The number of New York renters who are also worth seven figures has increased exponentially in recent years, a new analysis has found.
According to US apartment search site RentCafe, there’s a record number of moneyed denizens in the Big Apple.
“Our latest study has uncovered a spectacular surge in the number of millionaire renters in New York City, with this elite group nearly tripling over the last five years to a record,” reads a release for the survey, which was published Monday.
Using the most recent census data available to RentCafe, the site determined that, in 2015, the city’s renter population included 908 millionaires. By 2020, that number shot up to 2,457 — a 171% increase, and three-quarters of the national total of renter households that earn more than $1 million a year. In contrast, San Francisco saw its millionaire renter ranks swell from 17 to 294 — which, at 1,629%, made it the largest increase in the US. In Jersey City, exactly zero millionaires were renting in 2015, but by 2020, 104 were.
RentCafe looked into not just the geographical makeup, but also the demographic breakdown of America’s most affluent renters. Millennials, the analysts found, have more millionaire renters among them than any other generation. Gen Xers came in second, Baby Boomers got a distant third, and Gen Z and the Silent Generation scored the least.
The results were perhaps least surprising when it came to the most popular jobs held by millionaire renters. Managers, financial service sales agents, software developers, lawyers and judges were among the most frequently found careers for the elite group.
Overall, the report concluded, the trend of high-income earners who choose to rent is soaring.
“Nationwide, there are now 2.6 million Americans that make more than $150,000 choosing to live in rentals,” study authors wrote.