Where Does Mike Bloomberg Live And How Big Is His House?

Former New York City mayor and 2020 democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg got into a heated exchange with fellow candidate Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders on Feb. 19, 2020, concerning the topic of homeownership. The tense conversation went down at the democratic debate in Nevada when Sanders was tasked with defending himself against voters who said they'd be "uncomfortable with a socialist candidate." While explaining his position, the 2020 contender blasted Bloomberg for incorrectly calling him a "communist" earlier in the evening, and then explained why billionaires shouldn't enjoy an unfair advantage. Bloomberg didn't seem to appreciate the takedown, snarking on Sanders, "What a wonderful country we have. The best known socialist in the country happens to be a millionaire with three houses. What did I miss here?" 

Although it's true the senator does own three properties (a property for when he works in Washington, D.C., a home in Vermont, and a summer house), the businessman's quip seemed to backfire on him because it opened up a can of worms regarding his own hefty real estate portfolio. As it turns out, Bloomberg owns an eyeopening amount of homes with large price tags. Here's everything you need to know about where Mike Bloomberg lives and how big his house is.

As the former mayor of New York City, it only makes sense Michael Bloomberg would live in Manhattan. The billionaire bought a ritzy 7,500 sq. ft townhouse in 1986 for $3.5 million in the city's desirable Upper East Side neighborhood. Since then, Bloomberg has expanded the originally five-story home buy purchasing apartments in the co-op next door, "knocking down walls and combining two entire floors along the way," The New York Times reported. The result? A massive space typically unseen in dense NYC. "You're talking about a really extraordinary space," Jacky Teplitzky, a "prominent Upper East Side broker," told the NYT. "It's really a mansion, not a townhouse anymore."

In 2016, Bloomberg shelled out $14 million to purchase a triplex in the co-op, leaving him with one apartment left to acquire to make his mega-mansion dreams come true. But unfortunately for the mogul, he'll have to wait a long time before this happens because its occupants told the NYT that they'd "never leave" the top floor apartment. Tough break, huh? We guess the dad-of-two will have to deal with his nearly completed mansion for the time being...  

Michael Bloomberg has a massive real estate portfolio which includes a condo in Vail, Colo. a mansion in Bermuda, a "condo in New York City that he acquired 13 years ago," a property in Wellington, Fla., and a London estate, to name a few acquisitions, per Politico. But Bloomberg's crown jewel might be his $20 million home in the Hamptons, which spans 22,000 sq. feet and boasts 11 bedrooms and 8.5 bathrooms. Woah.

Bloomberg's real estate portfolio might not play well in the 2020 presidential race, as it arguably paints him as someone who is out of touch with average Americans. "It's a shame Mike Bloomberg can buy his way into the debate, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren aptly pointed out via Twitter on the topic of Bloomberg qualifying for the democratic debate on Feb. 19, 2020. "But at least now primary voters curious about how each candidate will take on Donald Trump can get a live demonstration of how we each take on an egomaniac billionaire."

Hmm... maybe the billionaire should cool it with his real estate transactions for the time being.

Michael Bloomberg might be rolling in the dough and lucrative real estate deals at the moment, but his early childhood was hardly as glamorous. Bloomberg — along with his parents and younger sister — grew up in a "blue-collar Boston suburb" called Medford, Mass, per The New York Times. The billionaire's mother, Charlotte Rubens Bloomberg, lived in the "modest New England home" he grew up in, as Joyce Purnick noted in her 2009 book, Mike Bloomberg, until her death in 2011. Bloomberg supposedly hasn't visited his hometown very often since her passing, with local historian Tom Lincoln reasoning (via the NYT), "The general take on Mayor Bloomberg and Medford is that Mayor Bloomberg made his money in New York and is very focused on that." Benjamin Averbook, "a longtime friend of Charlotte Bloomberg," added in a separate quote, "His mother is gone. He won't be back."

The former NYC mayor received his high school diploma in 1960 and went on to attend Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD. Upon graduating in 1964, he attended Harvard Business School, and the rest is history. Whether Bloomberg thinks about his humble hometown is anyone's guess, but it's interesting to consider his roots in the context of his fortune.