The United States is home to 251,352 people worth $30 million or more, more than any other country and equal to about 35% of the world's ultra-high-net-worth population, according to Knight Frank's Wealth Report 2026, published April 23. Globally, the ultra-wealthy population grew from 551,435 in 2021 to 713,626 this year, adding roughly 89 new members a day for five straight years. The report's wealth-sizing model projects the US share will keep climbing, reaching an estimated 41% by 2031.
What changed
The 20th edition of the annual report documents an acceleration in US wealth creation relative to the rest of the world, driven disproportionately by concentrated gains in technology, private markets and public equities. North America now accounts for 37% of global ultra-wealth, ahead of Asia-Pacific at roughly 31% and Europe at just over 25%. Knight Frank notes that some of the fastest-growing UHNWI populations over the next five years are expected to come from rapidly maturing economies such as Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Poland and Vietnam, even as the US remains the largest single pool of ultra-wealthy individuals by a wide margin. Mainland China ranks a distant second in the country rankings, underscoring how concentrated the current growth in ultra-wealth is in the United States relative to any other single market.
Who is affected
For After TAX's readership, the report is less a curiosity about the world's richest than a signal of where large pools of capital are concentrating and how they are being deployed. The report describes continued private capital appetite for commercial real estate, with $18.9 billion deployed into European offices alone in the past year, alongside sustained interest in art, watches and newer collectible categories like rare fossils and vintage couture among younger wealthy investors. Each of those allocation choices carries distinct tax treatment in the US, from the preferential long-term capital gains rate on public securities to the more punitive collectibles rate on physical assets like art and watches. Multiple residences, another allocation the report highlights, raise their own set of state residency and property tax questions that scale with the number and value of homes a household maintains.
The after-tax math
Example: a US ultra-high-net-worth individual reallocates $5 million between two asset classes commonly cited in the report.
| Asset class | Federal long-term gain rate | Approximate tax on a $2M gain |
|---|---|---|
| Public stock held over one year | 20% (plus 3.8% NIIT) | ~$476,000 |
| Collectibles (art, watches, wine) held over one year | 28% (plus 3.8% NIIT) | ~$636,000 |
| Qualified small business stock meeting QSBS rules | 0% up to statutory caps | $0, up to the exclusion limit |
The roughly $160,000 gap between the collectibles rate and the standard capital gains rate on the same size gain is a routine, and often overlooked, cost of the luxury and collectible allocations the report highlights, distinct from the private-equity and real estate structures that can qualify for more favorable treatment.
Moves to discuss with your advisor
- Whether growing collectible or luxury-asset holdings are titled and held in a way that anticipates the higher 28% federal collectibles rate at sale.
- Whether real estate allocations are structured to use tools like 1031 exchanges or the newly permanent Opportunity Zone program to defer or reduce gain recognition.
- Multi-home owners should track how the states and countries where they hold property affect residency-based tax exposure, an increasingly relevant question as ultra-wealthy households diversify geographically.
What to watch
Knight Frank's projection that the US share of global ultra-wealth will keep rising through 2031 implies continued growth in the population of households facing estate, gift and capital gains planning questions at scale. As more wealth concentrates in fewer hands, and as more of it sits in private, alternative and multi-jurisdictional assets, the complexity of after-tax planning for this group is likely to keep increasing alongside the headline wealth figures. Knight Frank plans to update the wealth-sizing model annually, giving planners a recurring benchmark for how quickly the population of clients facing these questions is expanding.
Sources
- First reported The Wealth Report 2026 — Knight Frank
- The Wealth Report: Wealth Sizing Model Analysis — Knight Frank
After TAX is an independent publication. Articles are general information, not tax, legal or investment advice. Consult a licensed professional about your situation.
