Third by share, not by total households
October 2017 coverage discussed Phoenix Marketing International’s 2016 survey of millionaire households. It reported that roughly 7.5% of Greater Boston households, about 139,000 households, met the survey’s investable-asset threshold.
The comparison placed Boston behind San Francisco at 7.9% and Washington, D.C., at 8.6%. The ranking concerned the share of households meeting that measure, not the absolute number of millionaires in cities with different population sizes.
What the measure considered
The article described investable assets including stocks, bonds, cash, personal retirement funds and the cash value of insurance policies. Its discussion of exclusions was not sufficiently clear to turn the figure into a simple measure of all household property wealth.
A high home value and an investable-asset threshold are different concepts. Neighborhood home-price figures elsewhere in the coverage therefore did not directly explain which households qualified for the survey.
Regional and industry context
The archive also cited Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard comparisons and discussed the roles of finance, technology, healthcare and education in the region. Commentary attributed to University of Chicago professor Steven Neil Kaplan considered how income and industry concentration could relate to wealth.
The report offers a historical comparison with a particular definition and period. It does not establish a household’s present finances, prove a property’s investment return or support a current prediction about Boston home prices.
Historical attribution: Original Boston City Properties article, October 2017. Reported claims and attributed assessments have not been independently refreshed.
