How Many Millionaires Are There in the U.S.? (And Which States Have the Most — and Least)
If you spend five minutes online, you’d think America is either:
a dystopia where nobody can afford eggs, or
a country where everyone is “just one side hustle away” from private jets.
Reality is weirder.
The U.S. has an enormous millionaire population—and it’s growing fast—yet it’s still heavily concentrated by geography. Some states are millionaire factories. Others… not so much.
Let’s break it down.
First: “Millionaire” can mean two different things
Before the stats, we need one quick clarity check:
1) Millionaires (people)
This is usually based on net worth (assets minus debts) and counts individuals. A major global estimate puts the U.S. at about 23.8 million millionaires (in 2024).
2) Millionaire households (by state)
Most state-by-state rankings use millionaire households with $1M+ in investable assets (stocks, bonds, retirement accounts, etc.). That’s not exactly the same as net worth, and it’s tracked as households.
Both are useful — just don’t mix them.
The headline number: how many millionaires are in the U.S.?
A widely cited global estimate puts the U.S. at ~23.8 million millionaires (2024) — roughly about 7% of the country.
Here’s the part that makes people do a double take:
The U.S. added over 379,000 new millionaires in 2024 — more than 1,000 per day, according to reporting on UBS’s wealth data.
The U.S. accounts for about 40% of the world’s millionaires, per UBS.
So yes — the U.S. is, by far, the world’s biggest “millionaire country.”
Millionaire Households by State (Most vs Least)
The most commonly referenced state-by-state list ranks millionaire households with $1M+ in investable assets (2019 data).
Even though it’s not the newest year, it’s still one of the cleanest, consistent 50-state comparisons available publicly.
States with the MOST millionaire households (total count)
Top 10 by number of millionaire households:
California — 1,147,251
Texas — 650,216
New York — 570,456
Florida — 496,971
Illinois — 346,873
Pennsylvania — 328,859
New Jersey — 323,443
Virginia — 272,103
Ohio — 261,157
Massachusetts — 254,201
Mind-blower: California alone has more millionaire households than the bottom ~25 states combined (roughly). That’s how lopsided wealth concentration can get.
States with the FEWEST millionaire households (total count)
Bottom 10 by number of millionaire households:
Wyoming — 12,849
Vermont — 16,411
South Dakota — 18,905
North Dakota — 20,002
Alaska — 22,302
Montana — 23,785
Delaware — 25,937
Rhode Island — 28,165
Washington, D.C. — 29,506
West Virginia — 31,535
Important note: small states often look “low” purely because the population is small. That’s why per-capita is the more interesting view.
Per-Capita Millionaires: Where it’s most “normal” to be a millionaire
This is where things get spicy.
Per-capita (share of households that are millionaires), the leaders are not always who people guess.
Highest % of millionaire households (per-capita)
Top-tier states by share include:
New Jersey — 9.76%
Maryland — 9.72%
Connecticut — 9.44%
Massachusetts — 9.38%
Hawaii — 9.20%
Washington, D.C. — 9.12%
Translation: In places like NJ/MD/CT, roughly 1 in 10 households qualifies as a “millionaire household” by investable assets.
That’s wild.
Lowest % of millionaire households (per-capita)
Bottom of the list includes:
Mississippi — 4.18%
West Virginia — 4.21%
Arkansas — 4.33%
Kentucky — 4.69%
Louisiana — 4.81%
Alabama — 4.87%
Mind-blower: the top states have more than double the millionaire concentration of the lowest states (roughly 10% vs ~4–5%).
Why millionaires cluster (the boring reasons that matter)
This is not just “rich people move to cool places.”
It’s usually a mix of:
High-income job hubs (finance, tech, defense contracting, healthcare leadership)
Home equity compounding (expensive housing markets create large paper wealth over time)
Business ownership density
Tax structure + migration (especially for higher net worth individuals)
Long-term investment culture (retirement account participation, market exposure)
And once a place builds wealth… wealth attracts wealth. Networks matter.
The real takeaway for founders
Here’s why this matters for VentureFlow readers:
If the U.S. can add ~1,000 new millionaires per day in a strong market year,
then the “path to millionaire” is less about secret hacks and more about:
owning equity (business or investments)
staying in the game long enough for compounding
building predictable cash flow (the thing buyers and banks trust)
That’s the boring play. It’s also the one that works.