Which industries in California produce the most new millionaires in recent years?
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Executive summary
California’s recent millionaire growth is concentrated in tech-driven metros—especially the Bay Area and Los Angeles—where the Bay Area alone had about 342,400 millionaires and saw a 98% increase since 2014; California overall added an estimated 66% more people reporting $1 million+ income between 2019–2021, per IRS/Bloomberg reporting cited in state press [1] [2]. Sources point to technology, finance/management, real estate/home‑equity gains, and manufacturing/advanced industry as the leading engines of new millionaires in the state [3] [4] [5] [6].
1. Tech’s central role: Silicon Valley created the bulk of recent high‑net‑worth gains
Multiple reports single out Bay Area technology as the primary factory for new millionaires and billionaires; the Henley & Partners/New World Wealth data note the Bay Area’s 342,400 millionaires and an almost doubling of millionaire counts over a decade, and Forbes/Chron coverage of top Californians shows most top fortunes come from tech [1] [7] [3]. Trade and advocacy pieces also quantify tech’s outsized economic footprint—one analysis credits the tech sector with nearly $623.4 billion in GRP in 2022, underscoring why stock-based wealth creation in startups and public tech firms has been a leading path to seven‑figure net worth [8].
2. Finance, management and professional services: steady wealth creators beyond pure tech
Beyond engineers and founders, banking, finance and management roles have driven millionaire growth in some California metros and in places Californians are moving to; reports note that growth in millionaire populations in other cities was tied to banking, finance and management industries, and national wealth reports rank finance as a frequent source of high‑net‑worth households [9]. This shows that while tech dominates headline counts, finance and management produce substantial numbers of new millionaires through salaries, bonuses, and investment income [9].
3. Home‑equity millionaires: housing appreciation turned homeowners into millionaires
Academic analysis from the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) documents how rising home prices created a large class of “house‑rich” millionaires—more than 700,000 households had $1M+ in home equity in 2020, with estimates reaching about 1.2 million by 2022 after price appreciation—meaning real estate itself, not just wages or stock, converted ordinary Californians into millionaires [4]. That dynamic differs from earnings‑based millionaires and skews older and toward long‑time owners [4].
4. Manufacturing, clean energy and advanced industry: growing but smaller headline effect
Manufacturing leads global billionaire creation over the past decade and California has large manufacturing output (a governor’s office note cites $405.6 billion in output and 1.24M workers), and state investments—nearly $100M in tax credits to scale advanced manufacturing and $120M for industrial projects—signal a push to grow higher‑paying sectors that can produce new wealth [5] [6] [10]. Available sources do not quantify exactly how many recent California millionaires came directly from manufacturing gains, but state policy and global patterns show manufacturing and clean‑tech are strategic wealth sources [5] [6].
5. Entertainment and creative industries: durable local millionaire pools, concentrated in L.A.
Los Angeles remains a major hub for high‑net‑worth households tied to entertainment and creative industries; reporting on millionaire counts shows L.A. had over 220,600 millionaires and significant growth [1]. While tech may outpace entertainment in creating new billionaires, Hollywood and media continue to sustain and grow millionaire counts through content deals, streaming payouts and production company exits [1].
6. Migration and taxation: inflows, outflows and measurement caveats
IRS‑based coverage and state reporting show California added millionaires even amid reported outmigration—Bloomberg/IRS figures used in state press indicate a 66% rise in taxpayers reporting $1M+ from 2019–2021 despite people leaving the state [2]. But movement of ultrawealthy (some high‑profile executives relocating) complicates counts: some reporting shows billionaires and tech elites moving to places like Nevada, and different data sources measure residence, tax filings and household wealth differently, producing divergent pictures [11] [2]. Analysts must therefore distinguish income‑year millionaires, wealth‑by‑assets millionaires, and home‑equity millionaires when attributing industry origins [4] [2].
7. What the sources disagree on or don’t say
Sources consistently flag tech as the dominant creator of high wealth, but they diverge on scale and mechanism: Henley & Partners and Forbes emphasize concentration of fortunes in the Bay Area [7] [3], while PPIC highlights home‑equity millionaires as a separate, large group created by housing markets [4]. Available sources do not provide a precise, single breakdown by industry of how many new millionaires were created each year in California; there is no unified industry‑by‑industry count in the material provided (not found in current reporting).
8. Bottom line for readers and policymakers
Tech-driven wealth—amplified by equity in startups and public companies—remains the clearest engine of new millionaires in California, reinforced by finance, entertainment, housing appreciation and expanding manufacturing/clean‑tech investments [1] [8] [4] [6]. Policymakers and analysts should use multiple data lenses (income tax filings, household net‑worth surveys, home‑equity estimates) to avoid overstating any single industry’s contribution; the available reporting shows multiple, overlapping routes to seven‑figure net worth in California’s diverse economy [2] [4].