US (investable) millionaires by state

[candrew]

What do you mean by "ïnvestable millionaires"? I first took you to mean millionaires that invest heavily in a public vehicle like like Carl Icahn and Icahn Fund, or Buffett and Bershire. But it seems that you mean investors that have somewhere close to $mm in invest-able assets.

Is that this latter idea what you mean?

Ha

The definition of "investable millionaire" given in the article is in a bit of easy-to-miss text under the pie chart image:

* Investible assets include education/custodial accounts, individually owned retirement accounts, stocks, options, bonds, mutual funds, managed accounts, hedge funds, structured products, ETF's, cash accounts, annuities and cash value life insurance policies.

 

[pjigar]

Thank you, i find graphs easier to follow than text, and this one was pretty clear. But I wonder how much this graph would change if investable assets included non-primary real estate equity. Perhaps I read the fine-print note wrong, but this graph seems to not include successful landlords.

Yea, I am out of the graph based on the definition of investable assets.

 

[Lsbcal]

The number will be growing rapidly, thanks to the tech sector.
I just read in The Economist that the median salary at Facebook is $240K, and $200K at Alphabet.

There is something wrong with that number. Here is one link with a histogram showing the average for software engineers at $137k: https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/...ngineer-salary-SRCH_IL.0,13_IM759_KO14,31.htm

 

[MRG]

The definition of "investable millionaire" given in the article is in a bit of easy-to-miss text under the pie chart image:

* Investible assets include education/custodial accounts, individually owned retirement accounts, stocks, options, bonds, mutual funds, managed accounts, hedge funds, structured products, ETF's, cash accounts, annuities and cash value life insurance policies.

We recently had a thread that went off on the difficulty determining assets.

I worked on two large software projects that dealt with combining statements for households. We had the luxury of understanding the data structures and matching on internal account records. I'm not sure why any provider of data services would hand out an account listing to any third party. Seriously why would Fidelity, Vanguard and the othe 265 fund companies volunteer a list of their clients to someone who aggregates their data?

The likelihood of this being 50% accurate is very doubtful. JMHO

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

The interesting one is AK. 8% ish.

The cost of living in AK is also above average ... and, wages have to be high to attract workers to a climate that is less than appealing.

As a resident of the Upper Midwest, I find the contrast between Minnesota and Wisconsin interesting. While they're culturally and ethnically very similar, Wisconsin's economy is really more like Indiana's, with a large (but weakened) manufacturing sector. Minnnesota hosts a lot of merchandising and service industries to complement its large agricultural sector. It's also the headquarters for 17 Fortune 500 companies. Wisconsin has nine.

Another standout, to me, is Utah. Did the wealthy there achieve because of their social conditioning, or does the money represent recent arrivals?

 

[COcheesehead]

The cost of living in AK is also above average ... and, wages have to be high to attract workers to a climate that is less than appealing.

As a resident of the Upper Midwest, I find the contrast between Minnesota and Wisconsin interesting. While they're culturally and ethnically very similar, Wisconsin's economy is really more like Indiana's, with a large (but weakened) manufacturing sector. Minnnesota hosts a lot of merchandising and service industries to complement its large agricultural sector. It's also the headquarters for 17 Fortune 500 companies. Wisconsin has nine.

Another standout, to me, is Utah. Did the wealthy there achieve because of their social conditioning, or does the money represent recent arrivals?

Big start up state. Not a lot of "big" companies, but lots of medium - small companies and ground zero for multi level marketing companies.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

Big start up state. Not a lot of "big" companies, but lots of medium - small companies and ground zero for multi level marketing companies.

I think the St. George area is also attracting a lot of snowbirds.

 

[cathy63]

We recently had a thread that went off on the difficulty determining assets.

I worked on two large software projects that dealt with combining statements for households. We had the luxury of understanding the data structures and matching on internal account records. I'm not sure why any provider of data services would hand out an account listing to any third party. Seriously why would Fidelity, Vanguard and the othe 265 fund companies volunteer a list of their clients to someone who aggregates their data?

The likelihood of this being 50% accurate is very doubtful. JMHO

I don't know how reliable the data is, but if you keep drilling down, here's where it originally came from: "Estimates of millionaire households provided by Phoenix Marketing International, a firm that tracks the affluent market. Investable assets include education/custodial accounts, individually owned retirement accounts, stocks, options, bonds, mutual funds, managed accounts, hedge funds, structured products, ETFs, cash accounts, annuities and cash value life insurance policies. Data on household incomes and home values are from the U.S. Census Bureau. Living costs are based on the Council for Community and Economic Research's Cost of Living Index. Tax information is as of 2017."

 

[bobandsherry]

Here's cited source for data, provides more details by state:

https://www.kiplinger.com/slideshow...es-in-america-all-50-states-ranked/index.html

 

[CaliKid]

Confirms a million is really just a number. It means very little today. Meant a lot 50 years ago.

 

[cathy63]

The number will be growing rapidly, thanks to the tech sector.
I just read in The Economist that the median salary at Facebook is $240K, and $200K at Alphabet.

There is something wrong with that number. Here is one link with a histogram showing the average for software engineers at $137k: https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/...ngineer-salary-SRCH_IL.0,13_IM759_KO14,31.htm

These are two very different things. The median numbers braumeister quoted come from the company financial statements. They are total compensation amounts across all employees in all disciplines and include benefits, commissions, bonuses, etc.

The glassdoor averages are self reported salary numbers from the subset of software engineers who happen to visit glassdoor and choose to provide their salary.

 

[ER Eddie]

I'm in a poor state, so I'm one of the elite. Woohoo.

Doesn't really matter. Compared to most people who've ever lived, we are incredibly fortunate. Even up to 100 years ago, the vast majority of people lived in complete poverty. Even most of our poor people are well off, compared to most poor people in the world.

 

[Amethyst]

Alaska has only 800K population and no state income tax. I wonder if "population" includes military who declare domicile there? Married couples, who are higher-ranking career military, could surely accumulate $1M investible assets between them.

The cost of living in AK is also above average ... and, wages have to be high to attract workers to a climate that is less than appealing.

 

[USGrant1962]

Confirms a million is really just a number. It means very little today. Meant a lot 50 years ago.

It still means you are in the top 5% or so not even including home equity - I wouldn't call that very little. It is also worth, conservatively, say 35,000 to 40,000 per year which is above the median net wage in the U.S. of ~$31,000,

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

Alaska has only 800K population and no state income tax. I wonder if "population" includes military who declare domicile there? Married couples, who are higher-ranking career military, could surely accumulate $1M investible assets between them.

Hm. Where do old Army/Air Force officers go to retire? My uncle enlisted in the Army at 16 (a long time ago, early 1930s) and retired an Air Force major. His first move after the service was to a place within commuting distance to DC, because he'd landed a job doing business with the Pentagon.

 

[kgtest]

Would be interesting to see a pie of each state's % of earners below poverty. Then we also see the worst of the worst alongside the best of the best. To me that is more interesting. If you are a millionaire in my state you've essentially accomplished what 9/10 other people could not.



I wonder though...for DF in his situation, he holds all the assets for him and DM. So Mom looks very poor in terms of investments, dad looks very rich...but if you combine them, they even out a bit.


EDIT: nevermind, this chart is labelled HH so that is the entire house's assets.

 

[Rianne]

Yikes, 6.2% in Illinois? That seems unreal considering Chicago and suburbs. I'd think the % would be much higher.

 

[braumeister]

Hm. Where do old Army/Air Force officers go to retire?

It varies widely, but my guess is that many of them head for states that don't tax their military retired pay.

States that Do & Don’t Tax Military Retirement Pay

Scroll down on this page and you can see a map with the number by state:
States Compete for Military Retirees

 

[COcheesehead]

I think the St. George area is also attracting a lot of snowbirds.

Yep, agree.

 

[bobandsherry]

Hm. Where do old Army/Air Force officers go to retire? My uncle enlisted in the Army at 16 (a long time ago, early 1930s) and retired an Air Force major. His first move after the service was to a place within commuting distance to DC, because he'd landed a job doing business with the Pentagon.

Based on my neighbors and friends around me, Florida would be my answer.

 

[bobandsherry]

Would be interesting to see a pie of each state's % of earners below poverty. Then we also see the worst of the worst alongside the best of the best. To me that is more interesting. If you are a millionaire in my state you've essentially accomplished what 9/10 other people could not.

Not a pie, but does this help?

Population Below Poverty Level by U.S. State - FactsMaps

 

[Surewhitey]

I'm in a poor state, so I'm one of the elite. Woohoo.

Doesn't really matter. Compared to most people who've ever lived, we are incredibly fortunate. Even up to 100 years ago, the vast majority of people lived in complete poverty. Even most of our poor people are well off, compared to most poor people in the world.

We live in complete poverty when we are not on vacation...

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

Based on my neighbors and friends around me, Florida would be my answer.

Obviously, they can retire anywhere they want. I've always heard that San Diego and South Carolina are popular with retired Navy veterans, although I have nothing empirical to back that up.

But the topic is millionaire career military veterans, which suggests a pretty elite rank. Here's the prospects for many of them, according to a 2010 Boston Globe story:

"From 2004 through 2008, 80 percent of retiring three- and four-star officers went to work as consultants or defense executives, according to the Globe analysis. That compares with less than 50 percent who followed that path a decade earlier, from 1994 to 1998."

If they're working for Raytheon, based in Bethesda, MD, or General Dynamics or Northrup Grumman, both of Falls Church, VA, they'd be retiring to the DC area if they want to be close to their j*bs. Of course, other big defense contractors are based far from DC, but the contracts are coming out of the Pentagon.

On the other hand, a few ex-generals open ski lodges in Vermont, and then it doesn't snow. That's when Bing holds a telethon.

 

[HFWR]

“Investible assets” as defined here would exclude lots of “millionaires next door” types, with assets in real estate, equipment, and inventory, as well as “good will”...

 

[NW-Bound]

Not a pie, but does this help?

Population Below Poverty Level by U.S. State - FactsMaps

See how people get poorer as you go down in latitude, from the northern states to the southern ones. Keep going, and one sees how people do in countries near the equator.

The same general trend happens in Europe and Asia. I am sure this phenomenon has been observed, and treatises written on it. Is it because when you worry about freezing your buns off in the winter you have to save in order to have enough to keep them warm?