A million bucks might not go as far as it once did, but it still gains you entry into an elite club. Only 5.8% of the country, or about 7.2 million households, qualify as actual millionaires. That’s defined as having investable assets of $1 million or more, excluding the value of real estate, employer-sponsored retirement plans and business partnerships.
Most of these wealthy households can be found in big cities such as New York, Los Angeles and Chicago – just as you would expect. But some millionaires prefer to avoid the hustle and bustle of major metropolises. Indeed, pockets of millionaires can be found in some pretty far-flung places.
Phoenix Marketing International, a firm that tracks the affluent market, recently ranked 934 urban areas, both large and small, based on the percentage of millionaire households in each. The following list of cities is limited to so-called “micropolitan” areas, which the Census Bureau defines as urban clusters with populations between 10,000 and 50,000, plus adjacent territory that has a high degree of social and economic integration with the core as measured by commuting ties.
In some cases, these locations benefit from being recreational areas or havens for wealthy retirees. In others, a particular industry drives local wealth. Either way, these are the 20 smallest cities and towns boasting the highest concentrations of millionaires in the U.S.
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Estimates of millionaire households provided by Phoenix Marketing International. Investable assets include education/custodial accounts, individually owned retirement accounts, stocks, options, bonds, mutual funds, managed accounts, hedge funds, structured products, ETFs, cash accounts, annuities and cash value life insurance policies. Data on household incomes and home values are from the U.S. Census Bureau.
