Where Millionaires Are Moving in 2026, and Why Miami Wins" loading="eager" fetchpriority="high" width="1280" height="720" decoding="async">
Key takeaways
- Henley & Partners' 2026 Private Wealth Migration Report replaced its prior focus on raw millionaire migration counts with a 12 factor Global Wealth Mobility Framework that scores jurisdictions out of 100.
- Singapore ranked first in the 2026 Wealth Mobility Competitiveness Score with 79.5, followed by New Zealand at 75.8 and a cluster including the Cayman Islands, Cyprus, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Italy in the low 70s.
- The United States scored 62.3 in Henley's framework, reflecting strong wealth creation but reduced mobility appeal due to citizenship based taxation, fiscal complexity, and slow immigration processes.
- Applications from US nationals for residence and citizenship abroad doubled in 2025 versus 2024 and remained elevated into 2026, with about 93% coming from Americans still residing in the United States.
The Map of the Wealthy Has Changed
On June 16, 2026, Henley & Partners released its Private Wealth Migration Report, and the framing was different from any prior edition. For more than a decade the firm tracked one headline number: how many millionaires would cross a border that year. In 2025, that figure hit a record 142,000, according to Henley & Partners. This year the firm stopped leading with the count and built a scoring model instead, ranking 12 dimensions of what actually pulls capital from one country to another. The reason is simple. The wealthy are no longer picking a country. They are assembling a portfolio of them.
That shift matters to anyone choosing where to put a trophy home. If the world's richest families now think like fund managers, allocating across tax regimes, legal systems, and geopolitical zones, then the question for a buyer is not just "which city," but "which city earns a permanent slot in that portfolio." For a striking share of mobile capital, the answer in the United States keeps coming back to South Florida. Here is what the 2026 data says, and why Miami captures so much of it.
What Henley 2026 Actually Found
The 2026 report introduces what Henley calls the Global Wealth Mobility Framework, scoring jurisdictions across factors like tax treatment, rule of law, quality of life, investor migration pathways, family inclusion, geopolitical stability, and capital mobility. Each place gets a Wealth Mobility Competitiveness Score out of 100. A few results stand out for a US buyer:
- Singapore led the world at 79.5, followed by New Zealand at 75.8, with the Cayman Islands, Cyprus, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Italy clustered in the low 70s.
- The United States scored 62.3. Henley calls this the American Wealth Paradox: the country remains the largest engine of new wealth on earth, yet citizenship-based taxation, fiscal complexity, and slow immigration processing hold its mobility score down.
- The Gulf is recalibrating. The UAE has been the single leading destination for millionaire migration over the past two years, but Henley recorded a 41% jump in enquiries from UAE-based individuals between late 2025 and early 2026, a sign that even winners are now hedging.
The most telling US data point is demand, not supply. Applications from US nationals for residence and citizenship abroad doubled in 2025 versus the prior year and stayed high into 2026, per Henley & Partners. Only about 7% came from Americans already living overseas. The pull is being driven by people inside the country who want options. When the wealthiest residents of the largest wealth market start buying optionality at that pace, the entire idea of a fixed home address loses its grip.
The wealthy individual of 2026 is no longer selecting a single country. They are constructing a portfolio of jurisdictions.
Why the US Still Wins the Money It Wants to Keep
A score of 62.3 sounds middling until you read what it measures. Henley is scoring the friction of moving wealth, not the appeal of living somewhere. The US drags on citizenship-based taxation and immigration speed, both federal and both unrelated to where you actually buy a home. Strip those out and the US still offers what almost no other jurisdiction can match at scale: the deepest capital markets in the world, durable property rights, and physical safety in the places that matter.
For a foreign buyer, the calculus is rarely about leaving the US off the list. It is about structuring the purchase so the federal drag does not become a tax trap. The estate exposure for non-citizens is the part most buyers underestimate, and it is the part that gets expensive fast. We lay out the exposure and the planning around it in our guide to US estate tax for foreign buyers, and the broader process in our foreign buyers guide. Get those two right and the 62.3 stops mattering, because you have already engineered around the only parts of it a homebuyer can control.
The Two Migrations Feeding South Florida
Miami sits at the intersection of two separate flows of money, and most coverage blurs them together. Keeping them apart is the key to understanding why the market behaves the way it does.
The International Flow
This is the Henley story: cross-border millionaires choosing a jurisdiction. South Florida has been the US landing pad for this group for a generation. The buyers come from Latin America, Europe, the Gulf, and increasingly Asia, and they cluster in the branded-residence corridors where an operator runs the building so an owner who is in town six weeks a year does not have to. Sunny Isles alone holds the highest concentration of international buyers in Miami-Dade, drawing capital from Latin America, Russia, and the Middle East. These buyers want a recognizable address, single-key living, and a country where the rule of law is not a question.
The Domestic Flow
This is the one Henley does not count, because it never crosses a border. It is the move from New York, California, Illinois, and the Northeast into Florida, and it is driven by a single hard number: Florida has no state income tax. For a high earner leaving New York, the annual savings can run into the hundreds of thousands or more, and that savings compounds every year you hold residency. We built a tool that runs your actual numbers in our NYC to Miami tax calculator, and the structural case behind the move in our NYC to Miami tax migration guide.
These two flows hit the same inventory. An international family weighing Lisbon against Miami and a hedge fund principal weighing the Upper East Side against Indian Creek are bidding on overlapping product. That double demand is why Fisher Island became the most expensive zip code in the country and why oceanfront pricing reset rather than corrected over the past two years.
Where the Money Actually Lands in Miami
Inbound wealth does not spread evenly. It pools in a tight set of enclaves, each solving for a different priority.
- The private islands. Indian Creek, the so-called Billionaire Bunker, runs 41 home sites behind a single guarded bridge with its own police force, and waterfront land regularly trades past $100 million. Star Island and Fisher Island round out the trio. These buyers price privacy and security above all else.
- Bayfront streets. North Bay Road offers deep water frontage without the single-bridge constraint. The Beckhams set a street record there in October 2024 at $72.25 million.
- Branded oceanfront. The Collins Avenue corridor from the Faena District north holds Aman, Casa Cipriani, Rosewood, and the Four Seasons Surf Club. This is where the international flow concentrates, because the hospitality operator is the product.
- Quiet luxury inland. Coconut Grove and Gables Estates draw the buyers who want privacy without the visibility of an island. A roughly $188 million compound was reported assembled in Coconut Grove across 2025 and 2026.
For the full enclave map, including entry prices and access type for each, start with our guide to billionaire neighborhoods in Miami. Buyers focused on full-floor and penthouse product across the whole belt should work from our Top 50 penthouses in Miami Beach, which tracks both listed and quietly available units.
The Real Decision: Miami or Manhattan
For US-based wealth, the choice often comes down to two cities rather than two countries. They are not interchangeable. New York gives you scale, culture, and a market with a century of liquidity behind it. Miami gives you the tax structure, the climate, and a younger trophy market still adding depth at the top. Many of our clients end up holding both, using New York as the working base and Florida as the tax-resident home. The honest comparison, including where each market is stronger and where each is overpriced, is in our breakdown of Manhattan versus Miami real estate.
Thinking about a trophy purchase or sale? Our brokers work the Manhattan and Miami markets every day. Message us on WhatsApp for a private, no-pressure conversation.
FAQ
How many millionaires are moving in 2026?
The 2026 Henley & Partners report shifted away from a single headline migration count toward a scoring framework, so it does not publish one figure the way prior editions did. For context, the 2025 report projected a record 142,000 millionaires relocating across borders that year. The 2026 edition emphasizes that demand for international optionality is still rising, with applications from US nationals doubling in 2025.
Where are the wealthy moving in 2026?
By Henley's 2026 competitiveness scoring, Singapore led the world at 79.5, with New Zealand, the Cayman Islands, Cyprus, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Italy among the strongest. The UAE has been the leading destination for actual millionaire migration over the past two years. Within the United States, South Florida remains the primary landing point for both international and domestic inbound wealth.
Why do so many millionaires move to Miami specifically?
Two flows converge there. International buyers want a safe, liquid US jurisdiction with branded oceanfront product, and domestic buyers from New York and other high-tax states are drawn by Florida's lack of a state income tax. Both groups compete for the same limited oceanfront and island inventory, which keeps top-tier pricing firm.
What did Henley score the United States in 2026?
The US received a Wealth Mobility Competitiveness Score of 62.3. Henley calls this the American Wealth Paradox: the US is the world's largest creator of new wealth, but citizenship-based taxation and slow immigration processing weigh on its mobility score. Most of those drags are federal and do not affect the appeal of buying a home in Florida.
Is moving to Florida from New York worth it financially?
For most high earners, the savings from Florida's lack of a state income tax are substantial and compound every year of residency. The exact number depends on your income mix and how cleanly you establish Florida residency. You can model your own situation with our NYC to Miami tax calculator before making the move.
Put Yourself on the Right Side of the Flow
The 2026 data confirms a trend that has been building for years: capital is mobile, and it rewards the jurisdictions that make ownership simple and the markets where the best inventory holds value. South Florida sits at the meeting point of the global flow and the domestic one. If you are weighing a move or an acquisition, start by running your numbers in our NYC to Miami tax migration guide, then bring us your objectives, timing, and tax posture. The strongest trophy inventory at this level rarely reaches a public listing, and the right enclave depends entirely on what you are solving for.
