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Something Extra: Miami Contrasts

MIAMI (CBS4) - Miami's image to the world is glitzy and glamorous, a party town of beaches and celebrities.

A new study confirms we've got some of the richest zip codes in the country, but another says the middle class is getting slammed.

The Center for Public Housing found the Miami metro area is the toughest place in the whole country to be a middle-class resident.

Rents are soaring and many homeowners are underwater on their mortgages.

Add high transportation costs and the study found middle-class households in Dade spend an incredible  72% of their income on transportation and housing.

Worse yet, those costs jumped 47% here since 2000, while incomes only went  up 22%.

Things are very different at the highest income levels.

The 33156 zip code, which covers parts of Coral Gables, Pinecrest and Kendall, is now the fifteenth highest priced neighborhood in the country.

If you think that's crazy, the richest place in the country is part of Manhattan's Upper East Side.  The median asking price there?  Six and half million dollars.

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