After a spectacular 82% growth between 2015 and 2020, the number of high-income renters has reached 2.6 million nationwide. What’s more, we discovered a new type of tenants among the high-heeled renters: the millionaire renters, whose number has tripled in the past 5 years. 

Phoenix claims 10th place on the list of America’s top cities that have seen significant increases in the number of rich renters between 2015 and 2020. In addition, the capital of Arizona is the nation’s 15th hotspot for wealthy renters, with a total of 10,419 high-income renter households. Meanwhile, the suburbs of Surprise and Chandler saw an even bigger influx of affluent renters than Phoenix

Here are the main highlights: 

• A spike of 122% in wealthy-renters pushed Phoenix high on the list compared to 2015. So, it comes as no surprise that by 2020 the city had 10,419 high-income renter households, more than twice compared to five years prior. Rich renters represent 4% of the city’s total renter population and make up the biggest high-earner renter community in Arizona.
• As home prices sky-rocketed in the past years in Phoenix, renting became an attractive option even for affluent people.To put it into context, the growth in home prices here was higher than the national average of 29%.
• Although Phoenix is one of the high-income renter hotspots nationwide, it is not a magnet for millionaire renters. Instead, those who make more than $1,000,000 per year have a preference for major urban areas such as New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. 
• What is the situation in Phoenix metro? The number of high-income renters more than doubled in three suburban cities in the past 5 years. When it comes to the highest increase in wealthy apartment-dwellers, Surprise takes the lead in all of Arizona, boasting a 336% increase. It is followed by Chandler (137%), while the number of high-income renters in Glendale grew by 115%.
  
• Nearby Tucson also made its way up into the top 20 cities amid a 91% influx of high-income renters. Compared to 2015, the number of rich renter households almost doubled in the city, now boasting more than 2,000 rentals occupied by wealthy tenants.
  
• Nationwide, the number of renters with annual incomes of more than $150,000 grew by 82% between 2015 and 2020, faster than renters overall, who inched up by2% during the same timeframe. Meanwhile, the number of millionaire renter households tripled during those 5 years.

View the full report here.