New Jersey has become the US state with the largest percentage of millionaires to total households, according to Phoenix Affluent Marketing’s annual market sizing analysis and aggregate wealth rankings. Ranked second for the past two years, New Jersey vaulted past Hawaii, which slipped to fourth in the 2007 rankings. New Jersey’s ratio of millionaires to total households rose to 7.12 per cent, up from 6.5 per cent in 2006. Maryland is now in second place at 7.08 per cent, up from 6.2 per cent in 2006. Connecticut is third, with a ratio of 7.0 per cent, up from 6.2 per cent a year ago. Hawaii’s ratio of 6.7 per cent was unchanged from a year ago. Phoenix defines a millionaire household as one with $1 million or more in investable or liquid assets. “Traditional East Coast concentrations of wealth have continued to outperform most of the rest of the country,” says David Thompson, managing director of the Phoenix Affluent Practice. “This is a function of three factors: high levels of education; access to top paying jobs in finance and technology; and a stock market that has advanced over the past four years.” Completing the top ten for 2007: Massachusetts remains in fifth place; Virginia rose to sixth from seventh past Delaware, which fell one spot; Alaska leapt to eighth from fourteenth a year ago; ninth-place New Hampshire, was up from eleventh in 2006; and California came in tenth, down two spots from 2006. The biggest faller was the District of Columbia - although not itself a state - which plunged from ninth spot in 2006 with 5.33 per cent to twentieth in 2007 with 5.26 per cent. Florida, also dropped out of the top ten, falling from tenth spot with 5.19 per cent in 2006 to eighteenth position in 2007, although its percentage of millionaire households increased to 5.31 per cent. New York was another faller, sliding from thirteenth in 2006 with 5.12 per cent to nineteenth in 2007 despite increasing to 5.28 per cent. The average figure across all 50 US states rose from 4.8 per cent in 2006 to 5.25 per cent in 2007. Mississippi was last on the list. New York-based Phoenix Marketing International offers clients advertising and brand measurements and has a division that focuses on trends influencing affluent markets.