The San Gabriel Valley in Perspective
The San Gabriel Valley in Perspective, or, Why You Shouldn’t Feel Sorry for How Much the Wedding in Father of the Bride Cost
Here is a comparison of median household incomes in the San Gabriel Valley, where I live:
| El Monte | $32,439 |
| Rosemead | $36,181 |
| Alhambra | $39,213 |
| San Gabriel * | $41,791 |
| Monrovia | $45,375 |
| Pasadena | $46,012 |
| Temple City | $48,722 |
| Duarte | $50,744 |
| East Pasadena | $53,378 |
| East San Gabriel | $51,301 |
| South Pasadena | $55,728 |
| Arcadia | $56,100 |
| Sierra Madre | $65,900 |
| San Marino | $117,267 |
| * Where I live | |
Yes, that’s almost a factor of four range, and yes, San Marino (where Steve Martin and family live in Father of the Bride) is twice its nearest competitor. All of these towns are are close enough to drive to
for a movie (not that San Marino has any theaters) or a meal (San Marino has exactly twelve restaurants, each located on one of only two streets.) To help visualize the towns, El Monte and Rosemead are pretty grimy, Alhambra is beginning to see a renaissance since the rebuilding of its downtown, Monrovia is fiercely small-town America and has some turn of the (last) century homes, South Pas and Arcadia have nice, big, new homes, Sierra Madre is a nice foothills community with a charming downtown, San Marino is clannish, conservative, and opulent, and the rest are fairly basic L.A. suburbs.
For comparison, Los Angeles proper (across its communities, including inner-city areas and the San Fernando Valley) has a median household income of $36,687, right near the bottom.
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