Money
Mapping the World’s Wealthiest Cities
The Top 15 Cities Globally Hold $24 Trillion in Wealth
That’s about 11% of the world’s total private wealth
The Chart of the Week is a weekly Visual Capitalist feature on Fridays.
Which cities are the world’s economic powerhouses, and what portion of global wealth is located in these key urban centers?
Today’s chart pulls information from the latest report from market research firm New World Wealth, which we previously cited weeks ago when we visualized the shift in global wealth over the last decade.
The World’s Wealthiest Cities
The data shown in this chart represents the total amount of private wealth held by all the individuals living in each of these cities.
Figures here include all assets (property, cash, equities, business interests) less any liabilities. Meanwhile, government funds are excluded from these figures.
Rank | City | Total Wealth |
---|---|---|
#1 | New York City | $3.0 trillion |
#2 | London | $2.7 trillion |
#3 | Tokyo | $2.5 trillion |
#4 | San Francisco Bay Area | $2.3 trillion |
#5 | Beijing | $2.2 trillion |
#6 | Shanghai | $2.0 trillion |
#7 | Los Angeles | $1.4 trillion |
#8 | Hong Kong | $1.3 trillion |
#9 | Sydney | $1.0 trillion |
#10 | Singapore | $1.0 trillion |
#11 | Chicago | $988 billion |
#12 | Mumbai | $950 billion |
#13 | Toronto | $944 billion |
#14 | Frankfurt | $912 billion |
#15 | Paris | $860 billion |
New World Wealth also mentions that there were eight cities that just missed out on the top 15: Houston, Geneva, Osaka, Seoul, Shenzhen, Melbourne, Zurich and Dallas.
It should also be made clear that wealth is a different measure than Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which is another common metric used to gauge economic power. That said, we do have a list of U.S. cities by GDP size if you’d like to explore the GDP measure on a city level, as well.
Wealth Past and Present
According to the same report, over last 10 years, the cities with the fastest growing rates of wealth were San Francisco, Beijing, Shanghai, Mumbai, and Sydney.
Meanwhile, Mumbai is expected to be the city that will see the highest rate of growth over the next decade.
Interestingly, the report also singles out two major Chinese cities as ones to watch:
Shenzhen: With $770 billion in wealth, this city just misses the Top 15 list. It’s considered the high tech capital of China and is home to the Shenzhen stock exchange (2nd largest in China, and 8th largest in the world). Major smartphone manufacturer Huawei is also based in the city.
Hangzhou: With $425 billion in wealth, this city doesn’t quite measure up to others on the list at first glance. However, it’s actually only a 45 minute train ride away from Shanghai ($2.0 trillion) – and people that work in Shanghai often have homes here as it is considered more scenic. Hangzhou is the fastest growing major city in China (in terms of wealth growth), and ecommerce giant Alibaba notably calls the city its home, as well.
Money
Visualizing All of the U.S. Currency in Circulation
This graphic illustrates the amount of U.S. currency in circulation globally, by denomination, based on data from the Federal Reserve.
Visualizing All of the U.S. Currency in Circulation
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.
Have you ever wondered how much U.S. currency is in circulation?
Every year, the U.S. Federal Reserve submits a print order for U.S. currency to the Treasury Department’s Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP). The BEP will then print billions of notes in various denominations, from $1 bills to $100 bills.
In this graphic, we’ve used the latest Federal Reserve data to visualize the approximate number of bills for each denomination globally, as of Dec. 31, 2022.
Breakdown of U.S. Currency in Circulation
The following table lists all of the data we used to create the visualization above. Note that value figures were rounded for simplicity.
Type of Bill | Number of notes in circulation (billions) | Value ($B) |
---|---|---|
$1 | 14.3 | $14B |
$2 | 1.5 | $3B |
$5 | 3.5 | $18B |
$10 | 2.3 | $23B |
$20 | 11.5 | $230B |
$50 | 2.5 | $125B |
$100 | 18.5 | $1,850B |
$500-10,000* | 0.0004 | n/a |
*$500-10,000 bills are listed as a range, and a total circulation of 0.0004 billion. Not included in graphic.
From these numbers, we can see that $100 bills are the most common bill in circulation, even ahead of $1 bills.
One reason for this is $100 bills have a longer lifespan than smaller denominations, due to people using $100 bills less often for transactions. Some businesses may also decline $100 bills as payment.
Based on 2018 estimates from the Federal Reserve, a $100 bill has a lifespan of over 20 years, which is significantly higher than $1 bills (7 years) and $5 bills (5 years).
If you’re interested in more visualizations on the U.S. dollar, consider this animated chart which shows how the dollar overtook the British pound as the world’s most prominent reserve currency.
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