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
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.
Charted: Which Country Has the Most Billionaires in 2024?
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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.
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