New York is the richest city in the world, with 359,500 millionaires and 60 billionaires, although California’s Bay Area is close behind, according to a new study.
New York’s millionaire population has grown 48 percent over the past decade, even as fears of wealth flight and the Covid-19 pandemic have hollowed out the city’s affluent population. Report by Henley & Partners in collaboration with New World Wealth. New York’s millionaire population now exceeds the entire population of Orlando or Pittsburgh. New Yorkers now own more than $3 trillion in wealth, more than the GDPs of Brazil, Italy or Canada.
San Francisco and the Bay Area, however, is catching up fast. The Bay Area’s millionaire population has grown 82 percent in the past decade to 305,700 people. The Bay Area tops the billionaire population, with 68 billionaires, according to the report, which compared global wealth populations as of December.
America continues to lead as the world’s largest creator of millionaires and billionaires. According to the report, the US is home to 11 of the top 50 richest cities.
Over the past decade, the rise of technology wealth combined with stock market booms and deal-making has created record amounts of wealth. According to the Federal Reserve, the pandemic fiscal stimulus effectively turbocharged wealth creation, especially at the top, with the wealth of America’s top 1% increasing by more than 40%.
“The US continues to dominate the world’s wealthiest cities thanks to its dominance of the global financial, tech and entertainment sectors,” said Andrew Amuels, head of research at New World Wealth. “Remarkably, American cities have significantly outperformed other Western cities over the past decade when it comes to overall wealth and millionaire growth,” Amuels added.
A reversal of fortune was witnessed in some cities of the world. Tokyo, which was the world’s richest city a decade ago, is now in third place, with its millionaire population falling 5 percent to 298,300 people.
London, for many years the world’s richest city, dropped to fifth place, as Brexit, Russian sanctions and other policies slowed the transfer of wealth. The city’s millionaire population has declined by 10 percent over the past decade.
China made the top 10 for the first time, with Beijing seeing a 90 percent increase in millionaires over the past decade to 125,600 millionaires. Still, its sluggish economy and wealth flight are causing a reversal in wealth creation, with the millionaire population falling 4 percent last year, Amuels said.
Singapore, benefiting from the flow of wealth from China, climbed two places in the rankings to fourth place, with a 64 percent increase in millionaires to 244,800 people. More than 3,400 millionaires moved to Singapore in 2023 alone, and Amuels said Singapore is poised to replace Tokyo in the rankings “very soon”.
Los Angeles also rose to the list, rising to sixth place with a 45 percent increase in the number of millionaires.
Georg Stefan, CEO of Henley & Partners, said that financial markets have been the main engine of wealth creation around the world over the past decade.
“With the S&P 500 up 24% over the past year, the Nasdaq’s 43% gain and bitcoin’s astonishing 155% rally have boosted the fortunes of wealthy investors,” he said. “Rapid advances in artificial intelligence, robotics and blockchain technology have provided new opportunities for wealth creation and accumulation.”
Here is the full ranking of the world’s richest cities according to Henley & Partners and New World Wealth:
1. New York City
2. Bay Area, California
3. Tokyo
4. Singapore
5. London
6. Los Angeles
7. Paris and the Isle of France
8. Sydney
9. Hong Kong
10. Beijing
Credit : www.cnbc.com