The world’s richest cities have been ranked: here’s where Australia landed on the elite list in 2024

There’s no denying that most of us Aussies aren’t exactly swimming in cash right now. Yet, in the midst of this wallet-wringing chaos, the world’s wealthiest cities have boldly released their rankings for 2024. That’s right: while we’re all trying to navigate this cost-of-living rollercoaster, it seems our millionaire population is somehow multiplying.

Every year, wealth migration firm Henley and Partners releases its World’s Wealthiest Cities Report, which ranks the top 50 wealthiest cities based on the number of millionaires (and billionaires) who live there. Four Australian capital cities made the rich list in 2024, with Sydney and Melbourne both ranking in the top 20.

Topping the rich list for yet another year is New York City. The Big Apple has a whopping total wealth of $3 trillion USD – more than $4.5 trillion in Aussie dollars – with a total of 349,500 millionaires, 744 centi-millionaires and 60 billionaires. The runner-up on the world's wealthiest cities list was the Bay Area (including San Francisco and Silicon Valley), with Tokyo, Singapore and London rounding out the top five. 

Sydney jumped up in the rankings – from tenth wealthiest city in the world in 2023 to eighth this year. Over the past decade, the Emerald City’s millionaire population has grown a massive 34 per cent, now being home to 147,000 millionaires, 205 centi-millionaires and 20 billionaires – and that's all in USD, suggesting an even higher figure in Aussie dollars. The same report also revealed Sydney as the sixth most expensive city to live in globally, following Monaco, NYC, London, Hong Kong and Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat in France. 

Melbourne came in at a solid 15th place, with 97,900 millionaires, 112 centi-millionaires and 10 billionaires. Meanwhile, Perth and Brisbane also snuck into the rankings, claiming 34th and 42nd place, respectively. 

Here are the top 15 wealthiest cities in the world according to Henley and Partners:

1. New York
2. San Francisco
3. Tokyo
4. Singapore
5. London
6. Los Angeles
7. Paris
8. Sydney
9. Hong Kong
10. Beijing
11. Shanghai
12. Chicago
13. Toronto
14. Milan and Lombardy
15. Melbourne

You can read about Henley & Partners’ report in more detail here. 

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