Middleburg, Va., where the money lives. (Photo by La Citta Vita)

Following a slideshow on the personal finance website MainStreet.com yesterday listing the 15 wealthiest counties in the U.S. based on median household income, pretty much everyone in town rushed to rebroadcast the news.

And why not? It’s a listicle (easy!), it puts our region’s suburbs in a positive light (they’re rich!) and it reinforces high-end government and government-connected jobs as a leading driver of the local economy. The data, amassed from the 2010 census, shows, as WTOP put it, that “the D.C. suburbs maintained their stability, in part because of government, defense and technology jobs.” Just as they have in previous rankings of this sort, Loudoun and Fairfax counties topped the chart, with the median household in Loudoun raking in $16,000 more than No. 2 Fairfax.

For those who missed it, here’s the list:

1. 1. Loudoun County, Va. – Median Household Income: $119,540
2. 2. Fairfax County, Va. – Median Household Income: $103,010
3. 3. Howard County, Md. – Median Household Income: $101,771
4. 4. Hunterdon County, N.J. – Median Household Income: $97,874
5. 5. Arlington County, Va. – Median Household Income: $94,986
6. 6. Douglas County, Colo. – Median Household Income: $94,909
7. 7. Stafford County, Va. – Median Household Income: $94,317
8. 8. Somerset County, N.J. – Median Household Income: $94,270
9. 9. Prince William County, Va. – Median Household Income: $92,655
10. 10. Morris County, N.J. – Median Household Income: $91,469
11. 11. Nassau County, N.Y. – Median Household Income: $91,104
12. 12. Montgomery County, Md. – Median Household Income: $89,155
13. 13. Calvert County, Md. – Median Household Income: $88,862
14. 14. St. Mary’s County, Md. – Median Household Income: $88,444
15. 15. Charles County, Md. – Median Household Income: $87,007

Pretty heady numbers. So, what does it all mean?

Census data released Thursday show that it still pays to live in the nation’s hub of lobbyists and government contractors, with its cocoon of federal government jobs holding steady in a slowly rebounding economy.

…

As a region, Washington enjoyed a median household income of $84,523, slightly besting Silicon Valley to take the top slot, according to the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey figures. Connecticut’s New York bedroom communities of Bridgeport, Stamford and Norwalk ranked third, with a median income nearly $10,000 lower than the Washington region.

Economists say that while New York and other major urban areas were hit hard by the recession, Washington largely absorbed the economic collapse thanks to its massive federal work force and high level of education and two-income households.

That analysis, from the Examiner’s Brian Hughes, is from September 2011, when the data were first released! And his article even has a list, too.

So, this isn’t really a big development. It’s just a rehash of old information, but under MainStreet.com slideshow’s banner of “Where the 1 Percent Live,” it feels newly relevant. It also gave television news an excuse to use idyllic, tony suburban neighborhoods as backdrops.

Survey: 10 of the 15 Wealthiest Counties Are in DC Area: MyFoxDC.com

To boot, the MainStreet slideshow hardly paints a complete picture of wealth trends in the D.C. area. It’s not Boomtown everywhere. Demographic shifts over the past decade:

Poverty rates are creeping up, even in neighborhoods with some of the highest income levels. Adult children are moving back in with their parents when they can’t find jobs.

Many economists and demographers think that long-term demographic changes are driving household incomes lower and that they are likely to stay there for the long run.

They point to an increase in immigrants who earn lower wages. A lot of Fairfax County’s poor are immigrants, [Fairfax County cartographer Anne] Cahill said. Around the country, recent immigrants are more likely to live in suburbs than in core cities.

That’s the Post, also reviewing the then-new data last September.

Still, the MainStreet presentation was catchy enough to earn a spot on WTOP and most television news broadcasts last night. Congratulations, folks. You covered the hell out of a slideshow of old news.