by Zoe Rosenberg
The yearly Knight Frank's Wealth Report that surveys the movements of the global ultra-rich has been released (h/t CityLab), and—truly, surprise!—New York City's status amongst the moneyed elite has dropped three places to rest as the number four city most populated by individuals who have amassed over $30 million in personal wealth. What's eyebrow-raising is that as of 2013, 7,580 of these Ultra High Net Worth Individuals (UHNWI) lived in New York. That number is now 3,008 and all of them live in 15 Central Park West. Whether the plummet has to do with the rise of other global cities, or whether it has to do with a change in methodology behind the report (which accounts for assets like yachts, real estate, private jets, and really, really expensive art and wine) is unclear. London topped the 2015 list as the global city with the highest number of UHNWI, followed by Tokyo and Singapore.
When wealth in cities is looked at on a per-capita basis, or in the context of how many UHNWI are in the city compared with Average Joe's, New York City barely makes it into the top 20. For every 100,000 people in New York City, there are 15 people with more than $30 million. Comparatively, the much smaller population of Geneva has way more wealthy people per capita: nearly 144 people in every 100,000 in the Swiss banking city have amassed $30 million. Here's a scary thought: these UHNWI are crazy wealthy, but a few of them probably can't afford to buy any one of the slew of nine-digit-ask apartments coming to the city.