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Basil Mohr-Elzeki is Managing Partner at Henley & Partners North America.
The USA presents a fascinating paradox. As the world’s wealthiest nation and home to the largest concentration of millionaires, America simultaneously serves as both the primary source market for outbound investment migration and a powerful magnet attracting wealthy individuals from around the globe.
Despite a tough start to 2025, the USA remains the undisputed leader in private wealth creation and accumulation. The country accounts for a staggering 34% of global liquid wealth. America is also home to 37% of the world’s millionaires, with just over 6 million high-net-worth individuals each holding more than USD 1 million in liquid wealth. This wealth concentration has accelerated over the past decade, with the USA experiencing +78% millionaire growth between 2014 and 2024 — making it the top performing W10 market over this period, slightly ahead of China, which saw +74% growth. Notably, the rest of the W10 all fall below +30% when it comes to growing their resident millionaire populations.
This wealth dominance extends across all brackets. The USA hosts more than 10,800 of the world’s 30,450 centi-millionaires (those with USD 100 million+) and over 860 of the world’s 2,650 billionaires.
Figure 1. Drivers of the USA’s Wealth Boom
Sources: S&P 500 — Markets Insider; DJIA — Markets Insider; Wealth per capita — New World Wealth; GDP per capita — World Bank
Several factors have combined to make the USA the top-performing W10 country over the past decade in terms of both millionaire growth and wealth per capita growth.
The remarkable strength of the US stock market has been particularly impactful, with the average American centi-millionaire holding over 50% of their liquid wealth in US equities. The country has also seen strong wealth growth in rapidly expanding wealth hubs including Scottsdale, the Bay Area, Washington DC, Austin, Dallas, and several Florida cities such as West Palm Beach, Miami, and Tampa.
America’s dominance in high-growth tech sectors gives it significant advantages over Europe. Nearly all the world’s top tech firms call the USA home, fueling a booming private equity market with large numbers of American unicorn start-ups emerging.
Perhaps most telling is America’s enduring attraction for migrating millionaires. In 2024 alone, the USA attracted approximately 3,800 high-net-worth individuals, 95 centi-millionaires, and 10 billionaires — the latter two being particularly significant as these individuals are typically company founders and entrepreneurs. We anticipate this number will be significantly higher this year.
Despite this wealth, we are witnessing unprecedented interest from American citizens in obtaining alternative residence and citizenship options abroad.
At Henley & Partners, our data reveals an 183% increase in enquiries from US nationals if we compare Q1 2024 and Q1 2025. Notably, we recorded a 39% increase in enquiries from US investors in Q1 2025 compared to Q4 2024, demonstrating sustained growth beyond the initial electoral response.
Our application figures provide further context: so far in 2025, US citizens account for over 30% of all investment migration applications submitted through Henley & Partners — nearly double the combined total of the next five investor nationalities, which include Turkish, Indian, and British.
This shift reflects evolving perspectives among high-net-worth Americans. Most view investment migration as sophisticated risk management, creating a ‘Plan B’ that provides optionality for themselves and their families to relocate if they need or want to. Motivations include geopolitical risk diversification, enhanced global mobility, business expansion, educational and alternative healthcare access, and cross-border legacy planning for future generations. Target alternative residencies and citizenships for affluent Americans, include but are not limited to, the Europe region, the Caribbean, and the South Pacific.
While Americans secure options abroad, the USA maintains its position as a premier destination for global wealth migration. The US EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program continues to display impressive staying power.
Since 1990, this program has facilitated over USD 55 billion in foreign direct investment from thoroughly vetted immigrant investors, generating around 1.4 million American jobs nationwide while contributing billions of dollars in tax revenue. These benefits have all come without cost to American taxpayers.
This consistent performance accentuates America’s lasting attractiveness to global investors seeking opportunity and growth potential. Interest in this program has grown consistently, with enquiries increasing by 325% between 2019 and 2024. Now, it ranks as the 6th most enquired about program overall at Henley & Partners and the 4th most popular residence program.
New developments have further accelerated this trend. In early 2025, we’ve observed a remarkable 57% increase in EB-5 enquiries compared to Q1 2024, and an even more dramatic 168% increase over Q4 2024. This surge coincides with President Trump’s proposal of the ‘Gold Card’ visa program, which has paradoxically stimulated even greater interest in existing investor pathways to US residence.
The program would offer wealthy investors the right to live and work in the USA, with a route to citizenship, for a USD 5 million investment or contribution. The Gold Card targets approximately 2 million individuals worldwide who possess more than USD 5 million in liquid investable wealth. We view the Gold Card as a complement to the EB-5 program, creating a multi-tiered system addressing different investor segments while maintaining the job creation focus that has made EB-5 so successful.
The dual dynamic of America as both primary source and premier destination for investment migration reflects the country’s unique position in the global wealth ecosystem. These trends, far from contradicting one another, showcase the growing sophistication of wealth mobility.
Affluent Americans increasingly seek strategic optionality through investment migration, and simultaneously, the USA maintains a strong global appeal to investors and entrepreneurs. This apparent paradox doesn’t signal decline but rather demonstrates America’s ongoing evolution as the world’s premier wealth hub.
Henley & Partners assists international clients in obtaining residence and citizenship under the respective programs. Contact us to arrange an initial private consultation.
