More Than 1,000 Americans Per Day Earned Millionaire Status In 2024

Topline

Nearly 400,000 Americans became new millionaires last year – more than 1,000 each day – to reach a total of 24 million U.S. millionaires, accounting for some 40% of the world’s total 60 million millionaire population and more than in China and Western Europe combined, according to the UBS Global Wealth Report 2025.

Across the globe, over 680,000 individuals became new millionaires in 2024.

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Key Facts

After the United States, Mainland China had the second-highest number of millionaires, 6.3 million in total, and their number increased by approximately 380 people per day or 2.3% from 2023.

Across the globe, more than 680,000 individuals became new millionaires in 2024 – a 1.2% uptick over 2023 – yet the number of billionaires increased only slightly to 2.9 million.

Everyday MILLIonaires, called EMILLIs, with wealth between one and five million dollars, reached 52 million globally, rising more than 18% since 2019.

EMILLIs hold approximately $107 trillion in total wealth, not far below the $119 trillion in assets owned by those with over $5 million in wealth.

The Americas led the world in total personal wealth growth, rising just over 11% last year, as compared with less than 3% in the Asia-Pacific region and basically flat in the EMEA region.

At the end of 2024, the United States holds some 35% of the world’s wealth and Mainland China, owing to its large population, has about 20%, with the rest of the world making up the remaining 46%.

Key Background

In this UBS’s 16th annual “Global Wealth Report,” wealth is defined as the sum of all financial assets and tangible assets, such as real estate, owned by private individuals minus debts. While the U.S. leads the world in the number of millionaires, Switzerland has the world’s highest average personal wealth at $687,166, compared to $620,654 in the number two United States. But then, Switzerland has about 9 million residents, as opposed to 340 million in the U.S.

Big Number

5.34 million – the number of people who will join the millionaire ranks by 2029, a 9% increase over 2024.

Crucial Quote

UBS economist James Mazeau said that it is still too early to tell whether U.S. household wealth will grow at a slower rate this year. “This year could be lower than last year, but it doesn’t mean we’ll have a reversal of fortune and see negative wealth creation,” he told CNBC. “I don’t think the engines of growth are dead in the United States – far from it.”

Tangent

Despite the growth in wealth and a rapidly expanding high-net-worth target market for luxury brands, particularly in the United States, Bain and Company forecasts the global luxury goods market will shrink by as much as 5% this year, its steepest decline since the 2009 financial crisis, aside from the black swan 2020 Covid year. In 2024, the Americas accounted for some 28% of the global luxury market – $115 billion of the total $418 billion – after sales declined by 1% here. All of which proves a universal truth: people don’t get wealthy by spending their money but through disciplined saving and investing. This makes the 1996 classic The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley and William Danko as relevant as ever.