Inside the most expensive town in America, where tech moguls live in multimillion-dollar mansions and the average household income is over $450,000

Melia Robinson

February 14, 2019 7:43 PM

Melia Robinson/Business Insider

Atherton is a small, mostly residential town located about 45 minutes south of San Francisco and less than 20 minutes from the headquarters of Facebook, Google, and Tesla.

Atherton , California is the most expensive town in the US for the third year in a row .
The town is within commuting distance of Palo Alto and San Francisco , and has been home to tech execs like Sheryl Sandberg and Eric Schmidt .
Here's an inside look at the wealthy suburban town.

From the looks of it, Atherton could be any ritzy suburb in America.

But it isn't anywhere. Atherton is an idyllic town located on the San Francisco Peninsula, where even modest homes go for millions of dollars. And, with an average household income over $450,000 , it is the wealthiest town in America for the third year in a row, according to the Bloomberg Richest Places index .

"Atherton is the epicenter of Silicon Valley money and it only has ultra-high-end properties," said Michael Simonsen, CEO of Altos Research (which partnered with Forbes on a 2017 ranking).

It's no surprise that tech billionaires including the late Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen , former HP CEO Meg Whitman, and Google chairman Eric Schmidt have all called Atherton's 94027 home. The town's prestige, privacy, and proximity to major tech companies draw ultra-rich homebuyers, who often pay all cash and bid hundreds of thousands of dollars above asking price.

Here's what it's like inside Atherton.

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