‘For Richer or Poorer,’ City Incomes Among Highest in U.S.

Falls Church City is getting richer and poorer at the same time — generally richer but relatively poorer.

The good news: the City ranks no. 4 in the United States in adjusted gross income reported to the Internal Revenue Service by county. (Falls Church City is considered a county for statistical reporting.)

The bad news (of a sort): The previous year, the City ranked no. 3.

The data come from Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), which gets them from the U.S. government through Freedom of Information requests. The latest data are from tax year 2007.

The reports make for fascinating reading with some surprises, for those who go in for this kind of thing. For example, the highest average adjusted income in the United States is not in New York City or San Francisco. It’s Goochland County, VA — about midway between Richmond and Charlottesville on I-64. A look at the Goochland County website shows some polo players on horseback, so perhaps that tells the story.

The adjusted gross income on Goochland’s tax returns averaged $137,000. Falls Church City’s average was $116,000.

The previous year, Goochland ranked no. 2 at $108,500 and Falls Church ranked no. 3 at $107,600.

Back in 2003, though, times were tougher: Falls Church ranked only no. 19, at $80,300, and Goochland was no. 22 at $80,000.

How about our closer neighbors? In the latest statistics, Loudoun County is the next-richest Virginia cousin, managing a 14th-place rank at $100,900. Fairfax County ranks no. 16 at $99,400, and Arlington County weighs in at no. 42 with $86,490. The final Virginia county on the top-50 is no. 45 Fauquier at $85,400.

So, of the 50-richest counties in the United States, six are in Virginia — more than from any other state.

Hopefully, TRAC and the IRS have not made the same error as some other statistical gatherers who have confused Falls Church City with the larger Falls Church postal zone. For example, the Virginia Department of Health annually reports the Falls Church City teenage pregnancy rate as twice to three times the state average.

Pregnant teens who list their address as Falls Church are supposed to check a box to indicate “city” or “county.” Only those who check the “city” box are included in the Falls Church City statistics. But there is no way to determine whether the boxes are checked correctly. (And it’s mighty confusing, since Falls Church “county” would actually be Fairfax County.)

In the case of gross adjusted incomes, the TRAC study and FOI reports would have to rely on Zip codes since income tax returns have no “city” or “county” box to check.

A tip-off that something may be skewed comes from another TRAC list of the 50 counties with the fewest number of dependents per tax return. Arlington County is no. 2 in the nation at 1.59 exemptions per tax return. Alexandria City is no. 3 with 1.61 exemptions. In all, 10 of the 50 counties or cities listed are in Virginia. But Falls Church City is not mentioned.

Could that be due to all those teen pregnancies?

Read the TRAC list of highest-income counties here.

Read Virgina Department of Health statistics for Falls Church City here.