(Yicai Global) Aug. 16 -- Shanghai residents had the largest per capita disposable income in the first half of this year at CNY40,357 (USD6,231), followed by Beijing and Hangzhou.

People in the eastern megacity saw their after-tax incomes rise 10.3 percent in the six months from a year ago, Yicai Global learned by analyzing data municipalities released recently. In Beijing, residents' income was CNY38,138 on average, with a nominal growth rate of 10.3 percent.

Six of the top 10 Chinese cities in the ranking are located in the Yangtze River Delta region. But Shanghai is the only one with a sum exceeding CNY40,000.

Some of the reasons behind the success could be that Shanghai has the largest urban population in China. The city has huge multinational companies and financial institutions such as the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

Hangzhou, Shenzhen, Guangzhou

Eastern China's Hangzhou was No. 3 with its CNY37,492. That means that the city that is home to Alibaba Group Holding ranked higher than the first-tier cities of Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

Hangzhou is known for its digital prowess. The added value of the core digital economy tallied CNY230.6 billion (USD35.6 billion) in the first half, rising 16.7 percent from a year ago, according to the municipality's statistics bureau. The sector made up more than a quarter of the city’s gross domestic product.

Shenzhen was No. 4 on the list with its figure of CNY37,026. Guangzhou was placed after that with its CNY36,713 but the data is not official as it is calculated by Yicai Global.

Crowded cities tend to have higher pay. Nine of the top 10 cities are in the Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, or the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei metropolitan area. Xiamen is the only outlier beyond the three urban clusters. The per capita disposable income of the southeastern city jumped by 14.9 percent to CNY34,193, ranking No. 9.

The fast-growing Xiamen

Xiamen is catching up.

The city has been making great efforts in recent years to make up for its shortcomings in infrastructure such as the metro, bridges, tunnels, and airports, said Ding Changfa, associate professor at Xiamen University.

Xiamen has great room to develop, said Ding. The city has done a lot to invite investment in recent years and attracted emerging industry projects. High-tech industries are having great momentum, he added.

Editor: Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi