HUMAN INTEREST / VIRAL
$847 Million Winning Powerball Ticket Sold in Wealthy NJ Town With Median Income Twice US Average
While people love to see stories about average Americans changing their lives with massive lottery hauls, the latest Powerball jackpot winner might simply be upgrading from living very well to living very, very well as the Wednesday, November 4, drawing for $847 million was sold in a pretty affluent New Jersey town.
The ticket for the drawing was purchased at a Wegman’s in Montvale, New Jersey, although the winner’s identity and hometown have not been revealed.
According to U.S. Census Bureau data, the borough of Montvale has a total population of 8,436 people, per the 2020 census, and a median household income of $178,269, according to 2024 estimates. The median household income for the United States is less than half that at $87,460, per the New York Post.
The poverty rate in Montvale sits at 4 percent, less than half the state’s average of 8.7 percent, per the census data, while only 3 percent are living without health insurance, against the state’s 7.7 percent average.
Eighty percent of residents own their own homes, with 84.7 percent of the town’s 3,290 homes valued at $500,000 or more, according to the data. Additionally, 55 percent of residents have earned at least a bachelor’s degree, with 23.1 percent of those holding graduate or professional degrees.
Powerball reported that the sole winner of its November 4 drawing has the option of taking their $847 million winnings in installments over 29 years, or as a single lump-sum payment of $363.1 million. Either option is still subject to taxes, with the Post reporting a 24 percent federal tax and 8 percent for New Jersey.
The financial windfall is the ninth-largest Powerball jackpot in history, per lottery officials. The eighth-largest, at $1.04 billion, was sold back in August in Illinois, per Fox Business. The largest lottery jackpot win ever, according to PBS, was a $2.04 billion Powerball ticket sold in California in November 2022, with a single ticket-holder claiming that prize, too.
