The median household incomes in San Jose ($175,491) and San Francisco ($141,277) are bolstered by Silicon Valley. New York ($103,166) ranks 12th.<\/p>\n
The national median income is $85,828. San Antonio ($82,130) ranks 29th. Only 10 of the 30 NBA cities ranked above the national average.<\/p>\n
While household income isn\u2019t a perfect metric, it paints a picture of what we already understand to be true. Every area has its wealthy contingent. But we know where people and money are often concentrated.<\/p>\n
New York, per New World Wealth\u2019s the 2025 wealthiest cities report<\/a>, leads America with 384,500 millionaires, followed closely by the Bay Area with 342,400. Los Angeles ranks fifth with 220,600 and Chicago 10th with 127,100.<\/p>\n Again, not a perfect metric. But a picture of the puzzle. Only nine NBA cities made the top-50 list.<\/p>\n The average person in most fan bases especially can\u2019t participate in the financial investment of postseason basketball. Once the prices skyrocket, they can\u2019t afford to be loyally present. And many of the ones who can certainly can\u2019t afford not to sell if some well-off New Yorkers, or techsters from Silicon Valley, or Hollywood types want to give them a month of bills for their tickets.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a reality even Christmas can\u2019t ignore. He knows he\u2019s the exception.<\/p>\n \n \u201cIt was almost a road game for us,\u201d Carlos Christmas said of Knicks fans taking over San Antonio. \u201cThat pissed me off. It made me angry.\u201d (Photo courtesy of Carlos Christmas)<\/p>\n He\u2019s a professional barber who\u2019s done well enough as a business man to restrict his client list. He was also born and raised in San Antonio, on the northeast side, and grew up playing hoop. At Roosevelt High, he said he once scored 13 points in nine minutes against Madison when his coach let him go at future NBA big man Jeff Foster. So these games, these moments, this team he loves, is a bit more personal.<\/p>\n But business is business for most.<\/p>\n \u201cI would be fake if I said I didn\u2019t understand,\u201d Christmas said. \u201cIf you\u2019re a person with some tickets and someone offers you all that money, of course I can see why you\u2019d sell. People need that money. You don\u2019t know what a person is going through. And if you\u2019re a person that deals with numbers and money, it\u2019s the ultimate return on investment.\u201d<\/p>\n For generations, fandom took root in a place. People inherited the teams in their city, passed down from their families, indoctrinated by their neighborhoods. A stadium survived as one of the few institutions where a factory worker and a CEO could rub elbows and spill beer on each other. Where children could bond with their elders and fall in love with the sounds and smells and scenery of sports.<\/p>\n But the business of sports has replaced, is replacing, the employees of America in stadium crowds with executives. The seats that often went to kids increasingly get filled by clients. The true fans now get painted as the ones who can afford to spend four figures on tickets, book a last-minute flight on price-gouging airlines, take time off work, snatch up a downtown hotel for a couple of days and still have money left over for merch and alcohol.<\/p>\n For some of these fans, it\u2019s cheaper to do it in a smaller city like San Antonio when they\u2019re used to the more exorbitant prices of their home regions.<\/p>\n In an era of inflation, rising cost of living and widespread economic anxiety, the true fans of yesteryear watch from couches across America. Because \u201cit\u2019s sort of semi-free to watch it on television,\u201d President Donald Trump told reporters last week.<\/a> \u201cThat\u2019s the way life goes.\u201d<\/p>\n Glad he said semi-free. Because for many sports fans, the annual fees of the required streaming accounts are getting to be excessive.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/IMG_1079-1024x915.jpg\")
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