As of June 2024, Elon Musk was estimated as the wealthiest person in the United States with a net worth of around 195 billion dollars. Richest people in the United States - additional information Every year since 1982, the American business magazine Forbes has been compiling lists of the 400 richest people in the United States, known as the “Forbes 400.” In addition to that, since 1987, the publication has also been compiling a ranking of the 500 richest people in the world (excluding royalty and dictators), as well as more specialized tops, such as “World's Most Powerful Women,” “America's Richest Families,” “Most Valuable Brands” or “30 Under 30,” which focuses on young entrepreneurs from various fields which have gained millions in the past year by the use of social media, technical innovations and generally new and fresh approaches to business.

As of March 2024, California was the U.S. state with most billionaires, with 197 billionaires calling the state home. New York was second, with 139 resident billionaires.

This statistic presents the American states with highest ratio of millionaire households per capita in 2020. In that year, New Jersey had the highest ratio of millionaire households per capita in the country, with 9.76 percent of households holding over one million U.S. dollars in assets.

As of August 2024, a combined value of 856 billion U.S. dollars was held by the top five wealthiest billionaires in the United States. According to the source, the five wealthiest billionaires were Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Ellison, and Warren Buffett.

According to the Hurun Global Rich List 2024, China housed the highest number of billionaires worldwide in 2024. In detail, there were 814 billionaires living in China as of January that year. By comparison, 800 billionaires resided in the United States. India, the United Kingdom, and Germany were also the homes of a significant number of billionaires that year. United States lost its first place As the founder and exporter of consumer capitalism, it is no surprise that the United States is home to a large number of billionaires. However, the United States has lost their place as the country with the most billionaires in the world to China. This rise of billionaires in China has coincided with the liberalization of its economy and successive high growth rates. However, North America still leads the way in terms of the highest number of ultra high net worth individuals – those with a net worth of more than fifty million U.S. dollars. The prominence of Europe and North America is a reflection of the higher degree of economic development in those states. However, this may also change as China and other emerging economies continue developing. Female billionaires Moreover, the small proportion of female billionaires does little to counter critics claiming the global economy is dominated by an elite comprised mainly of men. On the list of the 20 richest people in the world, only one was a woman. Moreover, recent political discourse has put a great amount of attention on the wealth held by the super-rich with the wealth distribution of the global population being heavily unequal.

Graph and download economic data for Share of Net Worth Held by the Top 0.1% (99.9th to 100th Wealth Percentiles) (WFRBSTP1300) from Q3 1989 to Q4 2024 about shares, net worth, wealth, percentile, Net, and USA.

New Jersey has the highest rate of millionaires, with 9.76% of households showing a net worth of $1 million or above. That means that 246,058 New Jersey households are millionaires.

The Gilded Age, taking place roughly from the 1870s until the outbreak of World War I (1914-1918), was a period of unprecedented rapid economic growth in the United States. The economy of the U.S. was dominated in many sectors by large industrial monopolies, such as Standard Oil, Carnegie Steel, and American Tobacco. The owner-managers of these firms came to be known as the 'robber barons', as they were seen as exploiting their companies' dominant market positions in order to enrich themselves. To this day, they remain some of the wealthiest people in American history - when the historical fortunes are adjusted to 2006 U.S. dollars, the current fortunes of today's richest U.S. residents such as Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are still less than those of Rockefeller and Carnegie. The Sherman Act, passed by congress in 1890, banned monopolies that put unreasonable restrictions on trade. Combined with the end of the first era of globalization, brought on by the events of World War I, this marked the end of the era of dominance by large monopolies in the United States.

With a net worth of 212.1 billion U.S. dollars, Bernard Arnault & family, the founder and CEO of the luxury brand LVMH, was the wealthiest man in the world in February 2024. The wealthiest people in the world Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, came second with a wealth of 194.6 billion U.S. dollars. Amazon-founder Jeff Bezos followed in third. All the 10 richest people in the world were men. Wealth distribution worldwide As of 2022, one percent of people held nearly half of the world's combined wealth. Moreover, 2.8 billion of the world's population hold a combined wealth of less than 10,000 U.S. dollars, compared to 59 million people having a combined wealth of one billion dollars or more, underlining the vast inequalities around the world. Where do the most affluent people live? Most millionaires live in the United States, while Hong Konk was the city hosting the largest number of high net worth individuals worldwide. The country with the highest number of billionaires is China.

Graph and download economic data for Net Worth Held by the Bottom 50% (1st to 50th Wealth Percentiles) (WFRBLB50107) from Q3 1989 to Q4 2024 about net worth, wealth, percentile, Net, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for Population Estimate, Total, Not Hispanic or Latino (5-year estimate) in Rich County, UT (B03002002E049033) from 2009 to 2023 about Rich County, UT; UT; non-hispanic; estimate; persons; 5-year; population; and USA.

Graph and download economic data for Population Estimate, Total (5-year estimate) in Rich County, UT (B03002001E049033) from 2009 to 2023 about Rich County, UT; UT; estimate; persons; 5-year; population; and USA.

In the first quarter of 2024, almost two-thirds percent of the total wealth in the United States was owned by the top 10 percent of earners. In comparison, the lowest 50 percent of earners only owned 2.5 percent of the total wealth. Income inequality in the U.S. Despite the idea that the United States is a country where hard work and pulling yourself up by your bootstraps will inevitably lead to success, this is often not the case. In 2023, 7.4 percent of U.S. households had an annual income under 15,000 U.S. dollars. With such a small percentage of people in the United States owning such a vast majority of the country’s wealth, the gap between the rich and poor in America remains stark. The top one percent The United States follows closely behind China as the country with the most billionaires in the world. Elon Musk alone held around 219 billion U.S. dollars in 2022. Over the past 50 years, the CEO-to-worker compensation ratio has exploded, causing the gap between rich and poor to grow, with some economists theorizing that this gap is the largest it has been since right before the Great Depression.

A dataset listing the 20 richest cities in Montana for 2024, including information on rank, city, county, population, average income, and median income.

A dataset listing the 20 richest cities in Alabama for 2024, including information on rank, city, county, population, average income, and median income.

Graph and download economic data for 90% Confidence Interval Lower Bound of Estimate of People of All Ages in Poverty for Rich County, UT (PECILBAAUT49033A647NCEN) from 1989 to 2023 about Rich County, UT; UT; child; poverty; persons; and USA.

A dataset listing the 20 richest cities in Colorado for 2024, including information on rank, city, county, population, average income, and median income.

A dataset listing the 20 richest cities in Ohio for 2024, including information on rank, city, county, population, average income, and median income.

The dataset contains year-, state-, region- and fractile-class-wise compiled data on number of persons (per thousand) among the households with different percentage levels of calorie consumption. The dataset presents the data by division of households by the level of their income (mpce fractile-class) and by percentage of calorie intake such as 70 percent, 80 percent, etc., to the actual standard requirement of 2700 kilocalories every day. Among these households with different percentages of calorie intake, the dataset presents the per thousand distribution of persons. The dataset has been compiled from Table No. 5R, 7R, 7A-R and 7-A of NSS 55th, 61st, 66th and 68th reports, respectively, from the year 2000 to 2012.

Jeff Bezos was the richest person in tech in the United States in 2020, with a net worth of 113 billion U.S. dollars. Bill Gates remained in second position, with a net worth of 98 billion U.S. dollars.