People in These U.S. Regions Are Most Likely To Have Over $1M in Savings

A new survey has found the regions in the United States where people have the most amount of savings.

The TalkerResearch survey, conducted between January 15 and January 20, asked 1,000 employed Americans about their spending and saving habits.

Split into regions, there were 213 respondents from the Northeast, 294 from the Southeast, 127 from the Southwest, 230 from the Midwest, and 136 from the West.

One question posed to those taking part was the amount of savings they had—and found that just 37 of the 1,000 respondents had over one million dollars in the bank.

Those from the Northeast had the most respondents confirming this figure, at 11 people, or five percent of all 213 surveyed.

Six who responded with this figure were from the Southeast, four were from the Southwest, eight were from the Midwest, and eight were from the West. In relation to the total numbers of those who had taken part in the survey from these regions, this translated to two percent, three percent, three percent and six percent, respectively, with over one million dollars in savings.

So, while the Northeast had the most people, in percentage terms the West came out on top with the higher amount of people with over one million dollars in savings.

Newsweek spoke to finance experts on whether where in the U.S. you live can have a major effect on your financial situation, and whether it's easier to save a large amount of money in certain states.

Thomas Brock, a financial reviewer at Annuity.org, suggested that "the most significant correlating factor between where one lives and how much one has saved is the extent to which wealth disparity has taken root."

"Certain cities in the U.S. exhibit an immense amount of wealth disparity, largely due to a combination of high-income earners, a strong financial or tech sector and a large working-class population that lives in low-income neighborhoods surrounding wealthy enclaves," he said, using the likes of New York, Miami, Los Angeles, Boston and San Francisco as examples.

Neal K Shah used his experience as a former New York City hedge fund manager, now based in North Carolina where he is CEO of CareYaya Health Technologies, for his observations, including patterns of "regional industry clusters."

"For example, in our home state of North Carolina, there's a huge regional variability in savings because of the strong tech cluster in the Raleigh-Durham area and finance cluster in Charlotte, compared to the opportunities in the rest of the state."

He suggested the cost of living in different regions is "less important than most people think."

"While the Northeast has higher costs, the presence of major educational institutions and corporate headquarters creates pathways to high-paying careers that can offset the higher expenses."

He said cultural patterns in different regions are a "significant factor" when it comes to savings.

"Multi-generational households, which are more common in certain ethnic communities and geographic areas, often enable higher household savings rates through shared expenses and childcare support."

He said: "Overall, I think that building savings isn't just about where you live. You can leverage the unique opportunities of your region."

This random double-opt-in survey was conducted by market research company Talker Research, whose team members are members of the Market Research Society (MRS) and the European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research (ESOMAR).