Boston and San Jose were the risers in this year’s Capgemini US Metro Wealth Index, in which New York retained the crown.

The growth in San Jose and Houston - where HNW populations rose by 2.1 per cent and 1.9 per cent respectively from 2010 to 2011 - was driven by the strong performance of major local industries, said Jean Lassignardie, chief sales and marketing officer, Capgemini Global Financial Services.

The top five metro areas, unchanged from last year, are: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington DC and San Francisco. New York had over 727,100 high net worth individuals among its populace, having experienced 1 per cent growth, while Los Angeles came in at around 255,600, a drop of 0.3 per cent.

The next five wealthiest metro areas were Boston, Philadelphia, Houston, San Jose and Detroit (90,100).   

“Philadelphia and Detroit moved one place down on the list to seventh and 10th positions respectively, generally due to poor equity markets and worsening global economic conditions. In addition, Philadelphia faced house price pressure, while Detroit continued to battle high unemployment levels as did Los Angeles, San Jose, Chicago and San Francisco,” said Lassignardie.

HNW individuals are defined as those having investable assets of $1 million or more, excluding primary residence, collectibles, consumables and consumer durables.

“Each of the top five US metropolitan statistical areas on its own is large enough to earn a ranking spot as one of the top 15 wealth markets in the world,” said Lassignardie. “For instance, New York has more HNW individuals than the Middle East and Africa based on the markets we cover.”