[imagesource: Zillow]

Approximately a quarter of the 2 668 billionaires on this year’s Forbes billionaires list live in just 10 places.

In order to qualify as a billionaire, you must have a net worth of at least US $1 billion.

Remember when fake heiress Anna ‘Delvey’ Sorokin said that $60 million is actually “borderline poor in New York”?

Despite her uncanny ability to fabricate truths, she seems to have tapped into something.

The Big Apple is populated with more members of the so-called ‘three-comma club’ than any other city, which means Anna’s claim to $60 million was indeed rather measly.

To put it in Forbes‘ terms, New York City has taken back its crown, with 107 billionaire residents worth over $640 billion collectively:

The city gained eight new billionaire residents over the past year, most of whom work in finance.

Despite newcomers from the NFT boom (Devin Finzer and Alex Atallah who own OpenSea), media magnate Michael Bloomberg is still the wealthiest resident, taking up 13% of the city’s total billionaire wealth.

Beijing was the top billionaire city for the first time in six years in 2021, but it looks like New York gained enough wealth this year to take the top spot back.

This year, Beijing has a total of 83 billionaires, 17 down from last year, with a pool of wealth worth around $310 billion:

Increased government scrutiny unleashed a world of pain for the super-rich in China’s capital, who have shed $174,3 billion from their collective net worth since 2021.

The Chinese cities on this year’s top 10 list have lost a combined total of 29 billionaires and around $375,6 billion in wealth since last year:

As New York thrived, Beijing and other Chinese cities floundered amid regulatory crackdowns by China’s government on industries ranging from ecommerce to after-school tutoring.

Only Shanghai moved up a place in the rankings, to No. 5. Beijing fell to No. 2, Shenzhen fell to No. 6 and Hangzhou fell out of the top 10 from the No. 10 spot in 2021.

Still, China has beaten the US with more cities in the top 10 than any other country.

Moscow has suffered the largest drop in the ranking, going from being the fourth top billionaire city in 2021 to the seventh this year:

 Tough international sanctions and shuttered markets meant 34 Russians dropped off the 2022 World’s Billionaire List; about three-quarters of them lived in Moscow.

The collective fortune of the billionaires living in Russia’s capital is now $214.9 billion, down from $420.6 billion last year. It was only a decade ago that Moscow topped the list of cities with the most billionaire residents.

Let’s take a look at the other cities to feature on the list.

3. Hong Kong is in third place with 68 billionaires and a collective net worth of $304,6 billion, which is also down since last year by $143,8 billion, The city lost 12 billionaires “amid a year of market tumult and strict COVID-19 protocols.”

4. London gained three billionaires, bringing its total to 66 with a collective fortune of around $324,1 billion.

5. Shanghai is next with 61 billionaires.

6. Shenzhen, “China’s Silicon Valley”, fell to sixth place after losing nine billionaire residents over the past year. That was a loss of around $128,7 billion, putting the city’s billionaire net worth at $286,6 billion.

7. Moscow lost 26 billionaires over the past year due in large part to the fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and now has 53 billionaires with a net worth of $214,9 billion.

8. Mumbai has 51 billionaires this year compared to 54 last year, with a collective fortune of $301,3 billion.

9. San Francisco is the second US city on the list with 44 billionaires who have a total net worth of $160,8 billion, down $29,2 billion from last year.

10. Seoul is the only new entry to the list this year, replacing Hangzhou in the number 10 spot with 38 billionaires worth a combined $108,3 billion.

[source:forbes]