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Cities With the Most Billionaires

Can you name the urban areas of the world that are home to at least 20 billionaires?
Data from the Forbes billionaire list, 18 November 2021
Quiz by relessness
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Last updated: November 19, 2021
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First submittedNovember 14, 2013
Times taken88,295
Average score66.7%
Rating4.73
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#
City
145
New York
123
Guangzhou / Shenzhen
115
San Francisco
94
Beijing
85
Shanghai
82
Moscow
71
Hong Kong
66
London
#
City
65
Los Angeles
57
Miami
50
Hangzhou
49
Mumbai
42
Seoul
35
Tokyo
34
Singapore
30
Delhi
#
City
29
Dallas
28
Bangkok
28
São Paulo
27
Taipei
25
Boston
24
Chicago
20
Paris
20
Stockholm
+6
Level 54
Mar 4, 2014
Hmmm....I used to think Moscow had the most billionaires....
+5
Level 69
Mar 4, 2014
Why? Why do I type Beijing, Hongkong, Guangzhou and Shenzen, and not Shanghai? Why?
+4
Level 61
Oct 11, 2016
I guessed just about every city-state EXCEPT Singapore... :(
+2
Level 52
Dec 3, 2020
So guessed "just about" every city state? There's three.
+13
Level 75
Jan 5, 2021
Why wouldn't you guess Vatican City they have such a big population they're bound to have a lot of billionaires.
+3
Level 43
Dec 7, 2021
Actually, there are only 3 generally accepted city-states around the world : Vatican City, Monaco and Singapore.
+5
Level 63
Mar 4, 2014
Really good quiz. I'm surprised that Moscow has that many millionaires. Also very surprised that there are no Swiss or German cities on the list.
+18
Level ∞
Nov 19, 2019
Switzerland and Germany have lots of billionaires but they are spread all over.
+5
Level 73
Dec 11, 2021
That's what I like about Germany. Decentralization is a key element of the country's character.
+2
Level 79
Mar 4, 2014
I missed London...probably the only person. Tried Bentonville because there has to be some Waltons still near the area.
+1
Level 87
Mar 17, 2016
There are, but not that many Waltons to overcome the minimum on this list.

Bentonville is a nice little jewel set in an area surrounded by what some (or many) may call "rednecks."

+4
Level 95
Mar 4, 2014
Germany = Taxes and in Switzerland there is their money but not themself :D
+2
Level 28
Mar 5, 2014
damn it didn't get Shenzhen. I hate missing ones with the lowest guess rates.
+9
Level 82
Mar 5, 2014
With so many "job creators" living in each of these places I wonder why they don't have 0% unemployment. Bizarre.
+5
Level 63
Mar 7, 2014
Gee, I wonder is it's because capital isn't tied to one specific geographic vicinity?
+2
Level 82
Dec 19, 2022
yeah couldn't possibly be that this talking point is absolute nonsense created by corrupt oligarchs and circulated by the media outlets they own to convince people that getting fleeced by the wealthy was somehow a good thing, and so they should vote against their own interests and lower said oligarch's taxes even if it means cutting programs those voters rely on.
+4
Level 22
Mar 8, 2014
surpised no german cities and there is dubai
+5
Level 82
Mar 9, 2014
The emirate of Dubai doesn't have much oil left. They've been trying to build up other sectors of their economy, including as a hub for commercial travel, shipping, finance, and perhaps most notably- as a vacation or residence destination that specifically caters to the super wealthy.
+6
Level 73
Feb 13, 2021
It isn't that oil is running out in Dubai - there never was much oil in Dubai. Most of the oil in UAE was in Abu Dhabi the whole time. It's just that Dubai arose as the good hub to trade middle eastern oil which caused Dubai's wealth. And that switch towards tourism, etc is not only done by Dubai, but done in the UAE as a whole.
+4
Level 77
Mar 19, 2014
Mumbai? Really? I guess I have a very negative view of Indian cities.
+3
Level 75
Sep 1, 2014
I typed Delhi and Kolkata then thought, "That's silly, there won't be any in India." That's what I get for thinking when I'm not equipped for it.
+14
Level 82
Jan 3, 2015
Many of the most impoverished countries in the world also have very extreme wealth disparity and concentration. A small number of people at the top echelons of society are obscenely rich- while the millions and millions of people at the lower rungs are abjectly poor. This is certainly true in India, and very apparent in a place like Mumbai which is the country's economic center and home to many of India's wealthiest people. Also consider the enormous size and population of the country and imagine how much of an opportunity that presents for entrepreneurs who successfully tap into the market from the inside.
+8
Level 54
Jun 15, 2017
Mumbai is also home to Bollywood and the richest man in India- whose 25 story skyscraper mansion towers over slums.
+10
Level 82
Jul 26, 2019
Can't buy taste, apparently. That's one of the ugliest buildings I've ever seen.
+1
Level 60
Aug 4, 2020
I don't think you do
+1
Level 63
Apr 1, 2014
I don't know why people are surprised that there are no German cities. I think Germany might have about 10 billionaires altogether.
+2
Level 37
Sep 1, 2014
According to Forbes, Germany has the third most billionaires behind the US (50) and China (37) with 26. Perhaps they all live in the countryside.
+13
Level 47
Sep 1, 2014
Unlike France or the UK, Germany hasn't got an obvious major city (e.g. London or Paris). Instead it has five cities all with similar importance. As a result, the billionaires are spread relatively evenly out - rather than clustered into one city.
+11
Level 89
Apr 20, 2019
Germany always has been a very polycentric nation. It's why the 100s of independent duchies and city-states never unified until 1871. Also, the technical city limits in Germany aren't very inclusive so usually more people will live in separate suburbs instead of the legal city itself.
+1
Level 69
Apr 16, 2015
Got 100% on the 2nd try but accidentally hit backspace and lost the results before they were recorded. Tried three times more before 100% again. :/
+1
Level 33
Mar 16, 2016
Good quiz. I have submitted my first quiz now
+19
Level 67
Mar 17, 2016
I'd like to pound Bloomberg's smug 1% face into a bloody mess. Human garbage and a criminal, like the rest of the billionaires. If you've got a billion dollars, damn sure you didn't come by all of it honestly or ethically...with the possible exception of Warren Buffet...but I'll remain suspicious.
+23
Level ∞
Mar 18, 2016
Did a billionaire steal your girlfriend or something?
+9
Level 28
Mar 22, 2016
Class envy won't give you peace of mind. Striving to be the best you can be will.
+7
Level 84
Dec 8, 2016
Wow Larry. Someone crapped in your cornflakes this morning. You might want to check that self-righteousness at the door. Roxy has it right.
+19
Level 66
Nov 19, 2019
Most billionaires are dirty people. Look at Epstein. Look at Zuckerburg. Look at Rockefeller. I could go on and on and on
+5
Level 79
Apr 3, 2020
Yep. Look at a few cherry-picked billionaires to prove they are all dirty.
+4
Level 89
Dec 11, 2021
Well to be fair I wouldn't be surprised if most of them had done at least one shady thing in order to become very wealthy.
+15
Level 50
Jan 1, 2020
There is absolutely no way anyone should have billions and not share. The way these people buy their enormous mansions and yachts and private jets and the carbon footprint of their excessive lifestyle on the world is disgusting to me. And when there are people starving too.
+2
Level 62
Nov 19, 2021
But they do "share". Taxes from billionaires make up a large portion of government revenue in most countries.
+1
Level 45
Mar 21, 2016
Can't believe I missed London – and I live here!
+1
Level 74
May 20, 2016
Quizmaster: you have an apostrophe decorating Delhi (it appears as Delhi'). The type-in allows Delhi without the apostrophe, so life will go on if you don't fix it.
+1
Level 47
Oct 12, 2016
Fixed!
+2
Level 58
May 10, 2017
Surprised Dubai isn't here!
+1
Level 67
Mar 16, 2018
I'm dubious there's so few listed for Tokyo or Osaka
+1
Level 93
May 5, 2018
according to forbes (via wikipedia) there are 34 billionaires (18 individuals and 14 family holdings owning a billion which may individually be less than a billion). if 16 are in tokyo less than 15 must be in osaka to make the list. for the low overall numbers, blame a slow economy since the 80s.
+3
Level 33
Jul 29, 2018
Countries like China, India and Brazil where more than 80% of the population live like pigs in the mud featuring a list like this is like a piercing and loud yell to the ears of the human kind. I can hear them hienas laughing at all these people struggling in the mud.
+10
Level 60
Nov 22, 2019
Don't know about China and Brazil, but I'm living in India from my birth and I stay in a 2-storeyed bungalow owned and built by my dad <( ̄︶ ̄)> who earns nearly ₹100,000 per month and my mom owns a jewellery business 📿 and most people we know lives like us only maybe in condos or apartments but not in mud.

Maybe the definition of pig 🐷 in your country is different...

+10
Level 55
Jan 1, 2020
200 years ago neither China, India, nor Brazil had billionaires, and the vast majority still lived in the mud. The proliferation of billionaires shows that these countries have grown economically stronger, and in all of these countries people live better than they did 50 years ago. Prosperity is the anomaly, not poverty!
+2
Level 72
Apr 5, 2020
You do surprise me, I have always imagined that India was home to unbelievable, fabulous concentrations of wealth in the early days of the Raj. I was also under the impression that untold wealth found its way into the hands of the ruling classes in China in days of yore.
+1
Level 71
Dec 11, 2021
@orangeflag, 200 years ago, everyone was dirt poor, including Europeans. I mean, have you seen cities like London were like during the Industrial Revolution? I'm guessing very few people had over $1 billion dollars in those days. And @FadKrahmor, you're right that India and China used to be pretty rich before the industrialization of Europe, but even then that was concentrated in the hands of the political and economic elite.

My point is, 200 years ago, almost everyone everywhere was living in extreme poverty. Now, it's nonexistent in the West and below 10% (and still dropping) in India/China/Brazil. Not saying these countries don't still have issues with poverty or inequality--they definitely do--but comparing people in these countries to pigs is very inaccurate (and kinda offensive).

+2
Level 84
Nov 19, 2021
I think you watch too many documentaries.
+1
Level 53
Jun 1, 2023
More than 80% of the population in China live like pigs? You should prolly stop watching fake BBC news.
+1
Level 64
Jun 12, 2019
What about Zurich?
+2
Level ∞
Nov 19, 2019
Update 2019. As far as I know, this quiz is now the only accurate list of its nature on the internet. The difference between this list and others is that I combined the billionaires by urban area, not city. This makes a big difference because the source data sometimes uses the urban area but sometimes lists a specific suburb, leading to distortions.
+3
Level 87
Nov 19, 2019
So what suddenly attracted all those billionaires to Hangzhou? It's pretty, but...
+3
Level 49
Sep 17, 2020
No one has suddenly attracted them there per se. They've most likely been at Alibaba (which is headquartered in Hangzhou) since the early days and have become billionaires post-IPO and the surge in the Alibaba share price.
+1
Level 46
Nov 20, 2019
I never expect that Manila would be on this list and I am from the philippines. I tought we are so poor that there's no way we have billionares. hah
+6
Level 66
Jan 1, 2020
I certainly don't know enough about the Philippines or Manila to know whether this is the case there, but often times when an area is so poor it's because of the billionaires there leeching the wealth out of the community.
+2
Level 84
Nov 19, 2021
Any examples of billionaires leeching wealth from their local communities?
+3
Level 73
Nov 19, 2021
Hmmm... All of them?
+1
Level 49
Sep 17, 2020
The existence of billionaires is only partly predicated on the wealth of a country. Wealth disparity within a country is arguably as important a factor.
+1
Level 79
Jan 1, 2020
I MISSED HANGZHOU even though I was there just two days ago!!!!!!!!!
+1
Level 79
Jan 1, 2020
Interesting how Forbes combines Guangzhou with Shenzhen in their data.
+1
Level 73
Feb 5, 2020
I thought of that too. It is also surprising that Guangzhou/Shenzhen has 77 billionaires and that Hong Kong has another 77. Combined, that is by far the largest amount of billionaires.
+2
Level 49
Sep 17, 2020
It is basically a single urban agglomeration now all the way up from Shenzhen through Dongguan into Guangzhou.
+3
Level 71
Jan 1, 2020
Surprised there's no Chicago (being the third biggest city in the US and home to many corporations) or Seattle (being a pretty major tech hub and home to people like Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos)
+2
Level 71
Dec 11, 2021
Oh, looks like Chicago is on here now.
+11
Level 50
Jan 1, 2020
No one should have that much money when others are starving. Share the wealth!
+1
Level 52
Dec 3, 2020
Communism?
+3
Level 84
Nov 19, 2021
Yeah, let's confiscate wealth from anyone we deem doesn't actually deserve it!! That'll fix everyone's problems!
+20
Level 66
Jan 1, 2020
Billionaires should not exist.
+4
Level 79
Apr 3, 2020
Says Bernie Sanders, the democratic socialist.
+5
Level 82
Jul 30, 2020
He's not wrong.
+2
Level 70
Dec 8, 2020
There are many reasons someone can become a billionaire, and some ways are definitely more desirable to society than others. The strongest argument for billionaires in my view is that society benefits from large businesses (though there are some downsides compared to smaller ones, I have used Facebook, Google and Amazon partially because of the reliability implied by the brand and also unique services in the case of Google) and in order for them to be run efficiently, somebody needs to be at the top making decisions. Just by the amount of power that individual has they must be a billionaire in practice even if we find some way to change this legally. I'm generally in favour of strong restrictions on these companies by governments (though in practice this is hard due to their multinational nature) but I'm not convinced that enough intervention to stop Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg being (in the meaningful sense) billionaires is required or necessarily beneficial.
+1
Level 70
Dec 8, 2020
On the other hand, Philip Green shouldn't be a billionaire. Though a free market will probably achieve this soon enough in the form of him wasting the money he drained from his businesses.
+2
Level 84
Nov 19, 2021
Bernie Sanders is in fact demonstrably wrong.
+1
Level 82
Dec 11, 2021
Demonstrate it then and let us count the logical fallacies and debunked clichés.
+5
Level 44
Oct 1, 2020
Envy and laziness should not exist
+5
Level ∞
Nov 19, 2021
My personal take:

Anyone with more money than me is a dirty no good cheater whose wealth should be taxed.

Anyone with less money than me is a lazy, good for nothing mooch who needs to work harder and stop living off my tax dollars.

Only people with my exact amount of money are virtuous.

Now get off my lawn!

+1
Level 58
Feb 16, 2020
How did I miss NYC?!
+6
Level 55
Apr 3, 2020
That's not the point. Michael Bloomberg owns more money than the bottom half of America put together and has chosen to spend his money on a useless political campaign fantasy. Anyone that has that much wealth should not be hoarding it while others struggle to survive on a meager $7.25 an hour. 40 percent of America (that's roughly 131 million people mind you) cannot afford a 400 dollar surprise expense. Meanwhile Mike Bloomberg could afford to buy the New York Met's (valued at 2.6 billion) without breaking his bank. If that sounds fair to anyone shame on you.
+4
Level 82
Jul 30, 2020
Whether it's fair or not it doesn't change the fact that, even as obscenely wealthy as he is, Bloomberg still is not wealthy enough to alone solve the issue of poverty in the world or even just America. If you took all of Mike's money and divided it evenly among every resident of the United States, we would each get $172. Less than half of what it would cost to cover your 400 dollar surprise.

That's not to say that he shouldn't be taxed higher, or that the system shouldn't be reformed to produce more wealth and income equality (points that Bloomberg himself would agree with)... but still... he's not capable of fixing poverty alone. He couldn't even make a dent. Really the federal government is the only entity that would have any hope of doing that.

+9
Level ∞
Jul 31, 2020
Most people are innumerate. They have no idea how large numbers work. For example, a member of the New York Times editorial board claimed that, with the money that Bloomberg spent on the election, he could give every American $1 million dollars. (In reality he could have given everyone less than 2 dollars). When this New York Times staffer appeared on TV to state this incredibly wrong fact, TV host Brian Williams didn't even question it. It's sad that even among the so-called "elite" parts of society most people lack the ability to do even basic math. Most of our policy decisions are driven by emotion.
+3
Level 82
Sep 2, 2020
I was once trying to make myself feel better about not always giving out money to all the people in the Philippines who would beg me for it, even though I did give out large amounts of money to help a few specific people pay for needed surgeries, et cetera. I calculated that if I took the total amount of money that I had saved working in the KSA, and divided it among all of the people in the country that were living in extreme poverty, I could give each one half a penny.
+3
Level 70
Dec 8, 2020
In my opinion, more important than the lack of ability in basic arithmetic is a lack of scepticism to question the conclusions. I can immediately see that $500 million divided by 327 million people is between 1 and 2 dollars per person without having to think, but I wouldn't have much problem with people who couldn't also immediately perform that approximate calculation publishing news. What I do have a problem with is when people don't stop to think that there obviously isn't even enough money in the American economy for everyone to have much more than $1 million, or else the average person would be a millionaire already (including children), which they should be able to see is not the case (unless, ironically, they live in an elite bubble and hardly associate with anyone outside of it).
+1
Level 67
Dec 11, 2021
I agree.
+1
Level 70
Jul 22, 2021
Surprised at Miami. It probably includes West Palm Beach which is in the same metro area. I guess billionaires love Florida.
+1
Level 46
Sep 23, 2021
Only missed Stockholm, Tel Aviv, and Hangzhou. Did pretty good considering I spent a whole minute typing only US cities because I saw Bloomberg and assumed US only lol
+1
Level 59
Dec 11, 2021
WOW how is Seattle not on here?
+1
Level 82
Apr 26, 2022
8 billionaires live in Seattle and 8 is a smaller number than 20. Though some of the billionaires that have lived there are very famous and many times richer than most of the other billionaires in the world.
+1
Level 56
Mar 30, 2022
I got Hangzhou but missed San Fransisco lol.
+2
Level 47
Sep 10, 2022
WTF is Hangzhou???
+1
Level 82
Dec 19, 2022
Gigantic city in China, commercial and economic hub, southern terminus of the Grand Canal, near Shanghai, one of the most prosperous cities in the country.
+2
Level 56
Jan 3, 2023
"Gigantic city in China" doesn't narrow it down much
+1
Level 82
Dec 19, 2022
Also known as Qiantang and Hangchow.
+1
Level 53
Jun 1, 2023
I guess you just know nothing about China. Most westerners do.
+2
Level 56
Jan 3, 2023
There are too many billionaires
+1
Level 74
Sep 30, 2023
a tendency to fall out of windows has decreased the Moscow tally recently
+2
Level 42
Jan 11, 2023
what about monaco, dubai, doha, riyadh...?