American Millionaire Exodus Reaches Third-Highest Level Ever in 2024

In 2024-Q3 alone, 2,123 wealthy Americans renounced citizenship—accounting for 44% of the year’s total and reaching the highest quarterly figure since Q4 2016.

The number of wealthy Americans relinquishing their citizenship surged to 4,820 in 2024, marking the third-highest annual total ever recorded. This represents a 48% increase from 2023 and trails both the historical peak of 6,705 expatriations in 2020 and the 5,410 expatriations recorded in 2016.

Data from the IRS “Expat List” reveals extraordinary volatility in quarterly figures. The third quarter of 2024 alone accounted for 2,123 renunciations—44% of the entire year’s total and the highest quarterly figure since late 2016.

The quarterly publication reflects events that occurred 12 to 18 months earlier, according to David Lesperance, Founder and Managing Director of Lesperance & Associates. Current figures represent decisions made in 2023. He estimates the average “time-lag between expatriating and reporting is between 12 and 18 months […] and sometimes as long as two or more years if the departing taxpayer left early in the year and thereafter triggered legal tax filing extensions.”

Despite quarterly fluctuations, the five-year moving average continues its inexorable upward trend—from 2,663 in 2020 to 2,648 in 2021, then rising to 2,717 in 2022, 2,747 in 2023, and reaching 2,856 in 2024. This continuous growth paints a clearer picture of the ongoing exodus.

The five-year period from 2020 through 2024 has produced 21,027 high-net-worth expatriations, representing approximately 39% of all citizenship renunciations since the IRS began publishing records in 1996.

Quarterly variations tell a story of administrative bottlenecks. The first quarter of 2024 saw just 345 names on the Expat List—the lowest since Q4 2021—before exploding to 1,717 in Q2 and 2,123 in Q3.

Lesperance points out that these wild swings reflect the uneven processing of renunciation appointments at US consulates worldwide rather than actual fluctuations in demand. “For undisclosed reasons, the State Department strictly limits the number of renunciation appointments that are available at a given US mission.”

The IRS only tracks “covered expatriates”—those with a net worth exceeding $2 million or average annual tax payments over $178,000 during the previous five years. “The list only contains some of the names of the former taxpayers […] namely those who the US government considers wealthy,” Lesperance explains. “Amazingly, the list does not include the citizenship renunciations of those who are not Covered Expatriates.”

According to Lesperance’s estimates, the backlog for renunciation appointments now exceeds 30,000 cases. He describes the process as “playing whack-a-mole” for those seeking appointments. “When one mission opens up, they are quickly inundated with appointment requests and find themselves putting latecomers on waiting lists.”

Political factors from both sides influence expatriation interest. “Concerns among high-net-worth American citizens, Green Card holders, and long-term residents who have wisely put backup plans in place because the economic, tax, political, and/or social environment is getting too uncertain” drive many decisions, according to Lesperance.

The 2020 spike in reported expatriations actually reflected decisions made 18 months earlier. Lesperance says that the “reality is that most of the 6,500 people reported in 2020 applied in the second half of 2018 and early part of 2019.” He points out that this happened during the run-up to and immediate aftermath of the mid-term elections.

“The List can be seen as a ‘Canary in the Coal Mine’ that helps us answer the long-standing question whether wealthy American citizens and Green Card holders will overcome ‘life inertia’ and permanently leave the US tax regime,” Lesperance concludes. “With the top 1% of US taxpayers accounting for 40% of the total annual US personal tax collections, this is a canary worth watching.”