States With the Highest Rate of Millionaires per Capita

Data

Note: Who Counts as a Millionaire and Why It Varies by State

A millionaire household holds more than one million dollars in assets. The definition used in studies like this one is specific: it counts investable assets such as stocks, bonds, cash, retirement accounts, and other liquid holdings, but it leaves out the value of the primary home. That matters because a person living in an expensive house without much cash on hand is not counted the same way as someone sitting on a big investment portfolio.

Where Millionaire Rates Are Highest

• New Jersey leads the country with roughly one in ten households holding more than a million in investable assets.
• Maryland and Connecticut are effectively tied just behind New Jersey, near 9.7 and 9.4 percent.
• Massachusetts and Hawaii round out the top five, both just above 9 percent.
• The District of Columbia places inside the top six despite its small size.
• New York, home of Wall Street, still lands in the top 12 but not near the top.
• California, with the most millionaires by total count, ranks only seventh on a per-capita basis.

Why Per Capita Beats Total Count

California and New York hold the greatest number of millionaires in absolute terms because they are enormous states. Ranking them per household levels the playing field and reveals the real concentration of wealth. A state like New Jersey produces a dense cluster of wealthy professionals near New York City and the pharmaceutical and finance hubs that line the region, which pushes its per-capita rate to the top.

What Drives the Rankings

• Professional services, finance, and technology jobs create investable wealth quickly.
• People with high incomes tend to cluster near major employment centers.
• Retirement-heavy states like Hawaii see wealthy retirees boost the local household rate.
• Cost of living shapes the mix: a portfolio that is modest in one region can be scarce in another.
• Housing wealth is excluded, so states with soaring home prices but modest savings rank lower.
• Tax attractiveness draws wealthy households to places like Florida, Nevada, and Texas.

A Few Cautions on the Data

This ranking reflects the share of households holding over a million in investable assets, and it comes from a widely quoted private index rather than a government census. Millionaire rates shift every year with the stock market, so a strong or weak year for markets moves the numbers at the margins. The practical takeaway is more about the ordering and the concentration patterns than the last decimal point on any single state.

What It Tells a Job Seeker or Saver

• Where you live changes how far a savings plan goes toward the million-dollar mark.
• High-wealth regions signal strong professional and finance opportunity.
• State tax policy affects how much of your gains you keep.
• Being a millionaire household is about investable assets, not just home price.
• A balanced index and steady saving are how most households get there.
• Many of these households built wealth over years of investing, not from a single event.

Fun Facts

• New Jersey's rate approaches roughly 10 percent of all its households.
• Nearly one in every eleven households there holds a seven-figure investable nest egg.
• New York State falls behind smaller neighbors on a per-capita basis despite hosting Wall Street.
• The same threshold of a million dollars buys much more in a low-cost state.
• Inclusive of homes, the millionaire picture looks different from this pure investable-assets ranking.
• The top dozen states all exceed a 7.5 percent millionaire household rate.