Family Office Statistics 2026
By Axis Intelligence Research
Co-author: Mia Scarlett | Last updated: October 4, 2026 | License: CC BY 4.0
There are an estimated 8,030 single family offices worldwide managing $3.1 trillion, and in 2026 a record 60% of them plan to change their strategic asset allocation. According to Axis Intelligence Research, the average single family office in the Middle East manages about $548.3 million, more than double the Asia Pacific average of $257.6 million.
Quick Answer
The best available global count is 8,030 single family offices with $3.1 trillion in assets under management, per Deloitte Private’s Defining the Family Office Landscape 2024, projected to reach 10,720 offices and $5.4 trillion by 2030. Running one costs $0.9 million a year at $250 million or less in AUM and $6.6 million above $1 billion, per J.P. Morgan Private Bank.
Key Findings
- According to Axis Intelligence Research, the Axis Family Office Repositioning Index (FORI) reads 55.25 globally in 2026 but only 22.25 for US family offices, the widest regional gap in the dataset.
- UBS reports that 60% of family offices plan strategic asset allocation changes over the next 12 months, up from 35% a year earlier and the highest share in the report’s history.
- According to Axis Intelligence Research, family office private equity allocations fell from a 22% peak in 2023 to 17% in 2025, based on the UBS strategic allocation series.
- UBS finds 47% of family offices describe themselves as over-exposed to the US dollar, and 29% have reduced or are considering reducing dollar-denominated assets.
- According to Axis Intelligence Research, published Hong Kong and Singapore counts sum to 4,700 single family offices, 2.05 times Deloitte’s 2,290 estimate for all of Asia Pacific, which shows the counts cannot be combined.
How Many Family Offices Are There in 2026?
Nobody registers family offices globally, so every count is an estimate. The most cited one comes from Deloitte Private, which modelled the population with Wealth-X data: 8,030 single family offices at the time of its 2024 report, up from 6,130 in 2019. Deloitte projects 9,030 for 2025 and 10,720 by 2030. No newer global count has been published as of October 2026, so 8,030 remains the working figure.
Those offices managed an estimated $3.1 trillion, while the families behind them held $5.5 trillion in total wealth. Deloitte projects $5.4 trillion in AUM and $9.5 trillion in family wealth by 2030.
Single Family Offices by Region
| Region | Single family offices, 2024 | Projected, 2030 | AUM, 2024 | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| North America | 3,180 | 4,190 | $1.3 trillion | Deloitte Private |
| Asia Pacific | 2,290 | 3,200 | $590 billion | Deloitte Private |
| Europe | 2,020 | 2,650 | $949 billion | Deloitte Private |
| Middle East | 290 | NA | $159 billion | Deloitte Private |
| South America | 190 | NA | NA | Deloitte Private |
| Africa | 60 | NA | NA | Deloitte Private |
| Global | 8,030 | 10,720 | $3.1 trillion | Deloitte Private |
North America holds the largest population today and is projected to keep about 39.1% of the world’s single family offices in 2030, according to Axis Intelligence Research’s calculation from Deloitte’s regional projections.
How Much Does the Average Family Office Manage, by Region?
Deloitte publishes regional office counts and regional AUM separately. Dividing one by the other produces a figure Deloitte does not print: average AUM per single family office.
| Region | Avg. AUM per single family office (Axis estimate) | Inputs | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Middle East | $548.3 million | $159B / 290 offices | Axis calculation from Deloitte |
| Europe | $469.8 million | $949B / 2,020 offices | Axis calculation from Deloitte |
| North America | $408.8 million | $1.3T / 3,180 offices | Axis calculation from Deloitte |
| Global | $386.1 million | $3.1T / 8,030 offices | Axis calculation from Deloitte |
| Asia Pacific | $257.6 million | $590B / 2,290 offices | Axis calculation from Deloitte |
Read the Middle East number carefully. A base of 290 offices is small, so a handful of very large balance sheets can lift the average. Asia Pacific sits at the other end: the region has the second-largest office count but the lowest assets per office, which points to a population of younger, smaller offices that have not yet reached scale. Deloitte also derives AUM by applying a weighted AUM-to-wealth ratio to family wealth, so these per-office averages are estimates built on estimates. They are useful for ranking regions. They are not a benchmark for a single office’s budget.
The growth math is less dramatic than the headlines suggest. According to Axis Intelligence Research, Deloitte’s projections imply a 4.93% compound annual growth rate in office count from 2024 to 2030 and 9.69% in AUM. Assets are expected to compound roughly twice as fast as the number of offices, which means the projection is mostly about existing offices getting bigger, not a flood of new ones.
Is Hong Kong or Singapore the Bigger Family Office Hub?
This is the most contested number in the sector, and the two governments are not measuring the same thing.
| Hub | Count | As of | What is counted | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hong Kong | around 2,700 | end-2023 | All single family offices, modelled estimate by a consultant commissioned by InvestHK | Hong Kong SAR Government, LCQ5 |
| Singapore | more than 2,000 | end-2025 | Single family offices receiving 13O/13U fund tax incentives | MAS written reply, 2026 |
| Singapore | more than 2,000 | end-2024 | Same basis | MAS written reply, February 2025 |
| Singapore | around 1,400 | end-2023 | Same basis | MAS written reply, March 2024 |
| Singapore | 400 | end-2020 | Same basis | MAS written reply, February 2025 |
Hong Kong’s figure is a model of every single family office in the city. Singapore’s is an administrative count of offices that applied for and received a tax incentive, which excludes any office that never applied. Comparing them head to head, as most coverage does, compares a census estimate with a permit register.
According to Axis Intelligence Research, adding the two hub figures gives 4,700 offices, 2.05 times the 2,290 Deloitte estimates for all of Asia Pacific. Two cities cannot hold twice the offices of the region they sit in. The figures were built on different bases and dates, a modelled estimate at end-2023 against an incentive register at end-2024, and a family can hold a Singapore incentive fund while being counted somewhere else in a regional model. We decline to merge these numbers into a single regional total, and the CSV records that declined calculation as a retracted row.
What the Singapore series does show cleanly is pace. According to Axis Intelligence Research, incentivised Singapore single family offices grew at least five-fold from 400 at end-2020 to more than 2,000 at end-2024. The MAS figure for end-2025 is still “more than 2,000,” which suggests the count is no longer compounding at its earlier pace. MAS has also said it will bring all single family offices under a notification and anti-money laundering framework. MAS also reports that incentivised offices employ about 2,200 locals.
Hong Kong’s offer runs on a profits tax exemption for family-owned investment holding vehicles that clear a HK$240 million asset threshold, and the government says its FamilyOfficeHK team has helped over 190 family offices set up or expand since June 2021.
How Do Family Offices Allocate Their Portfolios in 2026?
The cleanest long-run allocation series comes from the UBS Global Family Office Report 2026, which surveyed 307 family offices across more than 30 markets between January 22 and March 30, 2026. Participating families averaged $2.7 billion in net worth, and their offices averaged $1.3 billion in AUM.
Family Office Asset Allocation, 2025 (Global)
| Asset class | Share of strategic allocation | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Equities | 32% | UBS GFO 2026 |
| Fixed income | 17% | UBS GFO 2026 |
| Private equity (direct 8%, funds 9%) | 17% | UBS GFO 2026 |
| Real estate | 11% | UBS GFO 2026 |
| Cash | 9% | UBS GFO 2026 |
| Hedge funds | 6% | UBS GFO 2026 |
| Private debt | 3% | UBS GFO 2026 |
| Gold and precious metals | 2% | UBS GFO 2026 |
| Infrastructure | 1% | UBS GFO 2026 |
| Commodities | 1% | UBS GFO 2026 |
| Art and antiques | 1% | UBS GFO 2026 |
Traditional assets made up 58% of the average portfolio and alternatives 42%.
Are Family Offices Pulling Back From Private Equity?
Yes, and the series makes it plain. According to Axis Intelligence Research’s sum of the UBS direct and fund lines, combined private equity allocations moved like this:
| Year | Private equity share (direct + funds) | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 16% | Axis calculation from UBS GFO 2026 |
| 2020 | 18% | Axis calculation from UBS GFO 2026 |
| 2021 | 21% | Axis calculation from UBS GFO 2026 |
| 2022 | 19% | Axis calculation from UBS GFO 2026 |
| 2023 | 22% | Axis calculation from UBS GFO 2026 |
| 2024 | 21% | Axis calculation from UBS GFO 2026 |
| 2025 | 17% | Axis calculation from UBS GFO 2026 |
Five points off a 22% peak is a real move for capital that rarely trades. Most of the drop sits in direct deals, which fell from 11% to 8% between 2024 and 2025, while fund commitments held near 9% to 10%. That is what a slow exit environment does: when portfolio companies are not being sold, distributions dry up, the direct book ages, and offices stop writing new cheques until the old ones come back. The fund line is stickier because commitments are contractual. Anyone pricing a co-invest or a continuation vehicle to family offices in 2026 should assume the buyer is still waiting on distributions from the last vintage. Our BlackRock statistics page shows the same private markets fee pool from the manager side.
US Family Offices vs. Global Peers
US offices run a different book. UBS puts alternatives at 52% of US family office portfolios, against 42% globally, with real estate at 20% and private equity at 19%. Fixed income is only 8%. Home bias is the defining feature: US offices hold 88% of assets in North America in 2026, up from 86% in 2025. For context on the household side of US wealth, see our US high-net-worth statistics.
J.P. Morgan’s sample, where 59% of respondents are US-based, lands closer to the US profile: alternatives at 35.5% and cash at 8%, per the J.P. Morgan Private Bank 2026 Global Family Office Report.
What Are Family Offices Planning to Change?
Among UBS respondents planning changes, real estate is set to fall from 11% to 8%, gold to rise from 2% to 3%, infrastructure from 1% to 2%, and emerging market equities from 5% to 6%. Cash is planned to drop from 9% to 8%. None of these is a dramatic move on its own. Taken together they describe offices shifting away from illiquid property and toward assets they can rebalance or hold as insurance.
Which Family Offices Are Repositioning Fastest? The Axis Family Office Repositioning Index (FORI)
A headline like “60% plan changes” hides how differently regions are acting. The Axis Family Office Repositioning Index (FORI) combines three UBS 2026 measures into one 0 to 100 reading per region, so the intensity of repositioning can be compared across markets on the same scale.
Formula: FORI = 0.50 x (share planning strategic asset allocation changes) + 0.25 x (share reducing or considering reducing US dollar-denominated assets) + 0.25 x (100 minus share planning no currency-risk action).
Allocation intent carries half the weight because it is the broadest commitment. The two currency inputs carry the other half because dollar exposure is the single largest concentration most family offices hold.
| Region | Planning SAA change | Reducing USD exposure | No currency action planned | FORI reading | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Middle East | 82% | 22% | 28% | 64.5 | Axis calculation from UBS GFO 2026 |
| North Asia | 71% | 26% | 17% | 62.75 | Axis calculation from UBS GFO 2026 |
| Southeast Asia | 81% | 33% | 47% | 62.0 | Axis calculation from UBS GFO 2026 |
| Europe (excl. Switzerland) | 67% | 33% | 24% | 60.75 | Axis calculation from UBS GFO 2026 |
| Global | 60% | 29% | 28% | 55.25 | Axis calculation from UBS GFO 2026 |
| Latin America | 61% | 24% | 28% | 54.5 | Axis calculation from UBS GFO 2026 |
| Switzerland | 43% | 43% | 13% | 54.0 | Axis calculation from UBS GFO 2026 |
| United States | 21% | 14% | 67% | 22.25 | Axis calculation from UBS GFO 2026 |
According to Axis Intelligence Research, US family offices score 22.25 on FORI, less than half the global reading of 55.25. Two in three US offices plan no currency action at all. Switzerland is the instructive outlier: only 43% of Swiss offices plan allocation changes, yet 43% are cutting dollar exposure and just 13% plan no currency action. Swiss families are not rebuilding portfolios. They are quietly re-denominating them.
UBS flags the Middle East and Southeast Asia samples as low base size, so their top-three placements carry more noise than Europe’s. FORI will be recomputed when UBS publishes its 2027 edition, with the formula unchanged so readings stay comparable year to year.
Are Family Offices Cutting US Dollar Exposure?
Some are, and the motive is concentration rather than panic. UBS reports that 65% of family offices expect confidence in the dollar’s reserve role to weaken over the coming year, against 6% who expect it to improve. The dollar is the only major currency where a large share, 47%, say they are over-exposed.
Actions are smaller than sentiment. Some 29% have reduced or are considering reducing dollar-denominated assets, 30% are increasing diversification across currencies, and 21% hold or are considering cash in multiple currencies. North America still holds 52% of global family office allocations in 2026, down only from 53% in 2025.
Diversification is also showing up in where assets are booked: 88% of UBS respondents hold bankable assets in two or more jurisdictions.
How Much Are Family Offices Investing in AI, Infrastructure and Crypto?
AI is the consensus theme, but exposure lags conviction. UBS finds 65% of family offices currently allocate to AI, with Southeast Asian offices highest at 88%. J.P. Morgan finds the same 65% plan to prioritize AI, yet only 43% hold any venture capital or growth equity, at an average 3.3% of the portfolio, and only 21% hold any infrastructure, at 0.7%.
| Theme | Share of family offices allocated | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Artificial intelligence | 65% | UBS GFO 2026 |
| Power and resources | 37% | UBS GFO 2026 |
| Infrastructure | 37% | UBS GFO 2026 |
| AI in healthcare | 33% | UBS GFO 2026 |
| Defense and security infrastructure | 29% | UBS GFO 2026 |
| Automation and robotics | 28% | UBS GFO 2026 |
| Longevity | 25% | UBS GFO 2026 |
| Space economy | 20% | UBS GFO 2026 |
| Nuclear | 16% | UBS GFO 2026 |
The gap between 37% allocated to the infrastructure theme and a 1% strategic weight is the part to notice. Offices are buying the AI build-out through listed equities and a few deals, not through the core infrastructure sleeve where power and data center assets actually sit. That is where the financing gap documented in our AI data center financing statistics meets patient private capital, and our AI capex tracker logs who is writing those cheques. Valuation unease is widespread: 71% of US family offices told UBS the AI sector is in a bubble, a question our AI bubble statistics examine from the capex side.
How Many Family Offices Own Crypto?
The two major surveys disagree. UBS reports 24% of family offices hold some crypto or digital assets, typically around 1% of the portfolio, and 44% of those holders now treat it as part of strategic allocation. J.P. Morgan reports 89% hold no crypto, which leaves 11% exposed.
According to Axis Intelligence Research, that is a 13 percentage point gap between two surveys fielded months apart. The samples differ sharply: US families are 12% of UBS respondents and 59% of J.P. Morgan’s. We publish both figures side by side rather than averaging them. For market context, see our Bitcoin statistics.
How Much Does It Cost to Run a Family Office?
J.P. Morgan publishes the clearest cost ladder. The average family office spends $3 million a year to operate, per the bank’s press release, and the figure scales with assets.
| AUM tier | Average annual operating cost | Implied cost range (Axis) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| $250 million or less | $0.9 million | at least 36.0 bps | J.P. Morgan; Axis calculation |
| $250 million to $500 million | $1.7 million | 34.0 to 68.0 bps | J.P. Morgan; Axis calculation |
| $501 million to $999 million | $3.3 million | 33.0 to 65.9 bps | J.P. Morgan; Axis calculation |
| $1 billion and above | $6.6 million | up to 66.0 bps | J.P. Morgan; Axis calculation |
The implied basis-point ranges divide each tier’s average cost by the tier’s AUM boundaries. They show that below roughly $500 million an office can easily spend more than half a percent of assets a year on itself before any external manager fees. That is the number that decides whether a family should build a single family office or join a multi-family platform.
Costs are rising. According to Axis Intelligence Research, the average cost for offices above $1 billion climbed 8.2% between J.P. Morgan’s 2024 and 2026 reports, from $6.1 million to $6.6 million, which the bank attributes to competition for investment talent. On average, 26% of costs go to external providers. UBS adds that pure operating costs are 53% of family office spending, and non-investment professionals make up 40% of staff.
Outsourcing is the norm rather than the exception: 80% of J.P. Morgan respondents outsource at least part of the portfolio, 52% outsource legal work and 45% outsource trading and execution.
What Do Family Offices See as the Biggest Risks in 2026?
Geopolitics leads both surveys. UBS finds 64% fear a major geopolitical conflict over the next 12 months, and 64% of J.P. Morgan respondents cite geopolitics, the most-cited macro risk in that survey.
| Risk (UBS) | Next 12 months | Next 5 years | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Major geopolitical conflict | 64% | 61% | UBS GFO 2026 |
| Debt crisis | 31% | 56% | UBS GFO 2026 |
| Financial market crisis | 27% | 51% | UBS GFO 2026 |
| Global recession | 17% | 50% | UBS GFO 2026 |
| Global trade war | 49% | 36% | UBS GFO 2026 |
| Cyberattack | 32% | 43% | UBS GFO 2026 |
| Higher inflation | 36% | 40% | UBS GFO 2026 |
The five-year column is where the concern shifts. Debt crisis worries jump from 31% to 56% and recession from 17% to 50% once the horizon lengthens, while trade war fears fade. Family offices are pricing the tariff cycle as a passing event and sovereign balance sheets as the lasting one.
Hedges remain thin. J.P. Morgan finds 28% hold any gold, at an average 0.9% allocation. Offices that rank inflation as their top risk behave differently: they hold 60% in alternatives and 16.3% in real estate, against 7.4% for the full sample.
How Many Family Offices Have a Succession Plan?
Fewer than the governance headlines imply. UBS finds 35% of family offices have a succession plan for the office itself, though 57% have a wealth succession plan for family members. Just 27% run an organized process to prepare the next generation. J.P. Morgan finds 86% lack a clear succession plan for key decision makers, meaning 14% have one.
The 35% and 14% figures measure different things: UBS asks about continuity of the office’s staff and services, J.P. Morgan about the people who make decisions. We publish both without reconciling them. Either way, the majority of offices have not written down who runs things next.
Engagement is the practical gap. UBS reports 45% of offices involve the next generation fully or partially, but 21% say heirs old enough to participate are not involved at all, rising to 29% in the US and 31% in Europe. Among offices where the next generation is not fully involved, 52% plan financial education programs. Deloitte puts the average family office principal at 68 years old, which sets the clock on all of this.
| Governance practice | Share of family offices | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Financial performance measurement | 68% | UBS GFO 2026 |
| Investment committee | 60% | UBS GFO 2026 |
| Annual budgeting process | 58% | UBS GFO 2026 |
| Wealth succession plan for family members | 57% | UBS GFO 2026 |
| Board-level governance framework | 49% | UBS GFO 2026 |
| Cybersecurity controls | 41% | UBS GFO 2026 |
| Succession plan for the family office | 35% | UBS GFO 2026 |
| Next-generation education process | 27% | UBS GFO 2026 |
What Counts as a Family Office Under US Law?
In the United States, a single family office avoids registration as an investment adviser if it meets the conditions of SEC Rule 202(a)(11)(G)-1, adopted June 22, 2011. Per the SEC’s small entity compliance guide, the office must advise only “family clients,” be wholly owned by family clients and controlled by family members or family entities, and not hold itself out to the public as an investment adviser. Family members can span lineal descendants of a common ancestor up to 10 generations removed from the youngest generation.
Because excluded offices do not register, no US regulator publishes a count of them. That is why every US family office number in circulation, including Deloitte’s 3,180 for North America, is modelled.
Methodology
Axis Intelligence Research built this dataset from six primary publishers: UBS (Global Family Office Report 2026 and its media release), J.P. Morgan Private Bank (2026 Global Family Office Report, report pages and company press release), Deloitte Private (Defining the Family Office Landscape 2024), the Monetary Authority of Singapore (parliamentary replies of 2024, 2025 and 2026), the Government of the Hong Kong SAR (Legislative Council reply of June 25, 2025) and the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Every figure was retrieved from the publisher’s own page or document on October 4, 2026. No aggregator or competing statistics site is used as a source.
Axis calculations. Average AUM per office divides Deloitte’s regional AUM by Deloitte’s regional office count. Growth rates are compound annual rates over six years from Deloitte’s 2024 and 2030 figures. Private equity totals add the UBS direct and fund lines. Implied cost ranges divide J.P. Morgan’s tier averages by each tier’s AUM bounds. The FORI formula is stated in full in its section; all three inputs come from the same UBS survey question set, so the components share one sample and one fielding window.
Declined calculations. We did not sum Hong Kong and Singapore counts into a regional figure, and we did not estimate a single average cost in basis points, because J.P. Morgan does not publish mean AUM per tier. Both appear in the CSV as retracted rows with the reason.
Scope. Survey figures describe each bank’s clients, not the full population, and UBS and J.P. Morgan samples differ in size, wealth and geography. Deloitte’s counts and AUM are modelled estimates. Singapore’s counts cover tax-incentive recipients only.
About This Dataset
The full fact table, 263 rows with source organization, document, URL, retrieval date, primary-source flag and Axis calculation notes, is available as family-office-statistics-2026.csv, published under CC BY 4.0. Suggested attribution: Axis Intelligence Research, Family Office Statistics 2026, 2026.
The dataset is updated when a source publishes new data, not on a fixed calendar. The next scheduled triggers are the next J.P. Morgan Global Family Office Report, the UBS Global Family Office Report 2027, any new Deloitte global count, and any new MAS or Hong Kong government figure.
Cite This Page
APA: Axis Intelligence Research, & Scarlett, M. (2026, October 4). Family office statistics 2026: How many exist, what they own, what they cost. Axis Intelligence. https://axis-intelligence.com/family-office-statistics/
MLA: Axis Intelligence Research, and Mia Scarlett. “Family Office Statistics 2026: How Many Exist, What They Own, What They Cost.” Axis Intelligence, 4 Oct. 2026, axis-intelligence.com/family-office-statistics/.
Chicago: Axis Intelligence Research, and Mia Scarlett. “Family Office Statistics 2026: How Many Exist, What They Own, What They Cost.” Axis Intelligence, October 4, 2026. https://axis-intelligence.com/family-office-statistics/.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many single family offices are there in the world in 2026?
The latest global estimate is 8,030 single family offices managing $3.1 trillion, from Deloitte Private’s 2024 report. Deloitte projected 9,030 for 2025 and 10,720 by 2030. No newer global count has been published as of October 2026.
How much money do you need to justify a single family office?
There is no legal minimum, but cost sets a practical one. J.P. Morgan puts average annual cost at $0.9 million for offices with $250 million or less in AUM. According to Axis Intelligence Research, that is at least 36.0 basis points a year before external manager fees, which is why many families below that level use a multi-family office instead.
Do family offices have to register with the SEC?
Not if they meet SEC Rule 202(a)(11)(G)-1: advise only family clients, be wholly owned by family clients and controlled by family members or family entities, and not hold out to the public as an investment adviser. An office that advises unrelated families falls outside the exclusion.
Does Hong Kong or Singapore have more family offices?
The published numbers cannot settle it. Hong Kong’s around 2,700 is a modelled estimate of all single family offices at end-2023. Singapore’s more than 2,000 counts only offices receiving 13O or 13U tax incentives at end-2025. The two bases are not comparable.
How much of a family office portfolio is in private equity?
About 17% in 2025, split 8% direct and 9% funds, per UBS. According to Axis Intelligence Research, that is down from a 22% peak in 2023, with most of the decline in direct deals.
Are family offices selling US dollar assets?
A minority are. UBS finds 29% have reduced or are considering reducing dollar-denominated assets and 47% feel over-exposed to the dollar. US-based offices are the exception, with only 14% cutting dollar exposure and 88% of assets in North America.
What share of family offices invest in crypto?
Between 11% and 24%, depending on the survey. UBS reports 24% with exposure, typically around 1% of the portfolio. J.P. Morgan reports 89% with no exposure. The gap reflects different samples, so treat it as a range.
Why are family offices underweight AI infrastructure despite favoring AI?
Most offices buy AI through listed equities and selective deals. J.P. Morgan finds only 21% hold any infrastructure, averaging 0.7% of the portfolio, and UBS puts infrastructure at 1% of strategic allocation, even though 65% of offices prioritize or allocate to AI.
How many family offices have a succession plan?
UBS finds 35% have a succession plan for the family office itself and 57% have a wealth succession plan for family members. J.P. Morgan finds 86% lack a clear succession plan for key decision makers. The surveys ask different questions.