Billionaires vs. the Rest of Us: How Did Finances Change Due to COVID-19

Although many Americans have suffered terrible economic losses during the pandemic, overall, the average American’s personal income has increased since the start of the pandemic. According to data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, the average American’s personal income was $56,922 in March 2020; by January of this year, that had risen to $64,790 — a nearly 14% increase. Much of this can be accounted for by an increase in government social benefits, including economic impact payments and an increase in pandemic unemployment compensation payments.

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And while a 14% increase is a nice bump, that pales in comparison to how well the richest people in the U.S. have made out during the pandemic. In March 2020, the average net worth of the 25 richest Americans was $43.45 billion. A year later, their average net worth is $65.58 billion — an over 50% increase in wealth. Although not every billionaire got richer — some lost billions — overall, this group has seemed to benefit financially from the pandemic.

So who are the richest of the rich? And just how rich have they gotten? Keep reading to see how much richer (or poorer) the top 25 American billionaires have become over the past year.

• Source of wealth: Walmart heir
• Net worth on March 18, 2020: $18.4 billion
• Net worth on March 3, 2021: $15.4 billion

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• Source of wealth: Founder and co-chief investment officer at Bridgewater Associates
  
• Net worth on March 18, 2020: $18 billion
• Net worth on March 3, 2021: $16.9 billion

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• Source of wealth: Wife of the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs
  
• Net worth on March 18, 2020: $16.4 billion
• Net worth on March 3, 2021: $21.9 billion

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• Source of wealth: Founder of Renaissance Technologies Corp.
• Net worth on March 18, 2020: $21.6 billion
• Net worth on March 3, 2021: $29.4 billion

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• Source of wealth: Mars Inc. heiress
• Net worth on March 18, 2020: $24.7 billion
• Net worth on March 3, 2021: $31.3 billion

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• Source of wealth: Mars Inc. heir
• Net worth on March 18, 2020: $24.7 billion
• Net worth on March 3, 2021: $31.3 billion

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• Source of wealth: Owner of Warner Music and investment firm Access Industries
• Net worth on March 18, 2020: $17 billion
• Net worth on March 3, 2021: $31.9 billion

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• Source of wealth: Chairman and CEO of Dell
• Net worth on March 18, 2020: $22.9 billion
• Net worth on March 3, 2021: $44.4 billion

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• Source of wealth: CEO of Koch Industries
• Net worth on March 18, 2020: $38.2 billion
• Net worth on March 3, 2021: $44.9 billion

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• Source of wealth: Wife of the late Koch Industries heir David Koch
• Net worth on March 18, 2020: $38.2 billion
• Net worth on March 3, 2021: $44.9 billion

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• Source of wealth: Founder of Nike
• Net worth on March 18, 2020: $29.5 billion
• Net worth on March 3, 2021: $50.2 billion

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• Source of wealth: Ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos
• Net worth on March 18, 2020: $36 billion
• Net worth on March 3, 2021: $53.1 billion

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• Source of wealth: CEO of Bloomberg L.P.
• Net worth on March 18, 2020: $48 billion
• Net worth on March 3, 2021: $54.9 billion

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• Source of wealth: Walmart heir
• Net worth on March 18, 2020: $54.1 billion
• Net worth on March 3, 2021: $60.4 billion

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• Source of wealth: Walmart heir
• Net worth on March 18, 2020: $54.6 billion
• Net worth on March 3, 2021: $60.6 billion

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• Source of wealth: Walmart heiress
• Net worth on March 18, 2020: $54.4 billion
• Net worth on March 3, 2021: $60.8 billion

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• Source of wealth: Former CEO of Microsoft
• Net worth on March 18, 2020: $52.7 billion
• Net worth on March 3, 2021: $76.7 billion

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• Source of wealth: Co-founder and board member of Google
  
• Net worth on March 18, 2020: $49.1 billion
• Net worth on March 3, 2021: $85.6 billion

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• Source of wealth: Co-founder and board member of Google
  
• Net worth on March 18, 2020: $50.9 billion
• Net worth on March 3, 2021: $88.2 billion

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• Source of wealth: CTO and founder of Oracle
  
• Net worth on March 18, 2020: $59 billion
• Net worth on March 3, 2021: $90.3 billion

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• Source of wealth: CEO of Facebook
  
• Net worth on March 18, 2020: $54.7 billion
• Net worth on March 3, 2021: $93.3 billion

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• Source of wealth: CEO of Berkshire Hathaway
  
• Net worth on March 18, 2020: $67.5 billion
• Net worth on March 3, 2021: $96 billion

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• Source of wealth: Co-founder of Microsoft
  
• Net worth on March 18, 2020: $98 billion
• Net worth on March 3, 2021: $123.1 billion

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• Source of wealth: CEO and chairman of Tesla, and founder of SpaceX
  
• Net worth on March 18, 2020: $24.6 billion
• Net worth on March 3, 2021: $157.2 billion

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• Source of wealth: CEO and founder of Amazon
  
• Net worth on March 18, 2020: $113 billion
• Net worth on March 3, 2021: $176.8 billion

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Methodology: In order to compare the finances of billionaires and the ‘average’ American GOBankingRates first used the United States Department of Commerce Bureau of Economic Analysis’ (BEA) Personal Income and Outlay reports for both October 2020 and January 2021. From these two reports GOBankingRates was able to find (1) the March 2020 average personal income for Americans; (2) the January 2021 average personal income for Americans; (3) the total monetary change in personal income since COVID-19 began; and (4) the percent change in personal income since COVID-19 began. For the billionaire side of the comparison, GOBankingRates first used Forbes’ 2020 Billionaires List to source the top 25 richest US billionaires at the start of the pandemic and to find their March 2020 net worths. GOBankingRates then used Forbes’ real time billionaire tracker to find the 25 billionaire’s net worth as of March 3, 2021. From this data, GOBankingRates was able to source (5) average net worth of the 25 richest US billionaires on March 18, 2020; (6) average net worth of the 25 richest US billionaires on March 3, 2021; (7) total monetary change in the average net worth of the 25 richest US billionaires; and (8) percent change in the averae net worth of the 25 richest US billionaires. All data was collected on and up to date as of March 3, 2021.