Million-dollar incomes, monthly rent: Naples, Tampa gain wealthy tenants

A seven-figure income doesn’t always come with a mortgage.

From Naples to Tampa Bay, households earning at least $1 million a year are increasingly entering the rental housing market, according to a new RentCafe report. Sarasota also made the apartment search website’s list of emerging markets for those high earners. 

Naples posted the country’s second-fastest growth in millionaire renter households on RentCafe’s ranking, trailing only Houston. Its estimate rose from seven households to 76, a 986% increase.

That put Naples level with the much larger Tampa metro, where the estimated number climbed from 21 to 76, up 262%. Tampa ranked No. 15 for growth, edging past the national increase of 229%.

The figures, published Oct. 15, come from RentCafe’s analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data it accessed through the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series, or IPUMS. RentCafe defines “millionaire” households as those with a combined annual income of at least $1 million. A household can qualify through multiple earners; owning a million-dollar home does not qualify it.

Among the metros highlighted in the report, three are on the state's west coast. 

Sarasota ranked No. 11 on a separate list of metros where the earlier estimate showed no millionaire renter households. The latest estimate was 51. That is an emergence in the survey estimates, rather than proof that no such households previously lived there, the report says.

Naples and Tampa tied for Florida’s second largest millionaire renter totals, behind Miami’s 538, according to figures supplied by RentCafe in an email accompanying the report.

Tampa’s growth in high-income homeowners was even stronger.

The metro’s millionaire homeowner estimate rose from 394 to 1,679, a 326% increase, according to RentCafe. Tampa ranked 19th nationally for its latest millionaire homeowner total.

Together, owners and renters accounted for 1,755 Tampa-area households meeting the income threshold. About 96% were homeowners.

That differs from the national growth pattern: Across the U.S., millionaire renter households increased 229%, compared with 193% for homeowners, RentCafe reports.

RentCafe attributes the rental trend to a preference for mobility, the ability to relocate without selling a house and the opportunity to keep money available for other investments.

For some affluent households, “renting is now a deliberate choice,” the report says.

Nationally, millennials accounted for 49% of millionaire renter households. Gen Z represented just 2%, but grew rapidly from a small starting point.