Where the Multi-Millionaires Live

Posted: 07 Mar 2012 10:03 AM PST

: Associated Press

For wealth management firms, Ferrari salesman and gold diggers of both genders, knowing where the millionaires live can be a useful statistic.

This week, the IRS released its stats on which states have the largest number of residents with a net worth of $2 million or more. They are:

California – 329,000 (or 1.2% of total adult population)

New York – 160,000 (or 1.1% of the adult population

Florida – 155,000 (or 1.2% of total adult population)

Texas – 100,000 (or 0.6% of total adult population)

Illinois – 83,000 (or 0.6% total adult population)

New Jersey – 71,000 (or 1.1% of total adult population)

Pennsylvania – 57,000 (or 0.6% of total adult population)

Massachusetts – 51,000 (or 1% of total adult population)

Ohio – 50,000 (or 0.6% of total adult population)

Virginia – 49,000 (or 0.8% of total adult population)

There are two take-aways from the list, which is from 2007 (the latest data available). First, it largely tracks population. Eight of the top 10 richest states are also among the top 10 most populous. ( Georgia and North Carolina are top 10 by population but not by wealth. New Jersey and Virginia 11 and 12 by population).

The second is that the number of multi-millionaires may be very different from the concentration of multi-millionaires, i.e. the number of rich people per capita. (Ferrari salesman and wealth managers call this “high-net-worth density.”) For that ranking, Wyoming holds the top spot, with only 6,000 multi-millionaires accounting for 1.5% of the state's population. Ranked second was Connecticut, with 1.3%, followed by New Hampshire, Vermont and then California.

How do you think the wealth map has changed since 2007? Will California or New York gain or lose?