Measure of America: California's Top 1% & Elite Enclaves
 

There is a nonprofit called Measure of America, and they came out with a list of California subgeographic areas based on quality of life measures like health, education, income, general well being.

Anyhow, the average score for the US was 5.07 out of 10, and here are their scores for the Top Areas in California:

One Percent California consists of the two neighborhood clusters that score 9 or above out of 10 on the HD Index; these neighborhoods are home to just under one in every one hundred Californians

Neighborhood clusters that score between 7 and 8.99 on the Index are Elite Enclave California; 15 percent of Californians are part of this group.

California's 1%
Rank/ Score/ Location
1 9.26 Palo Alto-Los Altos-Mountain View
2 9.26 Cupertino-Saratoga-Los Gatos

California's Elite Enclaves
Rank/ Score/ Location
3 8.96 San Ramon-Danville-Alamo
4 8.96 Walnut Creek-Lafayette-Orinda-Moraga
5 8.61 Redondo Beach-Manhattan Beach-Hermosa Beach
6 8.49 Calabasas-Agoura Hills-Malibu-Westlake Village
7 8.49 San Diego(Northwest-Del Mar Mesa)
8 8.42 Newport Beach-Aliso Viejo-Laguna Hills
9 8.38 Rancho Santa Margarita
10 8.24 Los Angeles(Pacific Palisades)
11 8.24 Palos Verdes Peninsula
12 8.18 Sunnyvale-San Jose(North)
13 8.13 Oakland(Hills) & Piedmont
14 8.10 Irvine City
15 8.03 San Mateo(South)-Half Moon Bay
16 7.99 San Diego(Northwest/San Dieguito) & Encinitas
17 7.97 San Diego(Northeast/Rancho Bernardo) & Poway
18 7.90 San Rafael-Mill Valley-Sausalito
19 7.75 Fremont City
20 7.75 Redwood City-San Carlos-Belmont
21 7.73 Santa Monica City
22 7.70 San Jose(Southwest-Almaden Valley)
23 7.69 San Francisco(Inner Sunset-Castro)
24 7.69 Livermore, Pleasanton & Dublin
25 7.58 San Gabriel Valley Region(North)
26 7.57 Los Angeles(Southwest/Marina Del Rey & Westchester) & Culver City
27 7.51 San Francisco(Sunset District)
28 7.51 San Francisco(North Beach/Chinatown)
29 7.50 Concord(South)-Walnut Creek(East) & Clayton
30 7.48 Berkeley-Albany
31 7.47 San Jose(Northwest) & Santa Clara
32 7.39 San Francisco(Richmond District)
33 7.36 West Hollywood-Beverly Hills
34 7.34 Carlsbad City
35 7.29 Thousand Oaks City
36 7.25 San Jose(West Central) & Campbell
37 7.23 Los Angeles(West Central/Westwood/West LA)
38 7.21 Mission Viejo & Rancho Santa Margarita
39 7.07 Long Beach(East)

This is from 2015 by the way, but I doubt much has changed although an update would be nice.
https://measureofamerica.org/california2014-15/

^^SF's Sunset is 7.51 but the consensus here is to radically alter it by blasting the blocks of single family homes with multifamily housing because, well, it would be good for them.

Is this just a ranking of household income or home prices? Cupertino isn't "elite". Just because the home prices are outrageously high doesn't mean that global elites are itching to live in modest 1950's ranches in Cupertino.

And then Beverly Hills is more on the level of Long Beach? This is just a weird ranking.

The Beach Cities being the highest-ranking enclave doesn’t surprise me. They enjoy the mildest weather (Hermosa Beach in particular having the best), affluent, very white, not commercial compared to SM and Venice, and of course proximity to the ocean. I think living by the water would improve just about anyone’s well-being.

Cupertino might not be 'elite' in terms of mansions and billionaires, but the point I think is quality of life across the board, and Id venture to say that Cupertino is more uniformly affluent and well rounded as far as QOL for more residents than Beverly Hills is. And it's not just Cupertino by itself, it's Cupertino, Saratoga and Los Gatos, which as a trio, is a very nice area overall.

So they designated Cupertino, Los Gatos and Saratoga as a single are for the purposes of their data gathering, and they also combined Beverly Hills and West Hollywood.

2019 Population
Cupertino, CA 59,276
West Hollywood 36,475
Beverly Hills, CA 33,792
Los Gatos, CA 30,222
Saratoga, CA 30,153

Median Household Income, 2014-2019
Saratoga, CA $191,677
Cupertino, CA $171,197
Los Gatos $155,863

Beverly Hills, CA $106,936
West Hollywood, CA $74,044

Cupertino is larger and wealthier on average than Beverly Hills, but this is just one criteria out of many that was considered.
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Well, the summary says that the report " uses the human development approach to tell us how people are doing. Three dimensions—a long and healthy life, access to knowledge, and a decent standard of living.

Long Beach(East) could be Belmont Shore, Naples Island, that area around CSULB, maybe Seal Beach, keep in mind these areas all score in 'elite' as far as the criteria so it's not like Beverly Hills did poorly, no it did very well--:shrug:

Is this a measure of what middle class people care about or rich people? I think the term "elite" is a little confusing in that regard. A lot of the things that middle class people care about are things that elites don't really care about (e.g. public schools).

Yeah, the term 'elite' is confusing here, agreed.

OTOH, it is sort of like HDI scores for countries, so maybe instead of elite, they should have tiered them by development level or quintiles, :shrug:

EDIT: Although, I'm certain the authors of this report had a conversation about this and decided on elite, perhaps due to the scores being so high compared to the average? who knows?

Dang, we got last place!
It would be nice to see some updated numbers because I hope it has moved up a little bit.

Lake County is awfully isolated--no major freeways into, out of or through it--and no major hospitals, universities or shopping assets. While trying not to offend, I could also point out it has a reputation, whether or not deserved, as a center of California's meth production and consumption.

That said, if, like many meth producers, what you want is rural isolation and considerable natural beauty, it could be for you.

I was just visiting a friend there before coming back to London. I don’t think I’ve ever been down there, at least not that I can remember. Redondo Beach didn’t seem particularly 1%-y but Manhattan Beach did.

After college a couple of friends of mine moved out to Hermosa after they landed jobs, some went with a more urban environment with Venice and surroundings. There have been a lot of new high paying jobs in "Silicon Beach".

Not in San Francisco. The neighborhoods out by the ocean are the city's coldest, cloudyest, foggiest and furthest from downtown where most people work. Hence they tend to be among its least expensive but very middle class and without the extremes of rich and poor you find closer to the city center. I couldn't live out there, though. I need the sun, even if I only get it between noon and 4 PM. Out by the beach in summer you often never see it.

Try Laguna and Newport. There's a reason Pimco (Pacific Investment Management), under its founder Bill Gross one of the country's biggest bond managers, is in Newport.

https://thumbor.forbes.com/thumbor/9...M-1200x675.jpg
https://www.forbes.com/sites/keithfl...h=6d1375a73f6b

The house on the end of the block next to the street listed for $45 million.

But the beach town thing is mainly a southern CA thing and even mainly 4 counties: Ventura, Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego (La Jolla is in the latter). North of Ventura (County and town) the water gets colder, it gets foggier and the really rich people start living in the hills with ocean views and maybe some land around them.

I'm surprised La Canada, Pasadena, and San Marino (my favorite streetcar-era LA suburb) aren't up on the list. Or maybe that's what "San Gabriel Valley Region(North)" is referring to?

I always like listening to former CEO Mohamed El-erian, who still shows up on the radio down here even though he's now president of Queens Cambridge. He's so knowledgeable about the stock and bond markets.

Yeah that's so true. The wealthy in Montecito, SLO, Paso Robles, and eventually Pebble Beach/Carmel are mostly live a couple miles inland or up on bluffs overlooking the ocean. Living right on the beach doesn't seem to be much of a thing the further North up the coast you go.

Yeah I’m well aware. In fact I almost went down there, to see an investment banker friend who recently relocated from NYC. It’s just so far from the interesting part of LA.

Proximity to LAX, best climate of greater LA.

Which "interesting part" are you referring to? The ultra wealthy of LA live in hills of RPV which is even more remote than the South Bay.

Alongside Malibu, that's the real LA/OC coastal wealth belt. For OC, Newport Coast and Corona del Mar, especially (basically the narrow stretch between Newport Beach and Laguna Beach).

The ranking is more like a health/QoL ranking. Everyone generally knows the elite enclaves in CA.

Not offended because it's actually the case for the area, although I don't think we are the leader anymore since there's been a transition to weed and wine.

Well that and it's affordable.

I'll just put this here since Im certain the people in the areas of this list are responsible for this...:cheers:

https://apnews.com/article/californi...aade211df21c08

That Silicon Valley+Wall Street money tho:yes:

It kind of makes sense. Beverly Hills is about 40-50% multifamily and West Hollywood is like 90% multifamily so they're going to rank lower in these kinds of lists. They're very much a part of "the city," not like your typical wealthy leafy suburbs like Los Gatos or Palos Verdes. I still think Beverly Hills is more "elite" than either of those places though, just based on the ultra high end real estate market and the types of people that live there.