People often debate the difference between "rich" and "wealthy."
Some say wealth is more about having options than having money, others say it’s a legacy passed down from generation to generation.
Rich might be defined as having a high current income, while being wealthy is having the freedom to choose not to spend money, according to Morgan Housel, the author of “The Psychology of Money.”
Ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) individuals are people with investable assets of at least $30 million, according to Investopedia, but in its 2022 Global Wealth Report, Credit Suisse counts them as having a net worth of more than $50 million.
By the end of 2021, global wealth totaled an estimated $463.6 trillion and the number of UHNW individuals reached a new high, according to the Credit Suisse global wealth report. There are around 218,200 UHNW individuals in the world, Credit Suisse says, and a good chunk of them -- 140,000 -- live in the U.S. Other countries with lots of ultra-wealthy people (but not nearly as many) are China, Germany and Canada.
The wealthy don’t just live in one place, of course. An UHNW individual might be based in New York but spend winters skiing in Aspen or head to Paris in fall for some shopping. To find out which cities have the most ultra-wealthy individuals, Altrata, a company that keeps track of the wealthy, looked at the multiple homes owned by those with a net worth of at least $30 million.
This residential footprint of ultra-wealthy matters because, even if only for days or weeks in a given year, any type of residential presence of such wealthy individuals represents an opportunity for organizations that seek to connect and engage with the world's wealthy, Altrata says in its recent report, Residential Real Estate 2023: Spotlight on the World's Leading Markets for the Wealthy.
To determine the cities with the most ultra-wealthy, (in this case those with at least $30 million) Altrata used the WealthX database, an extensive collection of curated research and intelligence on the wealthy, to find where the wealthy own private primary and secondary residences. Primary residence is defined as where the owner spends most of their time over the course of the year. (The city of primary residence is often where the property owner’s primary business is based.) A secondary home is one owned in addition to a primary residence by the same person.
Based on Altrata's research, here are the cities with the most ultra-wealthy individuals.
1. New York
Number of UHNW individuals with a primary or secondary residence: 21,714
2. London
Number of UHNW individuals with a primary or secondary residence: 15,907
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3. Hong Kong
Number of UHNW individuals with a primary or secondary residence: 15,175
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4. Los Angeles
Number of UHNW individuals with a primary or secondary residence: 13,194
Most of the ultra-rich in Los Angeles are self-made (82.3%) as opposed to inheriting their wealth, according to the report. More than 10% are jet owners, and nearly 2% own yachts. Men make up almost 85% of the ultra-rich in Los Angeles.
5. Miami
Number of UHNW individuals with a primary or secondary residence: 10,831
6. San Francisco
Number of UHNW individuals with a primary or secondary residence: 9,221
Northern California is a stand-out location in terms of the numbers and density of the ultra-wealthy. San Francisco has one ultra-high net-worth individual home owner for every 505 city residents.
7. Beijing
Number of UHNW individuals with a primary or secondary residence: 8,923
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8. Singapore
Number of UHNW individuals with a primary or secondary residence: 7,471
9. Chicago
Number of UHNW individuals with a primary or secondary residence: 6,506
10. Washington, D.C.
Number of UHNW individuals with a primary or secondary residence: 5,732
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11. Boston
Number of UHNW individuals with a primary or secondary residence: 5,722
12. San Jose, Calif.
Number of UHNW individuals with a primary or secondary residence: 5,291
13. Paris
Number of UHNW individuals with a primary or secondary residence: 5,235
14. Dallas
Number of UHNW individuals with a primary or secondary residence: 4,686
15. Houston
Number of UHNW individuals with a primary or secondary residence: 4,420
16. Seattle
Number of UHNW individuals with a primary or secondary residence: 4,334
17. Toronto
Number of UHNW individuals with a primary or secondary residence: 3,742
18. Atlanta
Number of UHNW individuals with a primary or secondary residence: 3,420
19. Denver
Number of UHNW individuals with a primary or secondary residence: 3,134
20. Phoenix
Number of UHNW individuals with a primary or secondary residence: 2,969
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Dubai
Number of UHNW individuals with a primary or secondary residence: 830
One city of note, though not in the ranking, is Dubai, known as a tourism and expatriate hub. Dubai’s ultra-wealthy homeowners tend to be younger than in other cities, and men make up 91% of the ultra-wealthy in Dubai.
The report also analyzed cities in terms of their UHNW density — that is, the number of general residents per ultra-wealthy resident or second-home owner. This high footprint of ultra-rich can often reflect the character of a city, its cultural history and business focus, and can also be influenced by the concentration of its prime real estate, be it residential, commercial or retail, the report says.
Here are some of the cities with the most ultra-rich people per resident.
Cities With the Highest Density of Ultra-Wealthy Individuals
Monaco
- Number of UHNW individuals with a primary or secondary residence: 944
- Number of city residents per UHNW homeowner: 39
Monaco has the world’s highest density of ultra-wealthy residents. The city-state on the French Riviera has one UHNW individual (as a primary resident or with a second home) for every 39 residents.
Almost 10% of these ultra-rich own yachts and 5.6% are jet owners.
Aspen
Number of city residents per UHNW primary or secondary resident: 67
Aspen is next for having a big footprint of the ultra-rich, and has by far the highest level of UHNW density in the U.S. The small mountain resort in Colorado has long been a haven for the wealthy, with one UHNW individual (as a primary resident or, more likely, a second-homer) for every 67 residents, the report says. This is almost 15 times greater than the density of ultra-wealthy in New York.
Naples, Fla.
Number of city residents per UHNW primary or secondary resident: 141
Miami and especially Naples are principally UHNW second-homer locations, but the number of primary residences is also growing as wealthy retirees move south and more U.S. corporations bolster their presence in the state.
Geneva
Number of city residents per UHNW primary or secondary resident: 213
Switzerland’s two most populous cities, Geneva and Zurich, rank highly for density of the ultra-rich. The country offers a favorable tax system for the wealthy, political stability, prestigious schools, access to outdoor pursuits and a high quality of life.
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Greenwich, Conn.
Number of city residents per UHNW primary or secondary resident: 328
Hong Kong has 351 residents per UHNW and San Jose, California, has a density of 372 residents per UHNW.
Followed by San Jose for density is San Francisco, with 505 residents per ultra-wealthy home owner.
Zurich
Number of city residents per UHNW primary or secondary resident: 520
Miami follows Zurich with 565 city residents per UHNW homeowner.
London
London has 784 city residents per ultra-wealthy primary or secondary resident.
Salt Lake City
Number of city residents per UHNW primary or secondary resident: 816
Singapore has 992.
Munich
Number of city residents per UHNW primary or secondary resident: 1,264
