The number of billionaires in the U.S. increased 5% compared to last year, going from 720 super wealthy individuals to 775. The richest billionaires are concentrated in states like Texas, California, and New York, but there is almost one billionaire in every single state.
This map uses data from Forbes to showcase the wealthiest billionaire in each state.
The State-by-State Breakdown
According to Forbes, just four states are home to 61% of the country’s billionaires: California (179), New York (130), Florida (92), and Texas (73).
Here’s a closer look at the data on who takes the title of the richest in each state:
Many billionaires in the U.S. are extremely well-known, such as California’s Larry Page, New York’s Michael Bloomberg, or Washington state’s Jeff Bezos.
Interestingly, Bill Gates doesn’t take the top spot as the richest billionaire in Washington because Bezos has a higher net worth—$149 billion vs. Gates’ $104 billion—although they do live in the exact same town of Medina, WA.
Nearly every state is home to at least one billionaire, some far wealthier than others, like Nebraska’s Warren Buffett ($117 billion), compared to Alabama’s Jimmy Rane ($1.2 billion). Some new states, which gained billionaires this year include Alabama, New Hampshire, and Vermont.
Billionaire Wealth
The number of billionaires globally is following a different trend than the one in the U.S., declining year-over-year, and seeing billionaire wealth overall decrease by $500 billion.
The U.S. is home to almost 30% of all the world’s billionaires and while a few like Sam Bankman-Fried and Kanye West lost their billionaire status this year, many continue to get richer. In addition to Ron Corio, New Mexico’s first ever billionaire, eight other individuals on the U.S. list gained billionaire status in the last four years.
Finance and investments, food and beverage, fashion and retail, and technology are the top sources of wealth for U.S. billionaires, with almost 50% of them gaining their fortunes from these specific industries.
