July 29, 2015 -- In terms of home sale price, 14 of the country’s 20 most expensive zip codes are in California. These include zip codes in Atherton, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, and Palo Alto. Nationally, Atherton ranks second only behind Sagaponack, New York, a village in the Hamptons of Long Island.
But are these pockets of wealth also where politicians can find their biggest campaign donors? A MapLight analysis of campaign contributions from the state of California to federal candidates reveals that, when ranking these zip codes by amount contributed per capita, the most politically generous areas are found all across the state.
These zip codes vary from large metropolitan areas like San Francisco and Los Angeles, to small wealthy communities such as South Lake Tahoe and Portola Valley, to more rural areas such as Redding and Richvale.
Data: MapLight analysis of campaign contributions from the state of California to the principal campaign committees of federal candidates for House, Senate, and President from January 1, 2007 - December 31, 2014. All numbers are based on latest data made available by the Federal Election Commission as of July 6, 2015.
Methodology:MapLight analysis of campaign contributions from the state of California to the principal campaign committees of federal candidates for House, Senate, and President from January 1, 2007 - December 31, 2014. Contribution records with either blank or invalid California zip codes were removed from the analysis. Contributor figures are based on itemized records, aggregated by employer for individual donors and by affiliate organization for political action committees. All numbers are based on latest data made available by the Federal Election Commission as of July 6, 2015.
*Population for each zip code was determined using the US Census Bureau's Decennial Census Dataset: "2010 SF 1 100% Data", which was then broken down by Zip Code Tabulation Area (ZCTA). There are four types of zip codes: unique, PO box only, military, and standard. Non-standard zip codes often have very low populations or no demographic information at all in the census data. Data Source: US Census Bureau.
MapLight is a 501c(3) organization that tracks money's influence on politics.
