The ‘Richest’ U.S. City Probably Isn’t Where You Think It Is

There are more than five million millionaires in the U.S. Where do most of them live?

If your mind goes to major metropolises like New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago or Houston, you’re on the right track: All of the above boast high numbers of millionaire households.

However, wealth can be measured in different ways, and when considering the percentage of millionaire households relative to a city’s total population—along with other key wealth indicators—the “richest” U.S. cities might not be where you’d expect.

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Property management company Evernest examined personal income, cost of living, homeownership rate, percentage of households with $1 million-plus investable assets by state and median household income by state across 45 U.S. cities to determine the wealthiest ones.

Through weighted and normalized indicators, the study produced an overall richness index indicator and final index score that ranked the cities from richest to least wealthy.*

The analysis revealed Baltimore, Maryland, as the “richest” city in the U.S. Baltimore has the highest rate of households with more than $1 million in investable assets at 9.92% and the highest median household income by state at $97,501.

^{Image Credit: Kruck20 | Getty Images. Baltimore, Maryland.}

Related: These 10 Cities Are the Richest in the U.S. — Here’s How Many Millionaires And Billionaires Live in Each

Boston, Massachusetts and Newark, New Jersey took the second and third spots, respectively. Boston’s percentage of households with more than $1 million in investable assets stands at 9.6%, and Newark’s at 9.89%. Both cities’ median household incomes come in just below $97,000.

Minneapolis, Minnesota and Anchorage, Alaska, have the highest homeownership rates, at 74% and 67.2%, respectively.

Related: The 9 U.S. Cities with the Most Billionaires, from Famous Glitzy Locales to Newer Hot Spots for Ultrarich Residents

Check out Evernest’s full list of findings on the “richest” U.S. cities below:

*These indicators were normalized to ensure comparability across cities, with values like personal income and cost of living adjusted based on the minimum and maximum values. The data was then min-max scaled between 0 and 1, with 0 representing the lowest and 1 the highest values within the dataset.