How many millionaires live in CA

1. What people mean when they ask “How many millionaires live in California”

Journalists and analysts use at least three different definitions: (a) households with $1 million or more in investible assets, (b) tax filers reporting $1 million or more in income in a year (often called “tax millionaires”), and (c) “equity millionaires” whose home equity alone exceeds $1 million. Each produces very different counts and must be noted when quoting totals ^{[4] [2] [5]}.

2. The headline: California leads the nation in millionaire headcount

Multiple outlets report that California has the highest number of millionaires and high‑net‑worth individuals nationally. Empower’s roundup says California has the highest population with net worth balances of at least $1 million (Empower data) ^[1]. WealthManagement highlights that IRS data showed California’s share of U.S. taxpayers making $1 million or more rose to 17.9% in 2021 from 17% in 2019, reflecting strong absolute growth among tax millionaires ^[2].

3. Numbers you’ll see and why they differ

Published figures diverge because sources use different data and cutoffs. Statista/Kiplinger datasets count millionaire households by investible assets (historic snapshots) ^[4]. WealthManagement uses IRS “tax millionaires” (income ≥ $1M in a year) and reported a 66% increase in that cohort from 2019 to 2021 in California ^[2]. The Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) estimated roughly 1.2 million California households became “home‑equity millionaires” after home price gains through 2022 ^[5]. Each metric answers a distinct question ^{[4] [5] [2]}.

4. City and metro breakdowns change the picture

Reporting focused on metros shows concentrated pockets: Los Angeles reportedly had about 220,600 millionaires in one dataset cited by The Desert Sun piece, and Bay Area cities showed particularly large growth—San Francisco and surrounding counties drove big gains in high‑net‑worth counts ^[6]. Those metro tallies feed the state totals but are sensitive to the provider’s methodology ^{[6] [1]}.

5. Why the counts rose — and why some fell

Growth in asset prices (stocks and real estate) and tech compensation lifted millionaire totals after 2019–2021; WealthManagement cites a 66% jump in California tax millionaires between 2019 and 2021 driven by markets and pay increases ^[2]. But volatility matters: Business Journals reported a 17% drop in California million‑dollar earners in 2022 after a market downturn, showing that income‑based counts can swing year to year ^[7].

6. Policy debates use these numbers strategically

Millionaire counts underpin political proposals: recent California ballot debates over taxing billionaires and the public discourse about taxing the wealthy cite state concentration of rich residents to justify policy choices and revenue estimates ^{[8] [9]}. Note that reporting on billionaires (Forbes/Visual Capitalist) shows California also concentrates the most billionaires, which often gets folded into “wealth in California” narratives ^[3].

7. How to get a usable answer for your purpose

Decide which definition matters: investible-assets households (use Statista/Kiplinger/Empower), annual income millionaires (use IRS/tax‑millionaire counts cited by WealthManagement), or home‑equity millionaires (use PPIC). The available sources show California leads in all three categories in absolute terms, with counts ranging from several hundred thousand (investible‑asset households and city tallies) to roughly 1.2 million home‑equity millionaires, depending on the metric ^{[1] [4] [5] [2]}.

Limitations: available sources do not give a single, contemporaneous statewide total that unambiguously equals “how many millionaires live in CA” across all definitions; numbers vary by year, dataset, and definition ^{[4] [2] [5]}.