The current gas prices at the pump creeping towards $4 and the skyrocking costs of oil continues to pump out more local millionaires.
New wealth generated by the energy industry provided much of the fuel for a 23 percent increase in the regional number of millionaire households in 2007. According to data released this week by Claritas Inc., the greater Houston area currently counts nearly 72,000 millionaire households compared to 58,569 in 2006.
The wealth of the world's high net-worth individuals increased 9.4 percent to reach $40.7 trillion in 2007 according to the 2008 World Wealth Report. A primary driver was market capitalization growth in emerging economies such as India, which led the globe in the highest percentage increase in new millionaires last year.
Houston and the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, with nearly 85,000 millionaire households, are both expected to create new millionaires at a faster rate during the next five years than most of the country's major metro areas. Millionaires in Dallas have made their money in real estate, financial services and technology.
As usual, New York and Los Angeles top the list in 2007 for total number of millionaire households according to Claritas, with 320,184 and 212,895 respectively. But among the 11 metropolitan areas nationwide with the most number of millionaires, Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston are No. 2 and No. 3 respectively in projected growth of millionaire households through 2012, just behind Atlanta.
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