Money

Most Americans Hit “Peak Income” More Than 15 Years Ago

Published

8 years ago

November 19, 2015

Jeff Desjardins

After adjusting for inflation, the majority of Americans are worse off today than they were decades ago. The map below shows that median household income actually peaked at least 15 years ago in 81% of U.S. counties.

Most Americans Reached

This visualization of household incomes is from an interactive map created by the Washington Post that allows users to zoom in on individual counties to see how income has changed over the years.

Some of the more interesting revelations include:

Income peaked one year ago for many of the counties that are a part of the shale boom. This includes much of North and South Dakota, as well as parts of Texas, Nebraska, and Oklahoma. Income in Washington, D.C. and neighboring Arlington County also peaked then.
In 1999, a total of 1,623 counties had their households reach peak income. The majority of these counties are in the Midwest and Southeast.
The most southern part of California and parts of New England both peaked around 25 years ago.
Many states along the Rocky Mountains such as Wyoming and Montana had counties that peaked roughly 35 years ago.
Household income peaked in upstate New York, the northern tip of California, and southern Nevada at the same time that humans were first landing on the moon in 1969.

Related Topics:money America united states washington peak income household income

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Money

Charted: Which City Has the Most Billionaires in 2024?

Just two countries account for half of the top 20 cities with the most billionaires. And the majority of the other half are found in Asia.

Published

3 hours ago

April 25, 2024

Pallavi Rao

A cropped bar chart ranking the top 20 cities with the most billionaires in 2024.

Charted: Which Country Has the Most Billionaires in 2024?

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

Some cities seem to attract the rich. Take New York City for example, which has 340,000 high-net-worth residents with investable assets of more than $1 million.

But there’s a vast difference between being a millionaire and a billionaire. So where do the richest of them all live?

Using data from the Hurun Global Rich List 2024, we rank the top 20 cities with the highest number of billionaires in 2024.

A caveat to these rich lists: sources often vary on figures and exact rankings. For example, in last year’s reports, Forbes had New York as the city with the most billionaires, while the Hurun Global Rich List placed Beijing at the top spot.

Ranked: Top 20 Cities with the Most Billionaires in 2024

The Chinese economy’s doldrums over the course of the past year have affected its ultra-wealthy residents in key cities.

Beijing, the city with the most billionaires in 2023, has not only ceded its spot to New York, but has dropped to #4, overtaken by London and Mumbai.

Rank	City	Billionaires	Rank Change YoY
1	🇺🇸 New York	119	+1
2	🇬🇧 London	97	+3
3	🇮🇳 Mumbai	92	+4
4	🇨🇳 Beijing	91	-3
5	🇨🇳 Shanghai	87	-2
6	🇨🇳 Shenzhen	84	-2
7	🇭🇰 Hong Kong	65	-1
8	🇷🇺 Moscow	59	No Change
9	🇮🇳 New Delhi	57	+6
10	🇺🇸 San Francisco	52	No Change
11	🇹🇭 Bangkok	49	+2
12	🇹🇼 Taipei	45	+2
13	🇫🇷 Paris	44	-2
14	🇨🇳 Hangzhou	43	-5
15	🇸🇬 Singapore	42	New to Top 20
16	🇨🇳 Guangzhou	39	-4
17T	🇮🇩 Jakarta	37	+1
17T	🇧🇷 Sao Paulo	37	No Change
19T	🇺🇸 Los Angeles	31	No Change
19T	🇰🇷 Seoul	31	-3

In fact all Chinese cities on the top 20 list have lost billionaires between 2023–24. Consequently, they’ve all lost ranking spots as well, with Hangzhou seeing the biggest slide (-5) in the top 20.

Where China lost, all other Asian cities—except Seoul—in the top 20 have gained ranks. Indian cities lead the way, with New Delhi (+6) and Mumbai (+3) having climbed the most.

At a country level, China and the U.S combine to make up half of the cities in the top 20. They are also home to about half of the world’s 3,200 billionaire population.

In other news of note: Hurun officially counts Taylor Swift as a billionaire, estimating her net worth at $1.2 billion.