HAVANA, Cuba.- In the top 50 of the richest cities in the world, the United States has once again surpassed China and Australia, placing ten cities on the list. The first place in the ranking, which evaluates 97 cities from nine regions, is occupied by New York, which in 2022 welcomed around 340 millionaires. It is followed by Tokyo, the California Bay Area, London and Singapore.
The report published by the consultancy specialized in migration and investment, Henley & Partners, indicated that the pre-eminence of New York is due to the large number of people with high net worth who decided to settle there between 2021 and 2022. The increase was approximately 40%, similar to that of Singapore, although this city finished behind Shanghai, Houston, Dubai and Mumbai.
Behind the supremacy of the North American giant is China, which managed to classify five cities in the ranking. Third place is covered by Australia, with four.
The United States reaffirmed its leadership in an even more elitist category, since the California Bay Area concentrated the highest number of billionaires (63 in total), who have been fascinated by the proximity of Silicon Valley and the beautiful and cosmopolitan city from San Francisco.
China, for its part, led in terms of the sustained increase, over a period of ten years, in the number of high net worth individuals, mainly in the city of Hangzhou.
Miami and West Palm Beach, Florida, also made the list due to the large number of business leaders and financial firms that chose to settle in the south of the state during the pandemic. That decision led to a 75% and 90% increase, respectively, in high net worth individuals. It was also felt in the real estate market, which has become more expensive to the point that the inhabitants must allocate, on average, almost 80% of their income to cover the cost of rent.
In the last places of the top 50 appear cities such as Moscow, which, due to the war in Ukraine and the sanctions imposed by the West, lost 44% of the millionaires who lived there. The same thing happened in Saint Petersburg, which experienced a 38% drop.
