Which areas of America are considered “high class” or “old money”?

19 comments

1. NYC (lower Manhattan), the Hamptons, Martha’s Vinyard, and many areas of the northeast / New England, e.g., Woodstock, Vermont as well as many others in that region. Connecticut as a state seems to only attract finance people or lawyers.

   Parts of the south are still like this, but the wealth down there is generally on a lower plane of existence as compared to the Northeast. Examples include horse country in Kentucky, parts of Mobile, parts of Savannah, parts of Atlanta, and so on.

   It’s harder to classify anything out west as “old money,” but there certainly are groups that are starting to become old money, especially in Texas and California.

   In any case, what I think you’re getting at is the old Victorian / Industrial era (or older) rich areas. The most honest answer is that most major towns have old money areas, new money areas, middle class areas, and poor areas (which is principally why, for example, I didn’t list Chicago above among the obvious answers).

2. Typically that’s localized to places within a region. For example, Winnetka is old money in Chicagoland, but Chicago is certainly not a city of old money.

   That said, due to the later development of the West, old money is more prevalent on the East Coast

3. New England.

4. I’m a mortgage banker in the retail and private market, so I can somewhat speak to this, at least form my limited knowledge and experience. I also worked in wealth management for years before switching to banking and real estate.

   New money is in California (LA, SF, Palo Alto) while New England has a lot of old money… NYC is a heavy split between old and new, and parts of the south has more old money than people would think (oil galore). Parts of the PNW have new money as well (tech Seattle) but not as much as California.

   Rule of thumb: new money is in cities where industries are booming and thriving, think tech and un-gentrified real estate. Old money is where corporations, major market investors, and families of generation wealth once thrived (think Kennedy’s, Rockefeller’s, Vanderbilts, Murdochs, Johnson’s etc.)

   I’ve worked with a wide range of clients… from dirt poor to grossly rich and everything in between, and this is what I’ve picked up from those areas.

   There’s a lot of obvious difference between old and new money as well, imo.

   Let me know if you have any questions- I’ve seen some wild shit ahhahaha

5. The northeast.

6. I think of Massachusetts

7. Martha’s Vineyard and Newport, RI.

8. Greenwich, Westport, Fairfield, Darien, and New Canaan in CT.

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9. South Carolina

10. New England. More specifically, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, etc is old money.

    Los Angeles, Miami, a lot of the west coast is new(er) money.

    In NYC, if you’re rich, you go to the Hamptons. Also, West Village in Manhattan is a very wealthy part of the city, lot of old money there.

11. The “old money” areas are generally considered to be New York City (particularly Lower Manhattan and Queens) and its suburbs, and to a lesser extent Florida, especially Palm Beach. Delaware, Connecticut, Rhode Island, the Chesapeake Bay coast, and Massachusetts are also top contenders. HOWEVER, not all high class areas are “old money”

12. Virginia Tidewater Gentry was the original US aristocracy. They made fortunes from Tobacco and slavery. Then it became old money. Now they are dwarfed by the east and west coasts. But they kept their “high class” pretentious attitude.

13. Newport RI for sure

14. The Philadelphia Main Line has a fair bit of old money.

15. Princeton

16. Newport, RI

    Hamptons, NY

    Greenwich/Stamford, CT

    To name a few

17. South Orange County, California (Newport Beach, Laguna Niguel, Aliso Viejo, etc.)

18. I’d say these areas are all pretty associated with old money:

    NY: Westchester County, The Hamptons, Upper East Side of Manhattan

    MA: Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket

    CT: Greenwich

    DC Area: Potomac, Chevy Chase (MD) Great Falls, McLean (VA)

    Not an exhaustive list of course but I’d say a lot of America’s old rich and powerful families/businessmen/politicians have lived or live in these areas

19. In general, that’s going to be the northeast–New England and parts of New York. Specifically, places like Martha’s Vineyard, Cape Cod, the Hamptons, Montauk, Kennebunkport, Newport, etc.