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Economy
Juliana Kaplan
2024-02-07T10:38:01Z
- America's millionaires are older, college-educated, and white.
- They have some pretty valuable houses and stock holdings.
- They're also flocking to cities such as Austin, Miami, andScottsdale, Arizona.
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Who wants to be a millionaire? Probably lots of Americans — but members of the rarefied club are likely to be white, older, and college-educated.
America's millionaires are flocking to cities such as Austin, Miami, and Scottsdale, Arizona. They're also making a return to New York City after a pandemic hiatus as lower-earning New Yorkers decide to leave.
But who are the members of America's seven-figure club? There are a lot of them, and their ranks have grown over the past few years; The Wall Street Journal found that 16 million American families held wealth of more than $1 million. Using the Federal Reserve Bank's Survey of Consumer Finances 2022 individual-level data, we took a look at the millionaires of America.
Millionaires — those who have a net worth of at least $1 million —are, perhaps not surprisingly, on the older end. They're predominantly 55 and older; just 2.4% are under the age of 35. Older Gen Xers and boomers have the millionaire market particularly cornered, with more than a quarter of millionaires in the 55 to 64 range.
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Millionaires are also very likely to hold at least a college degree, with three-quarters of them having completed college. Under 1% of millionaires didn't finish high school or a GED.
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And many millionaires have additional post-secondary education: According to BI's analysis, about 21% of millionaires hold a master's degree, and just under 17% hold a doctorate or professional school degree.
Millionaires are also mostly white, showcasing yet another example of racial wealth gaps in the US. Nearly 86% of millionaires are white. That's not constrained to just millionaires: According to the Federal Reserve, a typical white family's wealth dwarfs that of typical Black and Hispanic families, with the white family's wealth six and five times higher, respectively.
Millionaires are also predominantly homeowners, with about 95% owning houses. The average value of a millionaire's home is $982,938, suggesting many are real-estate rich — especially older millionaires who've had time to grow their home equity.
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Similarly, about 47% of millionaires hold stocks; on average, they own $949,248 in stock. Meanwhile, about 35% of millionaires hold stock mutual funds. On average, those stock mutual funds are worth $996,663. They're also socking away a good amount for retirement, with an average total value of $452,491 in individual retirement accounts or Keogh plans, which are retirement plans for those who are self-employed.
That makes sense when it comes to how America's wealthy derive and hold wealth; those with ultra-high net worths like to park their money into equities and invest in stock and real estate. That composition of wealth has become one issue for politicians who have tried to hike taxes on America's wealthy.
More than a third of millionaires have a business that they either actively or non-actively manage. Those businesses are, on average, worth $3,304,674. Businesses that millionaires actively manage are worth $2,784,236 on average; ones that they don't actively manage are worth $520,438.
And millionaires do like to splurge on some of the things you'd expect. Roughly 94% of them own a car. About 40% own two cars, and about 18% own three cars. They're also splashing out on eating out and eating at home. On average, they spend $5,286 on food away from home annually; they're also spending about $548 on average on food delivered to their houses.
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But, like many Americans, millionaires are also spending a lot on groceries: an average of $9,904 annually.
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