25 Small Towns With Big Millionaire Populations

Large concentrations of high-net-worth households are found in surprising locales across the U.S. Check out the latest list of American small towns teeming with well-to-dos.

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A million bucks in liquid assets isn't what it used to be, but it's still really hard to amass.

Back out things such as the value of real estate (the bulk of most folks' wealth is tied up in their homes), employer-sponsored retirement plans and business partnerships, and only 6.7% of American households qualify as millionaires.

To clarify: That means they have at least $1 million in investable assets. Examples of investable assets include cash, stocks, bonds and funds, among a bunch of other types of investments and financial products.

By raw numbers, most millionaires in America can be found in and around big cities such as New York, Los Angeles and Chicago – just as you would expect. But high concentrations of millionaires can be found in some far-flung places too.

Phoenix Marketing International, a firm that tracks the affluent market, annually ranks 933 urban areas, large and small, based on the percentage of millionaire households in each location. The following list of cities is limited to "micropolitan" areas, which the Census Bureau defines as urban clusters with populations between 10,000 and 50,000, "plus adjacent territory that has a high degree of social and economic integration with the core as measured by commuting ties."

In some cases, these locations benefit from being popular recreational areas or havens for wealthy retirees. In others, a particular industry drives local wealth. Either way, these are the 25 smallest cities and towns boasting the highest concentrations of millionaire households in the U.S. And just for good measure, we're also providing some important tax and cost-of-living information.

Disclaimer

Small cities and towns are listed by percentage of millionaire households, from lowest to highest. Estimates of millionaire households provided by Phoenix Marketing International. Investable assets include education/custodial accounts, individually owned retirement accounts, stocks, options, bonds, mutual funds, managed accounts, hedge funds, structured products, ETFs, cash accounts, annuities and cash value life insurance policies. Data on household incomes and home values come from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Dan Burrows
Senior Investing Writer, Kiplinger.com

Dan Burrows is Kiplinger's senior investing writer, having joined the august publication full time in 2016.


A long-time financial journalist, Dan is a veteran of SmartMoney, MarketWatch, CBS MoneyWatch, InvestorPlace and DailyFinance. He has written for The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Consumer Reports, Senior Executive and Boston magazine, and his stories have appeared in the New York Daily News, the San Jose Mercury News and Investor's Business Daily, among other publications. As a senior writer at AOL's DailyFinance, Dan reported market news from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange and hosted a weekly video segment on equities.


Once upon a time – before his days as a financial reporter and assistant financial editor at legendary fashion trade paper Women's Wear Daily – Dan worked for Spy magazine, scribbled away at Time Inc. and contributed to Maxim magazine back when lad mags were a thing. He's also written for Esquire magazine's Dubious Achievements Awards.


In his current role at Kiplinger, Dan writes about equities, fixed income, currencies, commodities, funds, macroeconomics, demographics, real estate, cost of living indexes and more.


Dan holds a bachelor's degree from Oberlin College and a master's degree from Columbia University.


Disclosure: Dan does not trade stocks or other securities. Rather, he dollar-cost averages into cheap funds and index funds and holds them forever in tax-advantaged accounts.