Five of the 10 wealthiest cities in the world are in the US

Adam Barnes
·2 min read

Story at a glance

  • A report from Henley & Partners, an investment migration consultancy firm, shows the total private wealth held by city residents exceeds $3 trillion.

  • The number of wealthy individuals in the Big Apple includes 59 billionaires and 737 centimillionaires, those whose assets total $100 million or higher.

  • The San Francisco Bay Area, the second wealthiest city in the U.S., holds the third spot among the world’s richest cities.

New York City — home to more than 345,000 millionaires — is the wealthiest city on Earth, according to a new report.

The number of wealthy individuals in the Big Apple includes 59 billionaires and 737 centimillionaires, whose assets stand at $100 million or higher, the report from Henley & Partners, an investment migration consultancy firm, shows. Total private wealth held by New York City residents exceeds $3 trillion.

The San Francisco Bay Area, the second wealthiest city in the U.S., holds the third spot among the world’s richest cities. Around 276,400 millionaires, 623 centimillionaires and 62 billionaires live in the San Francisco Bay area, which includes Silicon Valley.

Los Angeles, Chicago and Houston round out the top five.

Chicago, which serves as the home base for 35 Fortune 500 companies, is home to 160,100 millionaires, 340 centimillionaires and 28 billionaires. Meanwhile, 192,400 resident millionaires, 393 centimillionaires and 34 billionaires live in Los Angeles.

Houston, one of the world’s fastest growing cities in terms of wealth growth over two decades, according to the report, has 132,600 millionaires, 314 centimillionaires and 25 billionaires.

Henley & Partners also reviewed the fastest growing cities and towns for high-net-worth individuals from January to June 2022. They found that Austin, Texas, alongside West Palm Beach and Miami, Fla., have become major hubs for high-net-worth retirees.

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A separate analysis from the personal finance website SmartAsset, shows that America’s high wage earners — those whose tax returns show an income of $200,000 or more — are migrating primarily to states in the nation’s Sunbelt region.

Florida and Texas, which do not have a state income tax, held the top two spots.

Florida earned No. 1 status despite losing more than 11,000 tax filers who reported earnings of at least $200,000 in 2020. The same held true in Texas, where more than 13,000 high-earning households left the state. Florida’s net migration totaled 20,263 high-income filers, while Texas netted 5,356.

For the analysis, SmartAsset used IRS data from 2019-2020 to compare the influx and outflow of high-earning households in all 50 states and Washington, D.C.

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