Number of U.S. Millionaires Falls Steeply

Over the past few years the number of millionaires has been rising but that trend has ended in a big way. A new report "Affluent Market Insights 2009," released by Spectrem Group indicates that the number of millionaire households in the U.S. has shrunk to its lowest level since 2003. In 2008 there were 6.7 million households with a net worth of $1 million or more, not including the primary residence. This number represents a dramatic drop from 9.2 million just a year before.

And it's not just the millionaires. The number of ultra high net worth households, those with a net worth of $5 million or more not including the primary residence, dropped 28 percent to 840,000 in 2008, down from 1.16 million in 2007. Meanwhile the affluent households, defined as having $500,000 or more in net worth not including the primary residence, also declined 28 percent in 2008 to 11.3 million, down from 15.7 million in 2007.