Montgomery County Among Wealthiest In Maryland Based On 3 Factors

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD — Montgomery County residents overall can be considered among Maryland's wealthiest localities, according to a new study from SmartAsset.

SmartAsset, a financial advice resource, based its ranking of residents' wealth by locality on three factors: investment income per capita, median home value and per capita income. For the investment income factor, the study evenly weighed ordinary Dividends, qualified dividends and net capital gains in the score. Data comes from the IRS, National Association of Realtors, and Bureau of Economic Analysis.

"We calculated a Wealth Index for all U.S. counties based on a combination of these three metrics and ranked them accordingly to provide a holistic view of what areas of the U.S. are accumulating the most wealth," SmartAsset's study page states.

Montgomery County came in first in Maryland with a wealth index of 33.63 based on the three factors. The city's investment income per capita ($21,441) was second to Talbot, Maryland ($21,411). Its per capita income was also second to Talbot's ($76,528). However, Montgomery County's median home value of $589,200 was the highest in the state.

The top 10 wealthiest localities as ranked by SmartAsset are:

• Montgomery County
• Howard County
• Calvert County
• Anne Arundel County
• Carroll County
• Queen Anne's County
• Talbot County
• Frederick County
• Prince George's County
• St. Mary's County.

See how Maryland localities rank on wealth here.