 10 most expensive ZIP codes in the country, we were surprised to learn that many of the most famous and most fashionable ZIPs didn't come close to making the list. To compile the list, we used median home prices for 2002, the last full year for which numbers exist, and interviewed dozens of local real estate agents, boards of Realtors and multiple-listing service providers, as well as third-party data providers (DataQuick Information Systems of La Jolla, Calif.).
What ZIPs failed to make the cut? Beverly Hills, 90210, for example. Thanks to the popular TV show of the same name, this is possibly the most famous ZIP code in the country, with a median home price of $1.042 million in 2002, but not pricey enough to make it even within our top 15. (Although, given the fact that the 2002 U.S. median home price was just $158,300, the movie producers and celebrities who call it home aren't exactly on food stamps.)
The reason that Beverly Hills doesn't rank, of course, is that even though it may contain some of the world's most expensive properties, many homes there are also more modestly priced. Unsurprisingly, several of the ZIP codes on our list are smaller communities, where the real estate is limited and the zoning laws predisposed to favor the affluent.
Size matters
Furthermore, the fact that there are relatively few property sales in the most exclusive communities -- and those usually only with a high price tag -- helps keep the median home price in these ZIP codes especially high.
This partially explains why the most expensive ZIP code on our list includes Jupiter Island, Fla., where the median home price came in at $5.6 million. Jupiter Island (33455), which is a winter escape for some of the United State's oldest and richest families, isn't the only island: the ZIP which includes the five-mile-long enclave of Sea Island, Ga. (31561), also meets the requirement for the most expensive ZIP codes, thanks in part to its natural beauty, Addison Mizner-designed buildings and famous golf links.
Centre Island, N.Y. (11771), where Billy Joel reportedly bought a $22 million mansion last year, isn't the only ZIP code in New York state to make the list; Old Brookville (11545), also on Long Island, ties with Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. (92067), with a median home price of $1.7 million.
Continue
To get a sense of where your ZIP code ranks among other markets, DataQuick Information Systems, a public records database company in La Jolla, Calif., provided a sampling of the most expensive ZIP codes in the country. The list is composed of ZIP codes where the 2002 median home price was above $500,000 and where there were more than 10 homes sold during the year. The list includes only areas that DataQuick covers, so it is not comprehensive.
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