Which City Is the Richest in the World?

▲San Jose skyline

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] San Jose in Silicon Valley, USA, was named the city with the highest proportion of ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWIs) with assets exceeding $30 million (approximately 33.9 billion KRW) worldwide.

On the 4th (local time), MarketWatch reported citing the latest report from research firm Wealth-X that the proportion of UHNWIs with over $30 million in San Jose was one in every 727 residents last year. This is the highest level globally.

Following San Jose, Basel, Switzerland ranked second with one UHNWI per 776 residents.

Next were Hong Kong (one per 787 residents), Geneva (one per 880 residents), Zurich (one per 924 residents), San Francisco (one per 1,186 residents), Seattle (one per 1,519 residents), Boston (one per 1,589 residents), Bridgeport in Connecticut, USA (one per 1,655 residents), and New York (one per 135 residents).

However, when not considering population ratios and looking at the cities with the highest number of UHNWIs, New York ranked first with 11,475 individuals, followed by Hong Kong, Tokyo, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Paris, Washington, Osaka, and Dallas.

Last year, the global number of UHNWIs reached 295,450, an increase of 1.7% compared to the previous year.

Among high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) with assets over $1 million (approximately 1.1 billion KRW), only 1.2% are UHNWIs, but their combined assets amounted to $35.5 trillion, accounting for 34% of the wealth held by those with over $1 million.

Wealth-X evaluated that the increase in the number of UHNWIs last year reflects the deepening wealth polarization following the COVID-19 pandemic.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.