Why New York is the city with the most billionaires in the world

It has been another golden year for New York City, as the Big Apple reconfirms its two records as the city with the most millionaires and billionaires in the world.

According to Forbes' latest ranking, New York is the fast-paced, glossy, multicultural home to a whopping 110 billionaires.

With a never-seen-before $694 billion in amassed net worth (and adding nine new names since last year) and a record-breaking ratio of 1 millionaire for every 24 residents, the city reconfirmed its status as the ultimate playground for the rich and famous.

Moscow and Hong Kong tie for 2nd place, both home to 72 billionaires. 

Mumbai follows closely, as the Indian city gained 13 new billionaires last year and reached a total of 69.

But why New York, of all places?

Despite the challenges that brought global markets to their knees in recent years, the rich are richer than ever.

The high-net-worth population thrived in 2024, with Forbes welcoming 141 new inductees to their Billionaires List while two-thirds of the existing names increased their finances.

Nearly half of the world's 2,781 ultra-high-net-worth individuals reside in the United States.

And - although the crown for the wealthiest person in America goes to Texas-resident Elon Musk - 90% of the 813 mega-rich in the United States have one thing in common: a 10001 Zip Code.

Who made the list?

Topping the ranks of wealthy New Yorkers is former mayor Michael Bloomberg, who made his fortune through media conglomerate Bloomberg LP.

Bloomberg’s net worth stands at an astounding $104.7 billion, making him the city’s richest resident and among the Top 10 wealthiest individuals in the United States.

Koch Industries heir and mother-of-three Julia Koch follows immediately after. The Iowa-born philanthropist moved to New York in the 1980s and, today, she is renowned for her charitable contributions and her work for Koch Inc., as well as serving in the boards of the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

While most of the affluent New Yorkers amassed their fortunes through hedge funds, private equity, media, and real estate, the list also features food production and the fashion industry.

Notable cases are:

• Fourth-generation heir of the Mars confectionery fortune Valerie Mars and her three sisters. Today, Mars is the company's vice president of corporate development
• Leonard Lauder, Chairman Emeritus of his family's beauty colossus Estée Lauder Companies
• Ralph Lauren, who gained international fame for his namesake fashion empire

According to 2024 Census data, the wealthiest and in-demand neighbourhoods are Hudson Yard, Tribeca and the Upper East Side.

A slice of the Big Apple: New York’s records

New York City boasts a timeless charm and plenty of record titles. 

From the Brooklyn Bridge to Midtown, here's a bite-sized overview of some of the most remarkable records set by the city that never sleeps:

• It has the largest known gold repository in the world. 
  New York City is famously opulent, but not everybody knows that the city houses the largest monetary gold custody in the world: the vault of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York lies 80 feet below sea level at 33 Liberty Street, Manhattan. As of 2019, the bank guarded 497,000 gold bars.

• NYSE is the world’s largest stock exchange. 
  It’s no surprise that Wall Street’s New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) stands out as the world’s most valuable equities market — and Capitalism’s ultimate boss. Located in the heart of the Financial District, the famous trading floor boasted $13.39 trillion in global market capitalization as of December 2010.

• In the city, you can find delicious cuisine… with a hefty price tag!
  NYC was the stage for some of the world’s most expensive desserts, including the most expensive cheesecake ever. Chef Raffaele Ronca’s lavish creation at Ristorante Rafele was an extravaganza of buffalo ricotta, white truffle, 200-year-old Cognac and gold leaf. Meanwhile, Industry Kitchen offers the most expensive pizza commercially available: caviar and 24k gold leaves.

• Another must-visit location for yummy records is Upper East Side’s hotspot Serendipity 3. In the restaurant, diners can sample the world’s most expensive fries, bleached in Dom Perignon Campagne and sprinkled with gold,  and even a $214 grilled cheese sandwich (the most expensive sandwich ever). If you fancy a sweet treat, Joe Calderone's kitchen also offers a premium Swarovski-encrusted milkshake.
  Have a look at the menu.

• Forget Leo DiCaprio and the Wolves of Wall Street: Raven the Chimp is the real deal.
  In the 90s, this six-year-old chimpanzee outperformed most of her human colleagues and became the most successful chimpanzee on Wall Street. Raven climbed the ranks and became the 22nd most successful broker in the U.S., with a 213% gain rate. Her infallible method for picking stocks? Throwing darts at a list of 133 internet companies.

• Manhattan's real estate can be brutal, with little space at sky-high prices, forcing developers to get creative. 
  The perfect example of such inventiveness soars right in the heart of the infamous Billionaire’s Row: the record-breaking Central Park Tower, the tallest residential building in the world.
  This luxury tower stands at 472 meters (1,550 feet), boasting 179 opulent apartments and plenty of amenities — including a rooftop pool and an exclusive club on the 100th floor.

• Midtown Manhattan's Central Park Tower is also the world’s largest cantilevered building ever created.
  Lording over the southern side of Central Park, the 225 West 57th Street building includes a massive cantilever (the horizontal extension). The construction extends over the American Fine Arts Society to maximize the view over Central Park.

• Another construction record was set just five minutes from the Central Park Tower. Steinway Tower, a lavish complex just at the corner between 6th Avenue and 57th Avenue, became the most slender building ever in 2019.
  The 84-storey skyscraper is 435.3 m (1,428 ft) tall but only 18 m (59 ft) wide at its base, giving it a stunning slenderness ratio of 1:24. A skinny legend, indeed!

• It may be heaven on earth for every fashionista, but opening a business on Fifth Avenue is no joke: renters here face the most expensive rent for shop space in the world. After the initial 2017 report, Cushman & Wakefield confirmed 2024 prohibitive rental rates, with Milan’s Via Montenapoleone and London’s New Bond Street coming in second and third place.
  However, the landmark also hosts the largest individual bookstore: 18th Street's massive Barnes & Noble Bookstore.

Hungry for more American superlatives?
Discover the Superlative States, the first-ever archive with some of our favourite US achievements, and find out which state holds the most records.

So... why is New York the wealth capital?

New York was not built in a day. 

In fact, New York’s very own name didn't exist before 1664.

Before the English took over in 1664, it was New Amsterdam: a fur-trading post funded in 1626 by Dutch settlers, who occupied the area of modern-day Governors Island. 

Today, what drives the ultra-rich to the city seems to be its financial prospects and cutting-edge business opportunities, especially for immigrants, which meet a vibrant cultural climate and international allure.

According to the Independent’s art market report, the "City that Never Sleeps" also pioneers the international art trade.

"In 2019, the United States accounted for 44% of art market sales worldwide," reads the study, "with New York City alone responsible for up to 90% of that volume."

Notably, many art auction records have been set in New York.

Among them:

• The most expensive painting sold at auction, Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi, was sold for $450,312,500 (£343,033,000) at Christie’s in November 2017. 
• The previous record was similarly achieved in New York, in 2015. Christie’s auction saw Picasso’s Les Femmes d’Alger breaking the record (later shattered by Da Vinci’s painting) with a stellar $179,365,000 (£116,395,198) sale.
• Similarly, the most expensive photograph sold at auction was Man Ray’s Le Violon d'Ingres, sold in New York City for $12,412,500 (£10,156,156). The 1924 photograph previously belonged to New York collectors Rosalind and Melvin Jacobs. The image celebrates both Ray’s admiration for French artist Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (part of the playful reference in the title) and the photographer's liaison with model and muse Kiki de Montparnasse.

While New York has entered the collective imagination as the city where everything is possible, its pricey living and housing costs are everything but romantic. 

A two-bedroom apartment in Manhattan (not even in the Billionaire’s Row) averages nearly $5,000 per month. Living in the city is especially pricey for families, with childcare costs spiking way above the National benchmark. 

It’s no surprise that many decide to commute from the neighbouring state of New Jersey since the perks of living in the city come with a prohibitive cost.

What is certain is that the city that never sleeps continues to attract and fascinate, as the lines between wealth, dreams, and opportunity blur in a unique, record-breaking melting pot of cultures. 

What city did you want to see on the list?