Story perspectives

2025 U.S. Gains 1,200 Millionaires Daily Amid Median Wealth Drop

7/3/2026

Summary

U.S. Adds Millionaires

U.S. added over 1,200 new millionaires daily in 2025, creating about 440,000—half of the near-million total, as stock market gains lifted global personal wealth 10.8%.
Median U.S. adult wealth fell 20% from 2020 to 2025 while average wealth rose about 10% as the market rose 18%.
UBS reported 58 million millionaires worldwide holding $250.6 trillion—about half of global wealth—and that stocks and bonds make up 79% of U.S. gross wealth.

Summary

UBS Urges Reform

UBS analysts propose expanding retirement-savings programs and widening home-ownership access to broaden wealth ownership, noting Australia's wealth Gini fell to 0.53.
The United Arab Emirates and Russia posted the highest inequality at 0.82, with Slovakia at the lowest Gini of 0.38.
UBS warns that declining median wealth limits households' ability to buy homes, fund education or start businesses, and recommends market participation, expanded training, and tax changes to curb wealth concentration.

Summary

UBS Counts Billionaires

UBS Global Wealth Report counted 3,302 billionaires worldwide in April 2026, up 383, a 13.1 % rise, with the United States hosting over 1,000, China 562, and India 211.
South Korea’s billionaire cohort grew from 31 to 52 in 2025-2026, and their total net worth doubled.
Billionaires’ collective wealth rose 25 % from April 2025 to April 2026, driven by AI and semiconductors, while millionaires reached 57.5 million, a 1.5 % rise, and every market added millionaires.

History

Historical Context

The Wall Street Crash of October 1929 erased about $30 billion in a week, wiping out roughly 90 % of stock values by 1930 and sparking bank failures. Federal Reserve cuts and Hoover’s gold-standard policy deepened the downturn. UBS’s 2025 report of U.S. millionaires rising daily revives fears that wealth concentration can again trigger asset-driven crises.

1 of 4

U.S. Adds Millionaires

U.S. added over 1,200 new millionaires daily in 2025, creating about 440,000—half of the near-million total, as stock market gains lifted global personal wealth 10.8%.
Median U.S. adult wealth fell 20% from 2020 to 2025 while average wealth rose about 10% as the market rose 18%.
UBS reported 58 million millionaires worldwide holding $250.6 trillion—about half of global wealth—and that stocks and bonds make up 79% of U.S. gross wealth.

1 / 4