IRS 2018 numbers provide insight into top dividend earners in state
An analysis of the counties in Florida where residents earned the most income from investments in 2018 has been completed, and Lee and Sarasota counties came in strong for the state at fifth and sixth place, respectively. The year 2018 was used as it had the most complete (returned) information to date.
The study compared counties across three metrics using IRS data: ordinary dividends, qualified dividends and net capital gains. Counties where residents earned the greatest amount of income in these categories were those that ranked the highest.
Lee County ranked among the highest earning places in Florida. The average net capital gains per investor was just under $4.8 million, with ordinary dividends numbers on average at $1.7 million, qualified dividends at $1.3 million and an investment index of 11.48.
Sarasota County was also on the list, coming in right behind Lee County, with investors averaging $3.5 million in net capital gains, $1.5 in ordinary dividends, $1.2 million in qualified dividends and a place of 9.32 on the index.
Palm Beach County came in at number one, Miami-Dade County at number two, Collier County came in third, Broward in fourth, Lee and Sarasota in fifth and sixth, Pinellas in seventh, Hillsborough in eighth and Orange and Martin counties finishing in ninth and tenth place.
All counties in the country were compared across the three metrics listed above (all sourced from IRS statistics of income county data), and the overall index was created based on a combination of those three metrics.
You can find that breakdown of information on the IRS website at irs.gov/statistics/soi-tax-stats-county-data-2018.
Information provided by SmartAsset and the IRS.
