The Ranks of the Rich Get Richer

But the seven-figure club is no longer what it used to be

Who wants to be a millionaire? I

don't.

Have flashy flunkeys ev'rywhere? I

don't.

Who wants to ride behind a liv'ried

chauffeur?

Do I want? No sir!

Even long after 1955, when Cole Porter wrote those lyrics, the word millionaire evoked images of power and plenty, of sprawling estates, Palm Beach tans, Locust Valley lockjaw accents and exclusivity. But millionaires, like almost everything else, are not what they used to be. A study released last week by U.S. Trust, an old-line Manhattan firm that specializes in handling O.P.M. (other people's money), reports that the nation's millionaire population, helped along by inflation, has in the past decade been growing at an average annual rate of 14%. Today, the company calculates, precisely 519,834 Americans--or about one in every 424 citizens--have a net worth of $1 million or more. In 1972, by contrast, the Government count of millionaires was "only" 180,000.

U.S. Trust, which has been keeping tabs on the fat cat population for marketing purposes for the past decade, reached its conclusions on the basis of a computer model that it developed; its calculations take into account assessments of population growth, earnings trends and money-market performance. According to Vice President Rodney Woods, the difference between today's millionaires and those of the past goes beyond numbers. Says he: "Historically the greatest proportion of millionaires had inherited wealth. In recent years, that proportion has sharply diminished."

Many of the new millionaires come from the ranks of entrepreneurs, especially those who founded technological businesses, such as computer software firms and makers of silicon chips used in electronic microcircuitry. These new rich seem to have gravitated to technological enclaves like Southern California's Silicon Valley and Massachusetts' Route 128. Some entrepreneurs in less advanced fields achieved instant millionaire status by selling out to larger firms and moving to Sunbelt states to enjoy their riches. Skilled professionals in fields such as neurosurgery and the law now make enough in fees to enable them to enter the millionaire class rather rapidly. In addition, top corporate executives are fairly often able to pile up a seven-figure net worth over the years.

The distribution of millionaires around the country is uneven and sometimes surprising. As might be expected, the largest numbers are in the key business centers--New York (about 51,000), California (33,500) and Illinois (31,100). In terms of density, the millionaire population averages out to 2.36 of every 1,000 people over all the 50 states and territories.

Idaho, however, with 26.65 millionaires per 1,000 population, has the highest per capita ratio of any state, largely because of the soaring price of land on its many large farms. Maine, a longtime retreat of the rich, is second with 7.72 millionaires per 1,000, while North Dakota, with its sprawling farms and ranches, is third with 6.9. The states with the lowest concentrations of seven-figure citizens: Arkansas, with .34 millionaires per 1,000, and Wyoming, where the ratio is just .19. Nonetheless, to reverse Scott Fitzgerald's famous dictum, just about everywhere the rich are becoming less and less distinguishable from everyone else.

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