Rich History: Plano Tops Census' Affluent List

The accolades continue to come for Plano. On Tuesday, the Census Bureau named the Collin County city "the most affluent city in the USA." The annual report presents a snapshot of income and poverty levels in America. Plano had the highest income and lowest poverty rate among cities with populations of 250,000 or more. Just last month, Salary.com named Plano as the best city in which to build vast personal wealth. Plano's median household income in 2007 was $84,492, up 10% from 2006, which was the same year Wal-Mart opened the experimental luxury Wal-Mart Supercenter on Park Road and the Dallas North Tollway as part of the Prestonwood Town Center. San Jose, Calif., was second in the most recent report with a median income of $76,963. Frito-Lay, JCPenney, EDS and other companies are head quartered in Plano and , Olympic gold medalist Nastia Liukin trains at her father's gym there. "We've got the lowest taxes and highest level of services in North Texas," Mayor Pat Evans told the newspaper. For two years in a row, 2005-2006, the city CNN Money was ddesignated the best place to live in the Western United States. The poorest city in the nation was Detroit, with a median household income of $28,097. It fell to the bottom spot this year, replacing Cleveland. Plano as is sister city to Hsinchu, Taiwan.