15 Poorest States With The Fewest Millionaires Per Capita

Today, we brought you a list of poorest states with the fewest millionaires per capita. This way you will know which countries are least desirable to live in for those who have some serious wealth. At least we think it works that way.

Before we get into the specifics, let’s look at the things from a more global perspective. People who have a substantial amount of wealth are called high net worth individuals (HNWI). In order to qualify for HNWI, it is common courtesy for a person to have at least $1 million in liquid financial assets. Liquid financial assets are cash and all other assets that can be easily turned into cash. An individual with more than $5 million is considered very HNWI while those with more than $30 million are ultra HNWI.

Now, for a person to be considered a millionaire isn’t just enough to have assets in 1+ millions of local currency. You see, being a millionaire in the United States, Taiwan, and Vietnam is all different. Millionaire in the United States is considered a wealthy person. Millionaire in Taiwan, due to a weaker currency, is considered to have an average amount of money (just above $30,000 to be exact), while millionaire in Vietnam is a poor person. If you are curious,  1 million Vietnam Dong translates to $44.

According to the World Wealth Report 2016 compiled by Capgemini,  there are 15.36 million HNWI with a wealth of $58.7 trillion. 90% of them are considered to be “Millionaires Next Door” having $1 – $5 million assets. 9% is reserved for very HNWI while 0.9% or 145K of millionaires have liquid assets of more than $30 million. It is believed that by 2025, global HNWI wealth will be larger than $100 trillion. In terms of high net worth individuals, the United States are first without any real competition. There were 4,458 HNWI in the country in 2015, or 100 more compared to 2014. As a matter of fact, 61.2% of all HNWI was concentrated in just 4 countries: the United States, Japan, Germany, and China. The report also contains some interesting data when it comes to global wealth changes. For the first time, Asia-Pacific region has surpassed North America as the region with most HNWI population and wealth. Asia-Pacific has 5.1 million HNWI and their wealth is valued at $17.4 trillion. North America has 4.8 million HNWI and $16.6 trillion wealth. Europe is third with 4.18 million HNWI, followed by Middle East (0.61) which surpassed Latin America (0.52 million). Still, Latin America with $7.38 trillion has more wealth than Middle East ($2.30 trillion). Africa with 0.15 million HNWI and $1.39 trillion wealth ranks last.

We would be happy to show you the data about the countries with least number of HNWI, but it looks like no one really bothered to collect data for those countries. Using logic, you can probably figure them out on your own. We do however have a list of 15 States With the Most Millionaires Per Capita in America you may want to check out. No pressure.

In order to create our list of poorest states with the fewest millionaires per capita, we used Affluent & High Net Worth Market Sizing report made by Phoenix Marketing International as a part of their Global Wealth Monitor – U.S. program. Now, the report contains data about households with $1 million investable assets (cash or can be quickly turned into cash) for all states in the United States with calculated millionaires to total households ratio. This efficiently translates to millionaires per capita ratio. We looked for the countries that had the worst ratio and by doing so, our list took shape. So, shall we check it out?

15. Georgia

Households with $1 Million Investable Assets: 175,557
Millionaire to Total Households Ratio: 4.67%

We could say that there are some signs of improvement in Georgia when it comes to wealth. There were 10,000 more households with $1 million investable assets in 2015 compared to 2014. This was obviously influenced by the 21,000 more total households in 2015. Who knows, maybe Georgia manages to exit the top 15 poorest states in terms of millionaires like it did in 2013.

14. Indiana

Households with $1 Million Investable Assets: 118,094
Millionaire to Total Households Ratio: 4.62%

Just like previously mentioned state, Indiana also had more millionaire households in 2015 compared to 2014. The state continues to have an increase in ranking since 2013. Furthermore, Indiana saw an increase in the overall number of households.

13. Missouri

Households with $1 Million Investable Assets: 111,483
Millionaire to Total Households Ratio: 4.61%

In 2013 Missouri was ranked 34th in millionaires per capita in the United States. In 2014, the state dropped one place. Still not bad, right? But, after 14,000 new households in 2015, Missouri started with a rapid drop. And this is even with having almost 1,000 new millionaire households.

12. Louisiana

Households with $1 Million Investable Assets: 82,473
Millionaire to Total Households Ratio: 4.59%

One more state on our list of poorest states with the fewest millionaires per capita that had a continuous drop since 2013. Louisiana had almost 11,000 more households in total in 2015 compared to 2014, and more than 2,000 more millionaire households. Tom Benson owner of New Orleans Pelicans and New Orleans Saints has the richest household in Louisiana with $2.2 billion.

11. Nevada

Households with $1 Million Investable Assets: 48,230
Millionaire to Total Households Ratio: 4.57%

Now, you would think that Nevada would have more millionaires per capita with Las Vegas and all the casinos. Or maybe it makes sense that it doesn’t since people gamble a lot? The state had 12,000 households less in 2014 than in 2015, when there was an increase in a number of millionaire households by almost 2,000. Still, this resulted in Nevada’s ranking to drop by 4 places.

10. Oklahoma

Households with $1 Million Investable Assets: 69,158
Millionaire to Total Households Ratio: 4.55%

Now, this is an odd case. While the state usually goes up and down in the overall rankings, Oklahoma stubbornly holds its position since 2013. Compared to 2014, there were around 17,000 more overall households in the state in 2015, which helped the increase of millionaire households by almost 4,000.

9. South Carolina

Households with $1 Million Investable Assets: 85,731
Millionaire to Total Households Ratio: 4.51%

We have an interesting situation with this and next entry on the list. South and North Carolina are regularly swapping places on the millionaire households per capita rankings. It seems like there are people who live one year on South and shift to North the next. Compared to 2014, South Carolina had 15,000 more households in general and 4,000 more millionaire households.

8. North Carolina

Households with $1 Million Investable Assets: 177,291
Millionaire to Total Households Ratio: 4.50%

In 2015, it was North Carolina that lost the bragging rights to their neighbor. This was probably the outcome of whooping 40,000 new households in 2015 compared to 2014. There was also a substantial growth of almost 7,000 new millionaire households.

7. Tennessee

Households with $1 Million Investable Assets: 114,295
Millionaire to Total Households Ratio: 4.43%

In 2013 and 2014, Tennessee was in the top 5 poorest states with the fewest millionaires per capita, so they obviously have a nice thing going for them. The state saw an overall increase of 12,000 households and notable 7,000 increase in millionaire households.

6. Alabama

Households with $1 Million Investable Assets: 84,802
Millionaire to Total Households Ratio: 4.42%

Next up on our list of poorest states with the fewest millionaires per capita we have sweet home Alabama that obviously isn’t so sweet, since there wasn’t a significant increase in the millionaire households like it was the case in some other states. In 2013 Alabama wasn’t even in the top 10 of states with fewest millionaires per capita. In 2014 the state had 1.915 million households, 82,900 of them having millionaire status. The year 2015 saw Alabama having 1.919 million households with 84,800 of them being a millionaire.

5. Idaho

Households with $1 Million Investable Assets: 26,555
Millionaire to Total Households Ratio: 4.38%

Idaho was in top 3 poorest states in term of millionaires in 2014, when it had 8,000 households less than in 2015. Millionaire households also increased by around 3,500 in 2015.

4. West Virginia

Households with $1 Million Investable Assets: 767,361
Millionaire to Total Households Ratio: 4.33%

As you’ve probably noticed, in all these states on our list of poorest states with the fewest millionaires per capita, there has been an increase in an overall number of households Now, West Virginia obviously has a problem. People don’t seem too eager to live or move there. There are around 400 less total households in 2015 than in 2014 but at least some of the existing ones struck it rich since there are 700 more millionaire households.

3. Kentucky

Households with $1 Million Investable Assets: 74,389
Millionaire to Total Households Ratio: 4.23%

If people continue to move to Kentucky, the state that ranked third on our list of poorest states with the fewest millionaires per capita will soon reach 2 million households and will continue to drop in the rankings. Kentucky has 2,000 more millionaire households in 2015 than it had in 2014 but millionaire households to total households ratio increased by 0.09%.

2. Arkansas

Households with $1 Million Investable Assets: 48,457
Millionaire to Total Households Ratio: 4.13%

In 2015, the state of Arkansas became a home for 4,000 new households. This probably contributed to the increase in millionaire households from 46,000, which was a number in 2014 to current 48,400. Despite dropping one position in the ranking, Arkansas’ millionaire ration increased by 0.12%. You should, however, be aware of the fact that one of the richest persons in the United States, Jim Walton, owner of Wal-Mart, lives here. His wealth is valued at $34.5 billion.

1. Mississippi

Households with $1 Million Investable Assets: 44,626
Millionaire to Total Households Ratio: 3.94%

The final entry on our list of poorest states with the fewest millionaires per capita is also the most religious state in the country according to surveys. Is this somehow connected? Mississippi just isn’t a place to be a millionaire. The state is dead last in millionaires per capita for years now, and that won’t change for better in the future. There were 2,500 more households in Mississippi in 2015 than in 2014 and 1,500 more millionaire households. The ratio increased by 0.13%.