The question of how many ultra high networth individuals in the US exist has no single answer, because different firms count them in slightly different ways. What you can say with confidence is that the United States has more of them than any other country by a clear margin.
How many ultra high networth individuals in the us: what counts as ultra high net worth
The common definition, used by firms such as Knight Frank and Altrata, is a person with at least 30 million dollars in net assets, usually not counting their main residence. Some banks use a lower or higher bar. A person with a net worth of 100 million or more is sometimes called a centimillionaire, and above a billion is a billionaire.
The rough numbers
Wealth reports published in recent years have put the number of ultra-high-net-worth individuals worldwide in the hundreds of thousands, and the United States has accounted for the largest share, often around a third or more of the global total. For the US alone, the counts in these reports have been in the low-to-mid hundreds of thousands, depending on the year and the firm. I am deliberately giving a range, since each report publishes slightly different totals and updates them annually.
Billionaires are a much smaller group. Forbes’ yearly list has shown that the United States has several hundred billionaires, more than any other country.
Why the counts differ
There are several reasons:
- Firms use different data sources and estimation models.
- Some count only liquid assets, some include business ownership.
- Currency changes and stock market swings alter the totals from year to year.
- Many wealthy people hide or structure their assets in ways that make them hard to count.
How the group has changed
Reports have generally found that the number of ultra-wealthy people grows when stock markets are strong and property values rise, and falls when they drop. The 2020s have seen growth in technology wealth, particularly from founders of companies in AI and software, and in the value of private companies.
Where they live
Within the United States, the largest numbers are in states with major financial and technology centres, such as California, New York, Texas and Florida. Florida and Texas have attracted more wealthy residents in recent years, partly because they have no state income tax.
What this group does with its money
Typical holdings include shares in the person’s business, public stocks, private equity, real estate and art. They often employ family offices, which are firms that manage investments, taxes and philanthropy for a single family.
Why it matters
Economists and policymakers study this group because of how concentrated wealth has become. The Federal Reserve’s data show that the top one percent of households hold roughly a third of all US wealth, according to its Distributional Financial Accounts. That statistic is a different measure from the count of ultra-wealthy people, but both help to describe inequality.
Questions people ask
Is an ultra high net worth individual the same as a billionaire?
No. The threshold is 30 million dollars, so the group is much larger than the billionaires.
Where do I find the latest numbers?
Look for the annual wealth reports from Knight Frank and Altrata, and Forbes’ billionaire list.
Do these counts include business owners?
Most do, since business equity is a main source of wealth for this group.
How to read a wealth report
When a new report comes out, the headline usually says the number of wealthy people has risen or fallen by a certain percentage. Look beyond the headline. Check which year the data cover, whether the numbers are in dollars or another currency, which definition of wealth the authors used and how they estimated people who do not publish their assets. Reports are produced by firms that sell services to wealthy clients, so they have a commercial interest in the topic, which does not make them wrong but is worth knowing. Comparing two reports side by side is a good way to find the range of plausible values, and it often shows that the totals agree more closely on the trend than on the exact count.
*General information, not financial advice. Counts are estimates and vary by source.*
More like this: browse our Net Worth section. For background, see the Wikipedia entry.
