With the 2024 U.S. general election now in the world’s collective rearview, political pundits often point to inflation and economics as main drivers of the outcome.

Consumer prices swelled in the U.S. and worldwide since 2021, and even though the rate of inflation slowed to 2.4% in September, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, some notable sectors continue to see a pricing uptick including groceries, clothing and car insurance, Moody’s Chief Economic Mark Zandi recently told CNBC.

The working and middle classes may continue to feel financially squeezed in the U.S., but the country remains the world’s magnet for millionaires. In 2023, the U.S. was home to the most millionaires in the world with roughly 22 million individuals falling into that category, according to the UBS Global Wealth Report 2024.

Thirty-eight percent of the world’s millionaires live in the U.S. while 28% live in Western Europe and 10% live in China, UBS reports.

However, it would be inaccurate to place all that wealth in the country’s largest and most glamourous cities. In fact, a recent study of the wealthiest cities in the U.S. conducted by the property management company Evernest indicated the country’s wealth is fairly well distributed among its geographic regions.

The slideshow above indicates the richest cities in the U.S., according to Evernest.

Evernest researchers analyzed 45 metropolitan areas using such key indicators as personal income, cost of living, homeownership rate, the percentage of households with $1 million or more in investable assets by state, and the median household income by state.

In the insurance world, $1 million in investable assets is the mark of what agents, brokers and carriers refer to as “high-net-worth” clients. These individuals tend to live a highly-customized existence, and this crosses into their insurance purchases. Insurance professionals who cater to high-net-worth individuals “need to be a lot more consultative and really learn about the unique features” of these clients’ property and possessions, Diane Delaney, executive director of the Private Risk Management Association, said during a December 2023 recording of the Insurance Speak podcast.

Policyholders still really need a bit of a human touch, Delaney advised, and that is especially true of high-net-worth clients.

See also:

• 8 things wealthy people worry about
• Navigating the insurance struggles of affluent clients
• 3 insurance policies for ultra-high-net-worth clients