As Teton County again ranks as the wealthiest county in the U.S., with an average annual per capita income in 2024 estimated at $532,903, a Jackson Town Council member says the rest of the state should be applauding, not bashing, its western diamond.
“It’s disheartening,” Jonathan Schechter said, after crunching the latest estimates from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. “It feels [as if] the rest of the state isn’t celebrating our success and instead is trying to drag us down.”
The latest figures mark the 21st year in a row that Teton County has topped the list of per capita annual income. Summit County, Utah, home of Park City, had the second highest per capita income among the 3,116 counties, boroughs and parishes in the U.S.
But it was a distant second, with an average income of $280,510 per person. Teton’s figure was 90% greater than Summit County’s, Schechter wrote in his Cothrive newsletter, a product of his nonprofit Charture Institute.
An economic consultant, Schechter is tuned into Wyoming politics because of his elected position. He’s watched politicians in Cheyenne try to dismantle his community’s order by attacking affordable housing programs and undermining local zoning authority and control, among other things.
“The state could learn a lot from us,” he told WyoFile, because growing pains, and potential solutions to them, often start in Teton County. But, like California, “not until after they’ve been ridiculed and scorned.”
Mean vs. median
Teton County’s half-million-plus figure overshadows the median figure that better represents the income of an “average” resident in Teton county. That median — half above, half below — for 2024 is likely somewhere between $90,000 and $140,000 according to Schechter and WyoFile calculations from U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development data.
“The people who could really figure this stuff out don’t,” Schecter said of the median income figure. He weathers criticism when he writes about the average, or mean, per capita income.
“Averages are skewed by the really rich people living here,” one gadfly told him. Yet Schechter continues to drill into the data, pointing out where Teton County money comes from and the effect overwhelming wealth has on a community.
Seventy-seven percent of Teton County residents’ incomes comes from investments — tops in the nation. Turning to wages – not investments — the largest source was from “location-neutral” industries.
The state could learn a lot from us.
Jonathan Schechter
Those fields include keyboard warriors in finance and professional services, he says. They can work from anywhere.
Wages — not investments — accounted for 21% of Teton residents’ total income in 2024, he wrote. That puts the county third from the bottom of all U.S. counties when ranking the percentage of income earned from wages, he wrote.
Yet in Teton County, the per capita wage — not investment income — was $111,642. That’s 10th in the nation and on par with pay in Silicon Valley, he wrote.
The staggering numbers mean Teton County, home to 4% of the state’s population, accounts for one quarter of state residents’ total income and half of its residents’ investment income.
“Over the past few decades,” he wrote, “Wyoming has enacted a series of laws which, combined, have made the state arguably the most wealth-friendly in the nation. Despite the fact that these laws apply equally in each of the state’s 23 counties, Teton County stands alone in the wealth of its residents.”
Which is why the rest of the state should hail, not stone, County 22.
Pay attention, Wyoming
“I think there are lots of opportunities that Teton County would be able to share and would like to share with the rest of the state,” Schechter said. “How many affordable housing efforts are there in Wyoming?” he asked, pointing to a program that bloomed first in Jackson Hole.
The lodging tax, too, had its origins in Teton County and now is widely employed across the state, he said.
“We could be making a huge contribution to the state financially with things like a real estate transfer tax,” he said. Real estate to Teton County is like hydrocarbons — coal, oil and natural gas — to the rest of the state, he said.
Cheyenne, however, has stiffly resisted that real estate tax idea.
Wyoming should also pay attention to Jackson Hole because it has become a gateway drug of sorts to the rest of the state, Schechter said.
People land in Teton County, poke around a bit “and find out it’s a cool state,” he said, with a bit of a Jackson Hole diaspora spreading out across Wyoming.
“For both good and ill,” Schechter wrote in Cothrive, “the changes washing over Jackson Hole are spilling over Teton Pass and running down the Snake River Canyon, arguably hitting our neighbors harder than us.”
For example, Lincoln County saw per capita income between 2018 and 2024 grow by 77%. That made Lincoln County’s annual per capita income the 26th fastest growing among the 3,116 counties in the U.S.
That influx of wealth into neighboring Lincoln County has brought corresponding impacts on land and real estate values and prices, if not on the income of the “average” resident there. He illustrates the relationship using Teton County figures.
“There’s a remarkably tight correlation between Jackson Hole’s housing prices and its [per capita income],” he wrote. Today’s gut-check: The average price of a home in Teton County is more than $5 million, according to the Cothrive newsletter.
I don’t understand this one myself. Wyomingites generally applaud inherited wealth.
Do you really believe that if Wyoming didn’t have one of the lowest tax burdens in the US, (low property taxes and no state income tax) that these “ultra wealthy” individuals would be as eager to own property in Teton County. Sure it’s got beautiful vistas, and that certainly is part of the desirability, but the driving principle is still wealth preservation.
Erika provided an excellent well reasoned analysis of Jackson’s plight, but I would bet that her reasoning is falling on deaf ears.
When it comes to real estate, the old adage applies – Location, Location Location. When I was able to buy my grandmother’s house, which she was able to finance due to a government program as she never made over minimum wage managing the yarn department at McCrory’s. The little house was located with the backyard opening to a city park, not Central Park mind you, but a community space nonetheless. As I have observed in our country, every place that has green or blue space (water’s edge) that borders it becomes more valuable. Telluride CO, Jackson Hole WY, Sequim, WA and well I could go on looking at where public , state lands and water bodies abut development because that is the place to be. Nothing inherently wrong with this concept but it does drive prices up and that is where those with more, might want to recognize that they did not arrive at that wealth without support.
Unfortunately, those that acquire wealth just do not seem to be able to grasp how they were aided and abetted by the people that helped them get this wealth. The history of the US shows that when enterprising people obtain or inherit wealth they can influence government outcomes to keep the rabble off of their wealth by using their out-sized influence to drive political outcomes that protect that wealth even as it wrecks their dream retirement location.
Don Grasso having his Realtor hand out checks to the most vulnerable Freedom Caucus members in Cheyenne is illustrative of this persistent idea that seems to infect the wealthy when it comes to politics. If any of these “vulnerable” Freedom Caucus members that he wrote checks for, had worked or applied to the company where he made his fortune/ they would have never been hired or they would have been fired for incompetence.
During the Victorian era, the Robber Barons were forced to cut a “deal” with the rabble as they needed the labor to build their factories and fortunes, but this time the wealthy seem to think they have other options as robots and AI, may negate the need for a deal with human labor. I would posit that if I was cold, tired and hungry near Jackson, the wealthy may think I would choose to poach an elk from the feed grounds instead of a Long Pig walking in Jackson Town Square, they would be wrong.
Since Roe was decided in 1973, the wealthy have backed those that would manage wombs and expand the number of guns in this country in exchange for getting tax cuts, which they used to double down on that strategy. I am not sure that using money to buy the worst of the worst while arming their neighbors will work out in their favor, but we shall see.
Teton county is 2/3 Democrat, Greg.
Plenty of Billionaire Elite give to Democrats.
Try to break free from your Red vs. Blue mindset. The 1% vs the 99% is where the problem lies.
“It’s a big club and you’re not in it “
George Carlin
“Teton county is 2/3 Democrat, Greg.”
I am well aware of the demographics of the electorate and would posit that early arrivers came for the place while the later ones retired from exploiting resources or people and they skew republican.
“Plenty of Billionaire Elite give to Democrats.”
Yes at the Federal Level, but not in State. Republicans in Jackson are funding candidates all across the state, but no Jackson Democrats are doing the same.
“Try to break free from your Red vs. Blue mindset. The 1% vs the 99% is where the problem lies.”
I just proved that the 1% in Jackson are perfectly fine with Wyoming being run by Republicans and those voting GOP in Wyoming are backing the 1%. Republican voters in Wyoming have been duped by the rich.
“It’s a big club and you’re not in it”
George Carlin
I am not in it, but that was by choice after rolling up in this crowd. My own career took me to DC while my ex-wife was a top mortgage loan producer and her father was breeding and racing thoroughbred horses that were running against those owned by the wealthiest in the world. While I love George Carlin, I wish my own Party would try to embrace Dave Chapelle as he is telling the truths I grew up with in Southern Ohio and not the lies VP JD Bowman/Vance told in Hillbilly Elegy who was financed by the billionaire Peter Theil just like Harriet Hageman.
The headline number — $532,903 in per capita income — makes for a powerful talking point. But for many longtime residents of Teton County, it obscures a harder truth: rising wealth has translated into rising property valuations, and rising property valuations translate directly into rising tax burdens.
For families who bought homes 30 or 40 years ago — often on modest local wages — the math is unforgiving. They are not hedge fund managers living off investment income. They are retirees, tradespeople, teachers, small business owners. Their incomes did not grow 77%. Their investment portfolios do not resemble the 77% investment-driven income profile cited in the article. But their assessed property values have climbed in lockstep with a luxury market now averaging over $5 million per home in Jackson Hole.
Property tax systems are valuation-based, not income-based. When assessed values surge, tax liability follows — regardless of whether the homeowner’s income has kept pace. In high-appreciation enclaves, this creates what economists call a “displacement pressure externality”: legacy residents are effectively taxed out of assets they purchased decades ago at ordinary market rates. They are asset-rich on paper, but liquidity-poor in reality.
So while county leaders highlight per capita income rankings and investment inflows, the lived experience for some residents is different. They are forced to consider selling not because they want to capitalize on appreciation, but because they cannot sustain escalating annual tax bills. That is not wealth creation in a broadly shared sense — it is wealth concentration coupled with demographic turnover.
The article frames criticism as envy or misunderstanding from the rest of Wyoming. But skepticism may stem from observing the social consequences:
Loss of multigenerational residency
Workforce displacement to neighboring counties
Community hollowing, where service workers commute long distances
Increased socioeconomic stratification
If Wyoming is to “learn from Teton County,” the lesson should include not only how to attract capital, but how to protect long-term residents from involuntary displacement. Mechanisms such as property tax caps for seniors, assessment freezes for long-term homeowners, or circuit-breaker programs tied to income could mitigate these pressures.
The county’s prosperity is real. But prosperity measured purely by aggregate income statistics does not automatically translate to community stability. When people who built the community decades ago can no longer afford to remain because of tax burdens driven by external wealth, celebration feels premature.
Economic success should not require erasing the very residents who sustained the place before it became a national outlier.
Affordable worker housing has been an issue for decades in Teton County. Unfortunately the businesses don’t give a RA. Why should they? I was living there during the great Mexican/Vietnam influx. An idea they got from Pitkin County(Aspen).
A couple of years ago the Town Council announced that they were going to partner with a developer to build a 3 story building of small 1/2 bedroom condos. The price for a small unit started at $300,000, $400,000 for the 2 bedroom. Affordable, not even close. The discussion quickly ended and nothing was built.
The Park Service, the JHSR, the large employers need to be forced to build affordable housing. In the summer, workers take over the surrounding national forests. Camping is cheap. After 30+ years little has been done to address this constant problem. I see no reason why this will ever change.
Hmmm. There are people who have “residence” in Wyoming but honestly live much of the year elsewhere. Why did no one happen to mention Wyoming’s (lack of) income tax?
Teton county is the landing strip of wealth. The county didn’t create it, design it or develop it. It’s simply a location thing. This article only proves how wealthy elites try to impose policies onto others, leaving the wealthy immune.
I agree we should look at Teton County in a new and more favorable light. We are afflicted with our desire to bash others in order to make ourselves feel superior when we are not. We should appreciate our fellow, successful neighbors and still not aspire to achieve their ends. We should also use the wealth where we can, just like we have with the mineral industry. Imagine how much money would flow into our school accounts from Teton and Lincoln counties if we simply returned to our original state constitution that required equal property taxes on all properties.
“For the love of money is a root of all evil”
“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
Since the Rockefeller Family decided claim Teton County as their own, it has never had a normal existence. The decadence on display in Teton County today has no match in the entire country. The Elite play, while NORMAL human beings struggle to survive a place where simply housing yourself is an obstacle that makes all other expenses difficult to fund for lack of money.
Bringing in a workforce that is used to third world living conditions has been their solution. Teton county resembles the modern equivalent of a Plantation.
As the rich become richer, the poor become poorer, and the middle class is fully extinguished in the USA, Americans better get used to living in third world conditions themselves.
“Bringing in a workforce that is used to third world living conditions has been their solution.” Ha it has been the Capitalist solution since this country started, so do not blame it on Teton, blame it on those in Teton that chose to fund the GOP all over Wyoming that are duping their poor GOP acolytes into voting against their interests. Unfortunately the wealthy Democrats in Teton, think the unwashed down state Democrats that try to run in Wyoming are not worth the effort, unless one pays homage to a certain foundation, so no checks get handed to them at all.
Campaign spending isnt going to change normal people’s votes in NORMAL(middle class) Wyoming.
A democrat/liberal could outspend 2X a republican/conservative in Wyoming and still lose.
Democrat/Liberal ideas do not fly statewide other than in Teton county.
I agree. Why should we applaud a county that is serving as the blueprint for what the ultra rich want for the nation?
Teton County , Wyoming is the North American version of Europe’s realm of Liechtenstein. QED.
Teton County , Wyoming is the North American version of Europe’s realm of Liechtenstein. QED.