Mansion Map shows you where the other half lives — and how they got there

Forget the Joneses: Today most Americans would much rather keep up with the Kardashians. It’s the millionaires we now want to emulate, not the middle class.

Mansion Map is a new website built for those who want to know where the other half lives and how they got there. The site lets users tour America’s wealthiest neighborhoods to get a taste of the rich life and learn more about how the mansion owners struck it rich.

Mansion Map is the brainchild of Greg Berry, an entrepreneur from Waterbury, Conn., a poor neighborhood surrounded by rich ones. Berry first started dreaming of mansions and millions when he was a kid.

“Growing up my favorite hobby was driving through the rich neighborhoods with my brother. I’ve travelled the world looking at mansions and now want to share my passion and inspiration with others,” Berry said.

“I strongly believe showing the wealthiest zip codes in the country, viewing the mansions, and learning a bit (what’s publicly available) about the owner is very inspirational. I did not grow up with much success around and the only way to see success was to drive out to the suburbs or go with my brother to Greenwich and look at mansions.”

Now he’s made that dream come true with Mansion Maps. The interactive website lets you search wealthy neighborhoods to see who lives in those glorious mansions. It then leads you to a Google search of the owner, letting you see how they got so rich and how much money they’ve made in their lifetime so far.

The homeowners’ names and addresses are public record, as is any information gleaned from a Google search of their name. Therefore, unless the owner is very private about his or her earnings and career, you’ll be able to find out a lot about them.

“We are all fascinated with biographies of successful people and also with celebrity homes,” Berry said. “Now we can see who lives next door to these celebrities in the bigger houses and find out about real wealth.”