Maricopa County: 3rd most millionaire households in the U.S. (Phoenix: home, live in)

[ipsedixit]

According to a new survey from research company TNS, the East Coast counties have once again lost out to the West when it comes to minting millionaires.
The study analyzed the 10 counties with the highest number of millionaire households. California and other Western states had seven of the top 10 spots, with California dominating. New York rounded out the bottom with two spots. Here are the counties by rank — note that TNS defines millionaire households as those with at least $1 million in net worth, not including primary residence:

Rank County Millionaire Households
1 Los Angeles Co., Calif. 261,081
2 Cook Co., Ill. 168,422
3 Maricopa Co., Ariz. 126,394
4 Orange Co., Calif. 115,396
5 Harris Co., Texas 107,513
6 San Diego Co., Calif. 100,727
7 King Co., Wash. 75,616
8 Santa Clara Co., Calif. 72,932
9 Nassau Co., N.Y. 71,869
10 Suffolk Co., N.Y. 71,343


The Wealth Report - WSJ.com : California Boasts Most Millionaires

[HX_Guy]

Impressive...I wouldn't have guessed it was even in the top 10.

[MichaelinWA]

Not that impressive. Isn't Maricopa County like the third or fourth most populous county in the nation?

[movin'on]

Originally Posted by MichaelinWA

Not that impressive. Isn't Maricopa County like the third or fourth most populous county in the nation?

5th largest city, so you do have a point.

[joninaz]

It's a bit misleading due to the geographical footprint of Maricopa, which is one huge county - 9,222 square miles. People who I work with in New York City not only live in many different counties, but also different states. If you laid down a 9,200 square mile grid over it or many other areas, you'd find much higher numbers for those population clusters.

[HX_Guy]

It's not misleading because it's not about comparing square miles but about population. Take the same thing you just said...taking a grid and laying it over the NYC area and then compare that population to that of Maricopa County.

[YAZ]

And Michigan wasn't even in the top ten?

[MichaelinWA]

The ranking is a little misleading. Los Angeles and Cook Counties are the two most populous counties in the nation. They also have the most millionaires. Is that really news? It would be more informative to see a millionaires per capita ranking.

Originally Posted by HX_Guy

It's not misleading because it's not about comparing square miles but about population. Take the same thing you just said...taking a grid and laying it over the NYC area and then compare that population to that of Maricopa County.

[silverbear]

Maricopa is the fourth most populous county in the country. It's therefore not surprising that it ranks just above that in terms of millionaire population. Keep in mind that if you take home values and 401ks into account, millionaires are no longer rare. It would probably be necessary to go to a higher threshold to find true centers of wealth.

As for New York, keep in mind that the New York Metro Area is divided among over a dozen counties. Each borough of New York City is a county, and there are numerous suburban counties in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania. The New York millionaire population is divided among those counties, whereas most of the Phoenix Metro Area is located within Maricopa County.

Bottom line: Maricopa seems right on target with its number of millionaires. The ranking is nearly proportionate to its ranking as an overall population center. A more interesting comparison would be in terms of number of individuals worth over $10,000,000 or $100,000,000.

[scottie]

I also think this could be a little mis-leading for reasons that a few previous people stated. To me LA, Chicago, New York, and Miami would seem to all have more millionaires than Phoenix/Maricopa county. I wouldnt be surprised if Orange County, SF Bay area, and a DC county were ahead of Maricopa county either. But in this one, I guess theyre not. Some of these studies seem to all show different results.

To me, I have no idea how Miami-Dade County and Orange County arent ahead of Maricopa