LinkedInJuly 9, 2026
The United States holds about half the world's stock market value. As a base to actually live in, my index ranks it 72nd of 233.
For a globally mobile person, the US is the default. The best place to build capital, the assumed top of any list. On livability and on the cost of the passport itself, the data pulls the other way.
Where it dominates is capital. US listed companies make up roughly half of all global equity value, and the US market itself passed 75 trillion dollars in 2026. The deepest, most valuable public markets on earth.
Then the drag.
• Safety. 128th of 163 on the 2025 Global Peace Index, homicide rates around six times the Western European average.
• Affordability. Low for a developed economy on the cost measure I track.
• Tax. The one that catches HNWIs.
The US is one of only two countries on earth, alongside Eritrea, that taxes its citizens on worldwide income no matter where they live. Move to Lisbon or Dubai and you still file with the IRS every year. Leaving is not free either. Renounce with 2 million dollars or more in net worth and Section 877A treats your worldwide assets as sold the day before you go, taxing the gain above about 910,000 dollars.
So the US is unmatched for building a fortune and unusually expensive as a citizenship to hold once that fortune exists.
For a US person, at what net worth does the passport flip from an asset to a liability you would actually plan an exit around, 2 million, 10, or 50?
Want to see where your own profile fits across the full set, the free 6 minute diagnostic is in the first comment.
Sourced from GeoCompass, the jurisdiction intelligence layer behind Lucky Nomads.
#internationaltax #globalmobility #usexpat
Eritrea
United States