(Bloomberg) -- New York’s growing class of millionaires is more than making up for the loss of high earners during the pandemic.
A strong economy helped mint an additional 17,500 millionaire households between 2020 and 2022, according to a report from the Fiscal Policy Institute. That’s far more than a net migration loss of 2,400 millionaires during the same period, the report shows.
The flight of high-profile billionaires and wealthy financiers from New York during the pandemic spawned a narrative that wealthy Americans were fleeing high-levy states for sunshine and low taxes in the Sun Belt. There was a 78% year-over-year spike in the out-migration of high-earners, or those making at least $815,000 annually, from New York City in 2020, according to FPI, a left-leaning policy organization.
But the latest data shows New York is not struggling to retain its most affluent, said FPI Executive Director Nathan Gusdorf. Rather, the number of millionaire households has swelled, thanks in large part to 2021’s blockbuster year for financial markets. That year, the collective income of tax filers with more than $1 million in income rose 40% year-over-year to $407.5 billion, according to FPI.
The report also found that, contary to popular brief, the majority of high earners who left New York did not move to low-tax states but to other high-tax states such as Connecticut, New Jersey and California. That includes the top 1% of earners, 73% of which left New York for another high tax state, the report found.
To contact the author of this story:
Paulina Cachero in New York at [email protected]