According to Financial Planning, conventional wisdom suggests financial advisors naturally follow the money, settling where high-net-worth households cluster. But recent data reveals a far more complicated story.
Since 2019, the number of personal financial advisors in the United States has grown by roughly 29 percent, with nearly 60,000 new professionals entering the field, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, this growth has not spread evenly across states. New Mexico, West Virginia, Arizona, Washington, and North Carolina reported the highest percentage increases. In contrast, advisor headcounts in places like Washington, D.C, and Massachusetts declined.
States like Arizona, Washington, and North Carolina saw especially notable gains, adding nearly 10,000 advisors collectively. Meanwhile, Texas and Florida together added just over 10,000 professionals. Surprisingly, California defied common narratives about outbound migration by adding over 8,000 new advisors, outpacing the national average, according to Financial Planning.
Though New York's growth lagged, it still posted a 10 percent increase in working advisors since 2019. The Empire State also retains the nation's highest concentration of financial advisors relative to its workforce, with about 3 in every 1,000 workers in the profession. Nationally, the average sits at roughly 1.5 per 1,000.
When examining why advisors choose certain states, the expected connection to the concentration of high-income households turns out to be weak. While states with more households earning $200,000 or more do see modestly higher advisor counts, the relationship is inconsistent.
Cost of living also flips the assumed narrative. Financial advisors remain more concentrated in higher-cost states, contradicting the idea that affordability drives advisor relocations. In addition, advisor pay does not reliably correlate with the presence of wealthy households. For example, advisors in South Dakota, where only 7.4 percent of households earn $200,000 or more, average $174,000 annually.
Financial Planning reports that industry experts agree that geography matters less than market focus. Experts noted that advisors specializing in targeted client bases often find success working virtually, regardless of their physical location.
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