New York again topped the list of the world’s richest cities and had about 340,000 millionaires last year, according to investment migration firm Henley & Partners.
That helped the U.S. surpass all countries with 10 of the world’s 50 richest cities: New York ranked first, followed by Tokyo, California’s Bay Area, London and Singapore. The annual survey analyzed 97 cities in nine regions around the world.
The Big Apple retained the top spot after the number of high net worth individuals increased by 40% over the 2012-2022 period. That increase was similar to Singapore’s, but lagged behind cities such as Shanghai, Houston, Dubai and Mumbai.
China ranked behind the U.S. with five cities in the top 50, putting it just ahead of Australia with four.
In an even more elite category, California’s Bay Area won out in terms of total number of billionaires: 63 call the region surrounding Silicon Valley and San Francisco home, according to the report. It was followed by New York, Beijing, Los Angeles and Shanghai.
The ten-year increase in the number of high net worth individuals was led by the Chinese city of Hangzhou, which experienced a 105% increase, while Austin, Texas, ranked second with a 102% increase. Miami and West Palm Beach, Florida – which benefited from the fact that a number of high-profile business leaders and financial firms moved to South Florida during the pandemic – saw the number of high net worth individuals increase by 75% and 90%, respectively.
At the other end of the spectrum, Russia’s war in Ukraine, and the combination of sanctions and the exodus of citizens this has triggered, appears to have hit Moscow hard. The number of millionaires living in the Russian capital plummeted 44% from a decade earlier, while St. Petersburg experienced a 38% drop.