Written by, Sandeep Kumar
Updated March, 13, 2023
Who doesn’t want the rich and famous lifestyle? Ah, perhaps we all do, but only some people make it that big. And this is what we’ll discuss in today’s article.
Read on to find out how many millionaires there are globally and in the US, along with other facts and statistics.
Let’s get started, but first, let’s hop on to the top 7 fascinating millionaire statistics:
As millionaires are scattered worldwide, we decided to examine the number of millionaires across the globe and their location. Here’s what we found out:
Sources: Credit Suisse’s, CNBC
The total worth of all millionaires altogether is as much as $158.261 T.
That’s more than 42 percent of the world’s wealth all in all. Did you know that this is not more than one percent of the adult population in the world? Considering the total adult population worldwide is 7.9 bn.
This, however, makes us wonder what the percentage of self-made millionaires and the percentage of millionaires who inherited their wealth is?
Sources: Business News Daily
Wow! That’s amazing. This means that most of the millionaires weren’t born into their wealth or inherited it. They worked hard to build their equity.
Nevertheless, both self-made or born into it, they still share the same characteristics and attributes.
Source: Business News Daily
On average, they possess a bit more than $3 million in assets. However, it’s essential to note that millionaires don’t have the same path to success — Millionaires today are multi-dimensional. Therefore, to understand them, you have to look at their outlook, financial goals, and path to the wealth they took to get where they are today.
Sources: Wikipedia, ThoughtCo., History
With a net worth of $20 million (estimated at around $660 million in 2021) this German-born and raised man went to become the first millionaire in the States.
But, if you’re wondering.
What are the countries with the largest number of millionaires?
Read the following statistics and find out.
Sources: Visual Capitalist, Statista, Business Insider
In addition to this, the country also gained more or less 2.3 million NEW millionaires between 2019 and 2020, and most probably some more now in 2021. But, let us see who else has more than just a couple of hundred millionaires around the world:
– China (4.4 millionaires)
– Japan (a bit more than 3 millionaires)
– The UK (nearly 2.5 millionaires)
– Germany (around 2.2 millionaires)
Source: Nola
A report by Bloomberg stated 1.700 new millionaires are emerging every day in the USA — This is happening primarily with older Americans passing along their wealth to their children and grandchildren.
For instance, reports from 2010-2015 on US millionaires marked an increase of more than 2.2 millionaires. Further on, this increase led to over 3 million more.
If you thought every day millionaire sounded unrealistic, then now you’d know that it is a real thing. EVERY day, somebody becomes a millionaire.
Now let’s dig deeper to access the net worth of millionaires. But first, let’s learn about the percentage of millionaires who inherited wealth.
Sources: Ramsey Solutions, 12news
This indeed blows that theory out of the water that US millionaires have inherited wealth. When in fact, the vast majority of millionaires have no inheritance at all.
So, if they haven’t inherited it, what is the average income of a millionaire?
Source: Zip Recruiter
The most recent reports from April (2021) reported American millionaires to earn more or less $78.000 per year.
In other words, this translates into nearly $37 an hour, which equals $1.498 weekly, or $6.493 a month.
Zip Recruiter reported that most of the millionaire jobs category range between $52.500 (the first quartile) to $100.000 (the third quartile). However, the top earners make a fantastic $100.000 yearly.
Now let’s take a look at the percentage of wealth controlled by millionaires.
Source: Inequality.org
This is a huge percentage of wealth, frankly speaking.
A report published by Capgemini World Wealth showed that individuals with wealth between one and five million in investment assets make up the largest share of world millionaires – approximately (44%).
As we have discussed the millionaire net worth statistics, let’s focus on ultra-high net worth individuals.
Let’s find out what is the share of the world’s ultra-wealthy population by region?
Source: Statista
Mind-blowing, indeed. Even more when knowing they make a total share of fifty percent of the world’s ultra-wealth individuals. However, let us have a look at how well the other regions rank up in terms of ultra-wealthy individuals:
Source: Statista
The numbers as mentioned above point out to a shocking revelation—That’s nearly half of the complete number of ultra-high net worth individuals (UHNW) across the globe.
When talking about the ultra-wealthy, here are some interesting statistics of leading billionaires in the world.
Sources: Statista, Statista Richest People in America, Forbes
Did you know that his net worth is no less than $197 bn? You do, now.
Jeff Bezos is the sole creator and CEO of none other but Amazon – The world’s largest retailer. We can add Blue Origin to his list of creations too.
In addition to this, let us check some more (not as) wealthy billionaires like Mr. Bezos, but still billionaires.
Source: Investopedia
He needs no introduction, the CEO and founder of Tesla. There are other companies in his ownership too:
I know what you are thinking. What is Bill Gates’s current worth? Let’s move to the following statistic to find out.
Source: Town & Country, Investopedia
The well-known Microsoft owner. Even though he isn’t at the top of the list as the wealthiest billionaire globally, he still ranks among the wealthiest of them all—with a net worth of $124 bn as of 2020.
Anyway, as of recently, Bernard Arnault ranks before Bill Gates. Mr. Arnault, the CEO and Chairman of LVMH has an estimated net worth of $150 bn.
This section will focus on demographics such as US millionaires by age and millionaires per state. This will most certainly be a section you’d enjoy reading as we provide you with all the details.
So, first things first, what is the average age of a millionaire with assets?
Sources: Spend Me Not, The Gentlemans Journal
This is almost the same as the average age recorded for millionaires globally.
But, since we are on the subject, why not determine the average age for a 1st-time millionaire?
Following the results by Betway Insider, the average age for a millionaire debutant is thirty-seven.
Source: Spend Me Not
Opposed to a mere one percent of American millionaires who are below the age of 35. This signifies that it takes years of hard work and plenty of time to pass before reaching millionaire status.
Look at the bright side of things, since the average age of becoming a millionaire is more or less 65, and if you are 30 or 35 now, you have at least thirty more years to realize your dream of becoming a millionaire.
Moving further on, this is what we discovered while researching millionaires by state:
Source: Kiplinger
For the second time, New Jersey stays America’s sweetheart for residing among American millionaires. The total number of millionaire households in New Jersey is precisely 323.443, while the concentration of millionaires is nearly 10 percent.
The average income of all millionaire households in New Jersey is around $82.000. It seems like the high median income of millionaires in New York is owed to the proximity to New York City. But interestingly enough, not all millionaires are located near the Big Apple.
Many of the New Jersey millionaires are situated in the farther south and the metro area.
Source: Kiplinger
The concentration of millionaires here is no less than 9.72 percent, with slightly more than $83.000 average income for all median households.
Maryland continues to occupy the number 2 position for the last two consecutive years. The Old Line State continues to rank among the top three states for the highest millionaire households.
Since the USA is known as a melting pot, we decided to learn about millionaires by race and diversity.
After looking at the following statistics, you will be shocked to see the vast racial disparity.
Sources: Spend Me Not, The Millionaire Choice, Statista
Compared to the mere 8 percent of millionaires that occupy Asians and Black Americans. Whereas Hispanics make no more than 7 percent of the total American millionaire population.
But, are you as interested as I am in finding out the odds of becoming a millionaire based on our race and degree of education?
Here is an overview of the chances of becoming a millionaire with a high school degree by race:
Source: Financial Samurai
A study based on data by the Federal Reserve showed that Asians had six percent chances of realizing their dream of becoming a millionaire. Let’s see how do the other races stand when it comes to becoming a millionaire solely by earning a high school degree:
Do you know what this means? It means that if you don’t have a high school degree, you will not stand a chance of becoming a millionaire (and that goes for all races).
Source: Financial Samurai
The stat mentioned above is the highest among all races. Let’s check out how the other races pass the validation process if they have an associate degree in their pocket:
Meaning, Hispanic and people from the Black community have equally ‘strong’ chances of becoming a millionaire as much as they have a shot with just a high school degree.
Nevertheless, let’s read through some more statistics for millionaires by race:
Source: Financial Samurai
On the other hand, Hispanic people have a somewhat higher chance of ever having a million under their name (four percent). The people belonging to the Asian race are setting the bar higher, and at least sixteen percent of them can
consider themselves lucky and become millionaires eventually. However, the ones with the highest chances, hopes too are Caucasians, with eighteen percent.
But once again, from the data mentioned, Hispanics and Blacks still have a long way to go – the chances for them are relatively low.
This makes us wonder what the odds of becoming a millionaire if you have a master’s degree is?
Here are some answers:
Source: Financial Samurai
Looking at the data on millionaires by race statistics, one thing is crystal clear: if you’re white, then your chances of becoming a millionaire are higher than anyone else’s.
Sources: Wikipedia, ABC News
With so much money at your disposal, what do you do with it? We’ll find out all about it in this section.
Source: Business News Daily
Other places where they put their money are stocks and retirement accounts. However, their main focus is to invest in places where their money can and will grow. Therefore, they are extra careful about investing large amounts of money into financial products that are likely to lose value over time, such as cars.
Source: Business News Daily
Or, no matter how much their annual salary is, most of them would put their money where it grows (as already mentioned).
With this in mind, do you ever wonder how many properties are owned by American millionaires (on average)?
Sources: Spend Me Not, Business Insider, Inman
Following Coldwell Banker’s most recent data, most of these (more precisely 92%) millennial millionaires own a single home. However, the average millennial millionaire has at least three properties. In addition to this, more than 75% of them like investing in improving their properties, i.e., residences.
Here’s an overview of millionaires and billionaires in the United States to gain access into the wealth distribution in America:
Source: Forbes
At the age of thirty, Evan Spiegel already has a net worth of eleven bn and is Snap’s CEO — A self-made billionaire.
Likewise, Bobby Murphy is thirty-two years old, with a billionaire net worth of 4.7 bn. He is none other but the co-founder of Snap and the chief technology officer.
Source: Washington Post
This is way more than half. A deep analysis based upon millionaire households indicated that nearly eighty percent of the millionaires in the USA had worked their way to the top to experience the sweet taste of success.
Now let’s look at how many Hispanic millionaires are in America?
Source: Statista
This is slightly less than the percentage of millionaires Asians, and Black Americans make up for. According to Statista’s survey, the number of Black millionaires is eight percent, Asian millionaires too, account for just eight percent.
Following these data, we are left with no more than seventy-seven percent of Caucasian millionaires, solely on the American ground.
After these statistics, you are likely to think what percent of America is wealthy; this is what we found out:
Source: Investopedia
The richest ten percent of the population has a net worth of slightly more than one million dollars. In addition to this, there has been a significant rise in the middle-class yearly average – a rise of 1.2 percent.
However, no matter the increase of the average still, it is of no surprise that the rich surpass both the middle and lower class (even if we join them altogether).
It is believed that much of the gaping difference between the poor and the rich is owed to tax breaks on income, estate, and gift taxes and the decline of labor unions in the USA.
Source: Americans ForTaxFairness
According to the latest data, the last known report with 614 billionaires made an addition to their list of at least fifty more of their kind, which leads us to a total of 664 American billionaires.
Their combined net worth is reported to be around $3 T.
The figure for billionaires has increased drastically as there were only 404 billionaires in 2010.
Their wealth has seen a remarkable increase over the years. It did, however, had a downfall of around six percent between the period of 2000 and 2010 (the reason being the Great Recession). But, in these last eleven years, it has been acting as a shooting star, boosting billionaires’ wealth of up to nearly 90%.
Sources: Spend Me Not, king5, Visual Capitalist, Forbes
HowMuchNet created a map of America’s billionaires and turned out that almost every state has its billionaire.
Just picture this: among 330 million inhabitants, there are more or less 800 billionaires. That’s way more than just a mind-blowing fact.
Worthy of mention is that there has been almost 53 percent of the total number of billionaires country-wide over the years.
Are you curious enough to determine which American states don’t have one of these mighty wealthy people?
Straight to the point, those are the following:
Sources: Kiplinger, GoBankingRates
And the reason is none other but because of their lucrative industries and large populations.
Moving further on, when it comes to black millionaires vs. white millionaires, here’s what the picture looks like:
Sources: Business Insider, Forbes
Don’t be surprised, but all the seven black billionaires are self-made. Their sources of wealth range from technology to finance and entertainment.
This, however, represents a massive gap in the ratio between black and white billionaires. There are more or less 664 billionaires, and only seven of them are black.
Sources: Spend Me Not, Statista
This figure puts the States at the top of the list of countries with the highest millionaires. For instance, just in 2018, the States welcomed 5.3 brand new millionaires.
And if we go further back to 2009, we can spot an increase of around 2.5 million – and that’s a big deal. Frankly speaking, these digits speak high of the remarkable recovery of the millionaire population in America.
Anyway, let us see
what other countries are expected to have a fast-growing wealthy millionaire population,
as follows:
Source: Business Insider
Following the World Wealth Report, this is mainly due to their government doing a great job emphasizing investments inside the country and more than just good tax regulation measurements.
However, Japan is not the only country that’s seeing a step up in its millionaire growth. Here are some more countries that are feeling powerful and rich in this domain:
These are one of the most fast-growing millionaire population countries currently.
To wrap it up, ‘how many millionaires are there?’ It shouldn’t be a question that is hanging in the air anymore. However, these are numbers bound to change sooner or later, and evidently, the number of millionaires is changing quite frequently.
In addition to this, the USA continues to lead with the highest number of millionaires and billionaires globally.
On the other hand, startling is the fact there is a vast disparity and wealth gap between white and black Americans. There are only a handful of black individuals who have earned the status of a millionaire or billionaire.
I hope we satisfied your thirst for more answers on this topic by giving you a deeper insight into how many millionaires there are.