A new population analysis has unveiled an exclusive view into how the elite live in the U.S., including a surprising discovery that Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown has the No. 24 highest concentration of millionaire households in the country.

The study by online real estate marketplace Point2Homes compared household data among millionaires in the 30 biggest U.S. metropolitan areas, including four Texas metros, between 2017 and 2022.

The report found that the number of U.S. households that earned at least $1 million a year more than quadruped within the five-year period, with the highest concentration of millionaire households located in the New York-Newark-Jersey City area, across New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.

There are nearly 750 millionaire homeowners living in the Austin metro, making up 0.08 percent of all households in the area. The report revealed that a majority (34.9 percent) of millionaires in the city are actually Gen Xers, with the second highest share going to millennials (30.8 percent).

Most interestingly, the youngest generation, Gen Z, makes up 6.1 percent of all millionaire households in Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown, while baby boomers make up 26.4 percent, according to the report. But the Gen Z percentage is misleading; as the report clarifies, there aren't actually that many Gen Z millionaires walking among us in Austin.

"Instead, this high share is most likely almost entirely due to the people aged 15 to 24 who are still living with their (millionaire) owner parents," the report explained. "Unfortunately, living in a millionaire owner household does not a millionaire owner make — but it does come with some serious perks."

Chief executives and legislators make up Austin millionaires' main occupations, specifically in the millennial and Gen X groups. For the metro area's millionaire baby boomers, the main occupation is "other managers."

This is how Austin-area millionaires live
The saying goes, "Go big or go home," and Austin's millionaire homeowners are taking that to heart when it comes to their own lavish households.

The report discovered the typical home owned by a millionaire in Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown is a five-bedroom, 10 total-room house, with an average assessed value of $1,573,600. As for wheels, an Austin-based millionaire is likely to have less than three vehicles (2.8) on average.

By comparison, the average value for a millionaire homeowner's abode in San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, California is $2,816,196, the highest amount out of all 30 U.S. metros in the report.

Big, expensive homes don't come without big costs to maintain them, the report reminds. And when it comes to managing finances for wealthy earners, making more money doesn't necessarily mean they'll be saving that income.

"Rather, it just means bigger homes with bigger mortgages and maintenance expenses; more cars; much costlier schools; and more over-the-top lifestyles, which simply bite bigger chunks out of the family's big budget," the report said. "However, despite the 'risks,' most of us would probably choose to have rich people problems. Or, as the saying goes, crying in a Ferrari might just feel better than crying in a Toyota when all is said and done."

Millionaire lifestyles across Texas
Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land has the highest share of millionaire homeowners in Texas, with Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington taking the No. 2 spot. Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown rounded out the top three in the statewide analysis, with San Antonio-New Braunfels taking No. 4.

The Houston metro area also scored far above Austin in the national comparison to claim the No. 9 highest concentration of millionaire households in the U.S., totaling 2,863 households. These millionaires – mainly physicians for all age demographics – make up 0.11 percent of the all homeowners in the metro area. Gen Xers (32.9 percent) overtook baby boomers (28.9 percent) for the greatest population share of millionaires in the Houston area.

Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington was right behind Houston, ranking No. 10 nationally. Nearly 2,650 millionaire households calling the Metroplex home. DFW's millionaires are mainly chief executives and legislators, or physicians. Gen Xers (44.1 percent) make up the highest share of the metro's millionaires, with baby boomers (24.7 percent) not too far behind.

San Antonio-New Braunfels ranked at the bottom of the study at No. 29, above Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. There were only 414 millionaire households in the metro area between 2017-2022, and a majority of them (38.4 percent) were Gen X physicians.

The top 10 metros with the highest share of millionaires in the U.S. are:

• No. 1 – New York-Newark-New Jersey City, New York-New Jersey-Pennsylvania
• No. 2 – Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, California
• No. 3 – San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, California
• No. 4 – Boston-Cambridge-Newton, Massachusetts-New Hampshire
• No. 5 – Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Virginia-Marland-West Virginia
• No. 6 – Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, Illinois-Indiana-Wisconsin
• No. 7 – Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, Florida
• No. 8 – Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Washington
• No. 9 – Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, Texas
• No. 10 – Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas

The full report and its methodology can be found on point2homes.com.