No country for rich men: 6 out of 10 wealthy Americans want to pull a Clooney and pack their bags

It's not about politics. Life in America is too expensive.

George Clooney sent a holiday season warning to the U.S. economy in December 2025: your wealthy citizens aren’t so impressed by all that American Dream stuff anymore. In France, where he and his family had just gotten citizenship, “they kind of don’t give a s— about fame,” he told Esquire. He added that he wanted his kids away from “the culture of Hollywood … walking around worried about paparazzi” or “being compared to somebody else’s famous kids.”​

He’s not alone.

Six in 10 affluent Americans say they would consider leaving the United States within the next five years — a striking signal of eroding confidence at the very top of the income ladder.

That’s the headline finding from a new survey of 1,733 Americans with household incomes above $200,000, conducted in May 2026 by Apex Capital Partners, a wealth management firm that specializes in second citizenship and overseas investment programs. The results paint a picture of a wealthy class increasingly eyeing the exits, not out of hardship, but out of strategic calculation.

The finding arrives as the U.S. recorded net negative migration in 2025—more people leaving than arriving—for the first time in roughly 90 years, a trend that aligned exactly with Clooney’s foreign adventures. The Apex survey suggests the wealthy aren’t observers of that shift. They’re driving it.

Cost, not just culture wars

For years, the narrative around Americans moving abroad centered on political disillusionment. But the data tells a more nuanced story. When asked why they’d consider leaving, respondents ranked cost of living and taxes first, cited by 68% of those open to emigrating—ahead of political climate, which came in at 54%. Healthcare access (39%), public safety (29%), and education (21%) rounded out the top five.

“In all honesty, it was a bit surprising to me,” Nuri Katz, founder of Apex Capital Partners, told Fortune. Most of his Americans clients used to be motivated by politics but now, “we are seeing clients from both sides of the aisle. People on the left are afraid of Trump. People on the right who support Trump are afraid of the reaction—a stark move to the left, a socialist coming into power, and we see the popularity of socialist politicians now as well, so both sides are incredibly nervous.”

“Affluent Americans are increasingly treating immigration as a strategic financial move to safeguard their assets and families against political instability and rising expenses,” said Katz.

The economic anxiety runs deeper than destination-shopping. Forty-two percent of respondents rated the current U.S. economy as weak or very weak, while just 31% called it strong or very strong, only 27% were neutral.

That pessimism is notably concentrated at the top: a Gallup poll last November found roughly 20% of all Americans expressed a desire to permanently relocate abroad. Among households earning over $200,000, the Apex survey puts that figure at three times higher—suggesting economic unease is sharpest among those with the most assets to protect, and the most means to act.

Most entrepreneurs and wealthy people are very concentrated in U.S. dollar assets, Katz explained, citing their 401(k)s, real estate and stock portfolios. “People are coming to the understanding that the dollar isn’t going to be the reserve currency forever, and it might end sooner than later.”

The survey also captures the mood of a country at war. Three in four respondents said the ongoing Iran War concerns them about America’s future. Nearly 44% called it significantly concerning, the single largest response, while another 31% said they were moderately concerned. Only about 10% said they weren’t concerned at all.

Katz said he’s seen a sea change since the pandemic. “Before COVID, the percentage of Americans within our industry applying for second residences or citizenships was minimal. Now it’s growing by hundreds of percentages a year. You see the sentiment and it’s turning—the sentiment starts somewhere and then it turns into action over time, and we’re seeing that action now.”

Where they’d go

Europe is the runaway favorite destination. Among those considering a move, 42% pointed to Europe, followed by Canada (18%) and the Caribbean (16%). South America and Asia trailed well behind, at 10% each.

The appeal of Europe and the Caribbean isn’t purely lifestyle-driven. Both regions are home to well-established Golden Visa and Citizenship by Investment (CIP) programs—pathways that allow high-net-worth individuals to obtain residency or citizenship in exchange for qualifying investments.

Katz sounded a cautionary note about Europe. “I think people are going to be realizing that Europe isn’t the solution and they’re going to be looking elsewhere,” he said, calling the EU a “dysfunctional organization” and pointing out that many European economies are “in a state of flux” with falling quality of life as social welfare systems built for the 20th century seem unsustainable in the modern economy.

The European golden visa landscape has also shifted considerably. Portugal, once the most popular entry point for American applicants, shuttered its residential real estate pathway in 2024, as Fortune reported, reshaping where wealthy applicants can turn—and fueling demand for Caribbean alternatives that can confer a second passport in as little as three to six months. Apex, notably, is in the business of facilitating exactly those transactions.

It isn’t just people contemplating a shift—it’s capital. Nearly 63% of respondents said they have considered diversifying assets outside the United States. For a cohort that earns over $200,000 a year, that’s a meaningful signal for advisors, fund managers, and policymakers watching where domestic wealth flows.

Katz has worked in what he calls the “investor immigration” sector for 30 years and works with clients from all over the world, and this is something new, he told Fortune. “We’ve been feeling this rise in demand from the United States and we decided to study it and in all honesty, I was surprised, I don’t want to say shocked, at the sentiment among wealthy people.”

“That’s a blessing for my company but a problem for the U.S.”

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com