Rarified air
Number of super-wealthy millionaires in Dallas surged in 2020, report says
Not everyone had a bad 2020. A new report says the ranks of the super-wealthy in Dallas expanded impressively last year, with the growth rate surpassing the likes of New York City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
A study released April 15 by Wealth-X shows Dallas was home to 32,715 "very-high-net-worth individuals" — those with a net worth of $5 million to $30 million — last year. Globally, that puts Dallas in 10th place among cities for the population of super-wealthy people. (New York City ranks first, with 121,610 people falling into that category.)
Even more notable than Dallas’ sheer number of super-wealthy residents, though, is its trajectory in this rarified air.
In just one year’s time, the area’s crowd of very-high-net-worth individuals jumped by 12.6 percent. Only Boston (12.7 percent) and Washington, D.C. (13 percent) saw bigger year-over-year increases among the top 10.
By comparison, the super-wealthy population surged 9.3 percent in New York, 9.8 percent in Los Angeles, and 11 percent in San Francisco.
Wealth-X, which provides data and analysis about wealthy consumers, says its “very-high-net-worth individual” description applies to folks like entrepreneurs, corporate executives, business owners, retirees, and heirs. (The report does not name who they are in Dallas.)
Not to be confused with "ultra-high-net-worth" individuals, those with a net worth of more than $30 million, like Dallas billionaires Jerry Jones and Mark Cuban.
Dallas has plenty of those, too. On Forbes’ most recent list of the world’s billionaires, Dallas-Fort Worth leads Texas metro areas with 27 people in that stratosphere.
In North America, the number of very-high-net-worth individuals rose 7.1 percent from the previous year, largely due to the growth of technology companies, which has created new VHNW individuals, Wealth-X says.
“North America bolstered its status as the world’s leading VHNW region in 2020, recording the most dynamic population growth and wealth gains of any region,” the report says.
Around the world, more than 80 percent of very-high-net-worth individuals are self-made millionaires, according to the report. Eighty-four percent of these individuals are men, and more than 60 percent are 50 to 70 years old.
“The global VHNW population rose by 1.3 percent in 2020 — a resilient performance set against the backdrop of a global pandemic and the deepest contraction in world economic output for a generation.”
