Even millionaires rent in today’s expensive real estate market.
RentCafe, an apartment search site, found that the number of millionaire renter households increased by 229% when comparing U.S. Census Bureau estimates for 2020 to 2024 with data from 2016 to 2020. This exceeds the 193% increase in millionaire homeowner households during the same period.
RentCafe defines “millionaire renters” as households with an annual income of at least $1 million who rent an apartment or house.
The company found that nearly half of millionaire renters are millennials, although the number of millionaire renters in Generation Z has grown the fastest since 2020. While New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles remain the largest centers of millionaire renters, Southern metro areas are experiencing the fastest growth.
Doug Ressler, business intelligence manager at Yardi Matrix, the company behind the RentCafe report, told Business Insider that while Western metros like Riverside and Santa Cruz, Calif., and Northeastern metros like Utica and Syracuse, N.Y., are losing millionaire renters, Southern metros are adding millionaire renters, thanks in large part to their job markets.
“These declines are at the intersection of immigration, wealth creation, lifestyle choices and renting as a transition or capital strategy,” Ressler said. “As corporate headquarters move south, more executives are moving there. Many are renting to own, which is helping to drive growth in higher-income households and millionaires in the region.”
Over the past few years, many companies, including Tesla, Oracle, Charles Schwab and Palantir, have moved their headquarters or opened new offices in Texas and Florida, bringing their employees with them. So it’s no surprise that some of the largest growth in millionaire renters are in these two states. Here are the top 10 cities for millionaire renters.