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35+ Millionaire Statistics: Facts & Resources for 2023

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.

Top 7 Fascinating Millionaire Statistics (Editor’s Pick)

  • There are close to 47 million millionaires in the world.
  • Eighty-eight percent of millionaires worldwide are self-made.
  • More than 1.500 (or exactly 1.700) new millionaires are produced every day in the USA (as older Americans pass along their wealth.)
  • The millionaires with five million net worth hold slightly over 56 percent of the world’s total millionaire wealth.
  • North America, with nearly 106.000, is the home to the most number of the world’s ultra-wealthy individuals.
  • The average age of American millionaires is no more than 62 years.
  • The New York and Los Angeles areas are where most millionaires in America live.

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:

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:

1. There are close to 47 million millionaires in the world.

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?

2. Eighty-eight percent of millionaires worldwide are self-made.

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.

3. Overall, the current millionaires in the world are slightly over 60 years old.

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.

4. John Jacob Astor was the first millionaire ever in the United States.

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.

5. With more than 18.5 million individuals who own more than a million, the US has the largest number of millionaires worldwide.

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)

6. More than 1.500 (or exactly 1.700) new millionaires are produced every day in the USA (as older Americans pass along their wealth.)

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.

Millionaire Net Worth Statistics

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.

7. No more than twenty-one percent of millionaires received whatsoever inheritance at all.

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?

8. On average, American millionaires earn around $78.000 annually.

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.

9. The millionaires with five million net of worth hold slightly over 56 percent of the world’s total millionaire wealth.

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%).

Ultra-High Net Worth Statistics

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?

10. North America, with nearly 106.000, is the home to the most number of the world’s ultra-wealthy individuals.

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:

  • the second-largest share is captured by Asia (83.310),
  • followed by Europe with nearly 78.000.
  • The Middle East has no more than 9.780.
  • Latin America and the Caribbean together are the hosts of 8.260.
  • The Pacific (nearly 4.000),
  • and Africa with exactly 2.620.

11. Nearly 84.054 individuals with net assets of around fifty million dollars were situated in North America (2019).

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.

12. Jeff Bezos is the richest billionaire in the world as of 2021.

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.

13. Elon Musk is the second-wealthiest billionaire with a net worth of no less than $151 bn.

Source: Investopedia

He needs no introduction, the CEO and founder of Tesla. There are other companies in his ownership too:

  • Space Exploration Technologies, worth nearly $30 bn in private assets.
  • Boring Company, worth $101 million private assets.

I know what you are thinking. What is Bill Gates’s current worth? Let’s move to the following statistic to find out.

14. Bill Gates ranks among the wealthiest billionaires globally with not humble at all 124 bn.

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.

Millionaire Demographics

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?

15. The average age of American millionaires is no more than 62 years.

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.

16. More or less, 38 percent of the US millionaires are above the age of sixty-five.

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:

17. The top spot for millionaires per capita in the United States of America is New Jersey.

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.

18. Maryland, with 221.189 households, is ranked second on the list of millionaires by state.

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.

Millionaires by Race

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.

19. Seventy-six percent of American millionaires are Caucasian.

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:

20. Asians, with six percent, have the highest chances of becoming a millionaire with a high school degree only.

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:

  • Caucasian (White) has a percent less than Asians – (five percent),
  • followed by Hispanics with as low as two percent,
  • and Blacks with just one percent.

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).

21. The chances of becoming a millionaire with an associate’s degree by race is a very high seven percent among Whites.

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:

  • Asian people have the second-highest chances of at least three percent,
  • followed by Hispanics with just two percent,
  • and Blacks with a low one percent.

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:

22. Black people have the lowest chances (three percent) of ever becoming a millionaire, even if they have a bachelor’s degree.

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:

23. Whites have 38 percent chances of becoming millionaires if they hold a master’s degree.

Source: Financial Samurai

  • Asians have twenty-seven percent chances of becoming millionaires.
  • The chances for Hispanics are not higher than eleven percent.
  • And Blacks have only six percent chances of becoming a millionaire, with a master’s degree on their side.

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.

Millionaires Investors Statistics

24. The total net worth of all millionaires worldwide (2019) was nearly $158.3 T.

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.

25. Millionaires invest their money mainly in their own property and mutual funds.

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.

26. The millionaire’s business mantra is to save money before spending it.

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)?

27. The American millennial millionaires own at least three properties with an estimated worth of 1.4 million.

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.

American Millionaire Statistics

Here’s an overview of millionaires and billionaires in the United States to gain access into the wealth distribution in America:

28. America’s youngest billionaires are Snap founders Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy.

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.

29. More or less, eighty percent of American millionaires didn’t come into wealth.

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?

30. Hispanics make up only seven percent of the total millionaire population in the US.

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:

31. The bare minimum net worth to belong to the richest one percent is estimated at around 11.1 million (2019).

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.

32. There are an astonishing 664 billionaires in the United States (2020).

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%.

33. No less than fourteen of the wealthiest billionaires in the world live in the United States of America.

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:

  • New Mexico
  • Alabama
  • Alaska
  • North Dakota
  • Vermont
  • Rhode Island
  • New Hampshire
  • and Delaware.

34. The New York and Los Angeles areas are where most millionaires in America live.

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:

35. Only seven of the American billionaires are of African origin.

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.

Growth Rate of Millionaires

36. The USA added no more or less but exactly 675.000 new millionaires from 2018 to 2019 alone.

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:

37. Japan, with eleven percent, is marking the greatest increase of millionaire population growth on a global level.

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:

  • The United States – is still at the top of things when producing million-dollar rich people.
  • Germany – this is a European millionaire star on the rise. The country that had more than just an excellent 2014, when it took away the title of being the biggest exporter (285 bn in trade surplus).
  • China – with such an enormous population, this was something we had it coming. However, according to the latest World Wealth Report, China’s economy seems to embrace kind of a slow pace.
  • The United Kingdom – still wears the millionaire crown up high. Why wouldn’t it? This is a country with a solid and massive finance center.

These are one of the most fast-growing millionaire population countries currently.

Conclusion

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.