New ranking of nation’s richest neighborhoods places East Lake Shore Drive in very prominent position

Creative Commons 3.0: Jennifer Ames, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1120_Lake_Shore_Drive_Chicago_exterior.jpg

Chicago’s East Lake Shore Drive is the sixth-richest neighborhood in America, according to a new analysis of the wealthiest areas in the country.

The study, which was compiled by Stephen R. Higley of the University of Montevallo in Alabama, is called the “Higley Elite 100,” and it ranks neighborhoods by household income and census data. Because census income measurements top out at $2 million, Higley explained to CNBC, his measurements do not give additional weight to super-rich earners in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Based on Higley’s metrics, East Lake Shore Drive’s mean income of $593,454 was good for the sixth-best in America; the Golden Triangle, a neighborhood in Greenwich, Conn., came out at No. 1 with a mean income of $614,242.