This State Has More Millionaires Per Capita Than Any Other

America is often described as a patchwork of cultures and economic strata, which is another way of saying that prosperity clusters in certain states far more than in others. The result is a striking gap in how many wealthy households call each state home.

Some U.S. states have dramatically more millionaire households than others. Narrowing down the data makes it possible to identify the single state with the greatest millionaire density: the highest share of million-dollar-net-worth households relative to its total number of households.

Where do the most millionaires actually live in America? What draws so many high-net-worth households to a single state? The seemingly obvious candidates would be California, New York, or Connecticut. The correct answer is likely to surprise you.

Lush Wealth in the Garden State

The American state with the most millionaires per capita is New Jersey. According to Statista data sourced from Kiplinger, the Garden State has roughly 246,000 households with a net worth of at least $1 million, translating to 9.76% of all New Jersey households. California and New York both have far larger absolute counts of millionaire households, but their enormous populations dilute those numbers on a per-household basis.

New Jersey’s lead is narrow rather than commanding. Maryland finished second with 9.72% of households crossing the million-dollar threshold, while Connecticut came in third at 9.44%. Still, the Garden State edged out 49 others to claim the top spot, including several states widely assumed to be wealth magnets. For broader context, a 2026 ranking by Phoenix Marketing International using investable assets (excluding primary residence) places New Jersey even higher, at 10.8% of households, with Maryland at 10.4% and Connecticut at 10.3%.

Being millionaire-dense and being millionaire-friendly are two very different things, and New Jersey illustrates that tension vividly.

Geography Attracts Prosperity

New Jersey’s wealth concentration owes a great deal to location. The state sits squarely between New York City and Philadelphia, putting two of the country’s largest labor markets within commuting range. For a high-net-worth household seeking space, good schools, and relative calm, suburban New Jersey offers many of the economic benefits of those metro areas without the cost or density of living inside either city.

New Jersey is home to 15 Fortune 500 companies on the 2026 list, including Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ | JNJ Price Prediction), ranked 42nd nationally with $94.2 billion in 2025 revenue, Merck (NYSE:MRK) at 66th, and Bristol Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) at 96th. For executives and senior professionals in the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors, New Jersey is a practical home base: close to major employers, yet outside New York City proper.

Property values add another dimension. According to the Tax Foundation’s 2026 data, New Jersey carries an effective property tax rate of 1.88% on owner-occupied housing, tied with Illinois for the highest in the nation. The average annual property tax bill crossed $10,000 for the first time in 2024, landing at a record $10,095. Those bills are steep, but the same elevated home values that drive them also push homeowners’ net worth upward, particularly for households that have held property for decades.

A Taxing Financial Issue

Despite its millionaire-density title, New Jersey’s tax environment presents a genuine challenge for wealthy residents, and recent policy changes have sharpened that pressure considerably.

Since 2020, any New Jersey resident with annual taxable income exceeding $1 million has faced what is informally called a “millionaire’s tax,” with a state income tax rate of 10.75% on those earnings. That rate applies to income between $1 million and $5 million. Income above $5 million was already taxed at 10.75% before the 2020 expansion took effect.

The burden on real estate transactions has grown as well. Legislation signed by Governor Murphy on June 30, 2025, and effective July 10, 2025, overhauled the state’s “mansion tax” in two significant ways. Payment shifted from buyers to sellers, and the old flat 1% rate gave way to a tiered structure. Sellers now pay 1% on properties between $1 million and $2 million, with rates stepping up progressively to a cap of 3.5% on sales above $3.5 million. The updated tax is projected to generate more than $550 million annually for state programs.

Tax pressure is already visible in migration patterns. According to the Tax Foundation’s analysis of IRS data, New Jersey lost a net $2.56 billion in adjusted gross income to interstate migration during the 2022-2023 period, ranking fourth among states for filer losses, behind only California, New York, and Illinois. That figure actually reflects an improvement from the record $5.27 billion net AGI loss New Jersey posted for 2021-2022, but the cumulative drain has been substantial. Florida and Texas, both with no state income tax, remain the top destinations for departing wealth.

Many millionaires stay in New Jersey because of family ties, career anchors, and unmatched access to the New York City metro. Others are quietly recalculating whether the trade-off remains worthwhile. For now, the Garden State holds its title as America’s most millionaire-dense state, but the forces working against that standing are real and have been building for years.

Editor’s note: This pass corrected New Jersey’s effective property tax rate from 2.23% to 1.88%, reflecting the Tax Foundation’s current 2026 data, and updated the IRS AGI outmigration figure to $2.56 billion to match the Tax Foundation’s precise 2022-2023 calculation. It also added Phoenix Marketing International’s 2026 household data placing New Jersey at 10.8%, and noted Johnson and Johnson’s $94.2 billion in 2025 revenue alongside its Fortune 500 rank of 42nd.

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