Austin has boomed in the last decade, drawing in more and more wealthy citizens from around the US, and building its status as a thriving tech hub.
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New York City and Los Angeles don't have quite the same appeal to the global elite as they had before – instead, cities like Austin, Scottsdale, and West Palm Beach are drawing in huge numbers of millionaires.
US migration patterns of the world's wealthiest people are changing as the country undergoes what investment-migration consultancy Henley & Partners dubs a "millionaire remix."
"Sensationalist headlines occasionally crop up about an impending millionaire exodus from America due to higher taxes, crime, or other domestic concerns," Mehdi Kadiri, head of North America at Henley & Partners, wrote in its USA Wealth Report 2024.
"However, the data shows net inflows remaining sturdily positive over any multi-year period. Rather than wholesale fleeing, what we observe today is more of a 'millionaire remix' within America."
The report noted that the growing number of millionaires living in the US was "buoyed by relentless immigrant influx not just across the Southern border, but from skilled migrant talent chasing the enduring American dream."
The data in the report, provided by wealth-intelligence firm New World Wealth, reflects both international and domestic migration, as well as the growing number of people actually becoming millionaires.
These are the five areas in the US with the fastest-growing millionaire populations, measured as the places with the largest percentage growth in their millionaire populations.
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The pandemic saw an exodus of workers from traditional business hubs like New York City and San Francisco's Bay Area, but the latter's millionaire population has still grown significantly over the past decade.
The number of millionaires living in the Bay Area grew by 82% to about 306,000 between 2013 and 2023, according to Henley & Partners' report. This suggests a increase of about 136,000 millionaires in the space of just 10 years.
The Bay Area encompasses the cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. Perhaps most notably, the area is home to the tech hub of Silicon Valley, where the headquarters of companies including Google parent company Alphabet, HP, Intel, Nvidia, and PayPal are all located.
But some residents and business leaders say that San Francisco is suffering a massive decline, citing concerns about crime and homelessness. San Francisco's population fell 7.5% over the pandemic, according to US Census Bureau estimates.
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The millionaire population of Greenwich and Darien grew by 84% to about 12,500 between 2013 and 2023, according to the report.
Greenwich and the neighboring smaller town of Darien are located either side of Stamford on Connecticut's Gold Coast. A number of hedge funds and financial-services companies are located in Greenwich, which has consistently been ranked as one of the US' wealthiest towns. Because of its proximity to New York City, a number of Wall Street bankers have homes there.
According to US Census Bureau data, Greenwich had around 64,000 residents while Darien had about 22,000 as of July 2022.
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The number of millionaires living in Palm Beach and West Palm Beach grew by 93% to 10,200 between 2013 and 2023, according to the report.
West Palm Beach has a population of about 121,000, while Palm Beach has just 9,000 residents, per US Census Bureau data. The former's population grew by about 21% between 2010 and 2022, the data shows.
Migration to Palm Beach County, a major retiree and snowbird hub, was already high pre-2020. But it accelerated further during the pandemic as remote workers sought a sunnier climate, low taxes, and a better work-life balance during lockdown.
Mayors in the county previously told Business Insider that businesses — especially financial services companies — relocated there because of its pro-business environment and active groups such as its Chamber of Commerce and Business Development Board. Elliott Investment Management relocated its headquarters from Manhattan to West Palm Beach during the pandemic.
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The number of millionaires living in Scottsdale also doubled in the past decade, growing by 102% between 2013 and 2023, according to Henley & Partners' report. It currently has around 14,500 millionaires, the report says.
The wealthy desert city is located close to Phoenix and surrounded by golf clubs.
"Scottsdale is home to a growing number of exclusive golf and lifestyle estates and is attracting large numbers of tech entrepreneurs from California as well as wealthy retirees," Andrew Amoils, head of research at New World Wealth, wrote in the report.
As of July 2022, the city had a population of nearly 250,000, according to US Census Bureau estimates.
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The number of millionaires living in Austin has more than doubled over the last decade.
Between 2013 and 2023, the number of millionaires living in the capital of the Lone Star State grew 110% to an estimated 32,700, according to data in the report.
The city is also home to 92 people worth more than $100 million and 10 billionaires, the report says.
Migration to Austin has boomed in recent years, including a surge of people moving to Texas during the pandemic. As of July 2022, the city had a population of about 975,000, according to estimates from the US Census Bureau, representing an increase of nearly a quarter since 2010, or about three times higher than the overall US population growth.
Austin has a booming tech scene. Oracle and Tesla both moved their headquarters to the city during the pandemic and Apple, Facebook, and Google all have large presences there. Part of the city has even been dubbed the "Silicon Hills."
Austin also plays host to the South by Southwest Music Festival each year and has considerably lower living costs than the likes of New York City and Los Angeles.
But some tech workers say they regret moving to the city, citing factors including extreme temperatures, traffic, overcrowding, and what they described as a disappointing tech scene.
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New York City's millionaire population grew by 48% between 2013 and 2023, compared to a massive 110% jump for Austin.
But the city still has the highest number of millionaires in the US. As of December 2023, about 350,000 millionaires called New York City their home — around 45,000 more than the Bay Area, which has the second-biggest millionaire population. Austin, in comparison, had just 32,700 millionaires as of December, per Henley & Partners' report.
Amoils, the head of research at New World Wealth, said that the company expected Salt Lake City and the Floridian cities of Tampa and Naples to attract rising numbers of wealthy people in coming years.
Have you moved to – or from – one of the cities on the list? Contact this reporter at gdean@insider.com.
