Henley & Partners: New York, the city with the most rich people in the world

The world's wealthiest cities are now financial and technology centers, attracting affluent residents to thriving metropolitan areas. Given the flow of wealth and high demand for premium properties, it's no surprise that these cities have some of the most exclusive residential markets globally.

The annual Henley & Partners World's Wealthiest Cities report, taken from visualcapitalist.com, ranks the wealthiest cities globally based on their population of millionaires in 2023 (who have net worths of one million dollars or more) , respectively by each city's billionaire population (with a net worth of one billion dollars or more).

With 340,000 millionaires and 58 billionaires, New York is the richest metropolitan area in the world, according to Henley & Partners. The cited source shows that between 2012 and 2022, the number of high net worth individuals living in New York increased by 40%, even as the pandemic caused an exodus of wealthy people from the American city. Overall, the wealth of New York City residents is about $3 trillion, more than Canada's GDP.

In second place is Tokyo, with a millionaire population of 290,300 inhabitants, respectively 14 billionaires. About a fifth of Japan's millionaires live in the city, according to Henley & Partners.

With one of the fastest growing millionaire populations on this list, The Bay Area (San Francisco, USA) ranks third with 285,000 millionaires. Thanks to the tech boom of the last decade, the number of millionaire residents in The Bay Area has increased by 68% since 2012. What's more, the tech hub is home to more billionaires than any other city in the world, 63 in total, surpassing New York (58) and Beijing (43).

Next in this ranking is London (Great Britain), with 258,000 millionaires and 36 billionaires; Singapore, with 240,100 millionaires and 27 billionaires; Los Angeles (USA), with 205,400 millionaires and 42 billionaires; respectively Hong Kong, with 129,500 millionaires and 32 billionaires.

In China, the world's second largest economy, Beijing is the richest city with 128,200 millionaires and 43 billionaires, followed by Shanghai with 127,200 millionaires and 40 billionaires. Given that China's economy has had an important expansion in the last decade, the millionaire population in every city of the country has increased by at least 70%, notes the quoted source.

The tenth place in the ranking is occupied by Sydney (Australia), with 126,900 millionaires and 15 billionaires.

At the bottom of the ranking created by Henley & Partners, in 20th place, is Dubai, the only Middle Eastern city on this list, with 68,400 millionaires and 15 billionaires. The city is known for attracting wealthy foreign nationals given its role as a financial and commercial center.

• Where do the richest people in the world live?

While Elon Musk, the CEO of electric car maker Tesla Inc. and the richest person in the world, previously lived in California, he is said to now live in Boca Chica, Texas. In addition, according to foreign media reports, Musk is building a house near Tesla's headquarters in Austin, which is rumored to be called Project 42.

Beyond these residences, Musk has acquired thousands of acres outside of Austin. This property is intended for employees of his companies Tesla, Boring and SpaceX. The planned "city", currently under construction, has modular homes, an outdoor gym and a swimming pool.

The second richest person in the world is the founder of the online retailer Amazon.com Inc., Jeff Bezos, who owns five apartments in New York, worth a total of $119 million. While Seattle has been Bezos' primary residence for the past three decades, he has moved to Miami's "Billionaire Bunker" neighborhood on Indian Creek Island, according to the source.