Not all millionaires are inherently rich in New York City.
According to financial services company Charles Schwab’s annual Modern Wealth Survey, an asset of at least $3.3 million is required to join the Big Apple’s paperon club.
NYC, which is notoriously one of the most expensive places in the country, ranks third overall among American cities with the highest bar to be considered wealthy. Coming in first place is San Francisco, where the threshold between individuals of ordinary and extraordinary wealth is set at an impressive 4.7 million, and second is the Southern California region including LA and San Diego ($3.5 million).
To be regarded as affluent in Frisco, one needs to have a net worth of $4.7 million. That’s down from $5.2 million since the poll last year, but it’s still far more than the median household net worth in the US, which is $121,700, according to the most current statistics from the Federal Reserve.
In spite of these impressive figures, 48% of Americans claim to feel affluent with an average net worth of $560,000. In a related vein, 7 out of 10 Americans surveyed believe that wealth has less to do with net worth and more to do with not worrying about money.
Nearly two thirds of poll participants indicate that, rather than having a lot of money, what wealth means to them is enjoying connections with loved ones. And approximately 66% of those surveyed agree that time is more valuable than money.
Here are the 10 U.S. big cities where the ‘wealthy’ threshold is highest:
- San Francisco: $4.7 million
- Southern California (Los Angeles & San Diego): $3.5 million
- New York City: $3.3 million
- Seattle: $3.1 million
- Washington, DC: $3 million
- Boston: $2.9 million
- Denver: $2.5 million
- Phoenix: $2.4 million
- Chicago: $2.3 million
- Dallas: $2.3 million
