Native American dancers stand by as a judge (L) gives her final marks during a competition at the Oglala Nation Pow Wow and Rodeo in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, August 4, 2006.
Native American dancers stand by as a judge (L) gives her final marks during a competition at the Oglala Nation Pow Wow and Rodeo in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, August 4, 2006. The annual festival is a bright spot for the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, which has one of the highest poverty rates in the nation, according to recent data from the Census Bureau. REUTERS

Some of suburbs just west of the nation's capital have the highest household median income in the nation, while several of the counties containing American Indian reservations in a pair of northern plain states have the highest poverty rates, new estimates from the Census Bureau reveal.

The Bureau released its 5-year American Community estimates for the first time on Tuesday, a report which shows social, economic, housing and demographic statistics for every community in the nation.

The ACS represents the first time such a massive compilation of data estimates for small geographic areas is available, said Census Bureau Director Robert Groves.

Public officials, including mayors and governors and private groups, rely on the estimates to make decisions affecting their communities, the Census Bureau said.

The counties with the highest median household incomes included Falls Church, VA, at $113,313, while Fairfax and Loudoun counties had median incomes above $100,000, the only other counties above that mark, the report stated. The three counties, which are just west of Washington, DC, were also among the 19 counties with an unemployment rate under 5 percent and among the 17 counties where more than 50 percent of those 25 and over had a bachelor's degree.

Meanwhile, there were five counties with poverty rates greater than 39 percent, the report said.

Those were Sioux County, N.D., which is contained within the Standing Rock Indian Reservation; Buffalo County, S.D., which contains the Crow Creek Indian Reservation; Shannon County, S.D., which is contained within the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation; and Todd County, S.D., which is contained within the Rosebud Indian Reservation. The fifth county with greater than 39 percent poverty was Willacy County, Texas, on the Gulf Coast.

Eighteen counties had median household incomes less than $25,000. Most were in states in or near the southeastern part of the U.S. There were six counties in Kentucky, three counties in Mississippi and Texas, two in Alabama and one county each in Arkansas, Georgia, South Carolina and West Virginia.

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