11 Colleges With the Most Billionaire Alumni

Obtaining a college degree has always been one of the best ways to increase your lifetime earnings. According to the Social Security Administration (SSA), men with college degrees earn $900,000 more in median lifetime income. Women with college degrees earn $630,000 more in median lifetime income.

Discover: Explore the Cost of Education in the United States
Read More: What It Really Costs To Attend America's Top 50 Colleges

While those are impressive figures for the average person, they won’t make anyone a billionaire. But when it comes to rising to billionaire status, some colleges have a stronger track record than others. As you might expect, the colleges that produce the most billionaires are largely Ivy League universities.

But even for those who never reach 10 figures, Ivy League universities can still generate wealth. For instance, graduates from Ivy League universities have about double the salary of non-Ivy League graduates 10 years into their careers.

Check It Out: Where These Top CEOS Went To College

By contrast, though, billionaires are in a league of their own. With 614 billionaires in the United States, having more than 10 billionaire graduates is a considerable feat. That is what we’ll walk through in this gallery, as the top 11 universities with the most billionaire graduates all have at least 10 of them.

Last updated: Aug. 10, 2021

9. (tie) Columbia University

• Location: New York
• Country: USA
• # of Billionaire Alumni: 11
• Total Net Worth of Billionaire Alumni: $40,900,000,000
• Average Billionaire Alumni Net Worth: $3,718,181,818
• Billionaire Alumni Example: Hedge fund managers Daniel Loeb and Noam Gottesman; New England Patriot's owner Robert Kraft

9. (tie) University of California, Berkeley

• Location: Berkeley, California
• Country: USA
• # of Billionaire Alumni: 11
• Total Net Worth of Billionaire Alumni: $82,600,000,000
• Average Billionaire Alumni Net Worth: $7,509,090,909
• Billionaire Alumni Example: Intel co-founder Gordon Moore; Silicon Valley bankroller, Masayoshi Son

Learn More: 45 Jobs That Can Make You a Millionaire Before Retirement

9. (tie) Princeton University

• Location: Princeton, New Jersey
• Country: USA
• # of Billionaire Alumni: 11
• Total Net Worth of Billionaire Alumni: $288,400,000,000
• Average Billionaire Alumni Net Worth: $26,218,181,818
• Billionaire Alumni Example: Gap retail heirs, John, Robert and William Fisher; Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt

Find Out: 20 Billionaire American Dynasties and How They Made Their Money

8. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

• Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts
• Country: USA
• # of Billionaire Alumni: 14
• Total Net Worth of Billionaire Alumni: $104,000,000,000
• Average Billionaire Alumni Net Worth: $7,428,571,428.57
• Billionaire Alumni Example: Koch Industries CEO Charles Koch and brother William Koch; BeiGene CEO John Olyer

See: Weird Things Top Billionaires Have in Common

7. University of Southern California

• Location: Los Angeles
• Country: USA
• # of Billionaire Alumni: 15
• Total Net Worth of Billionaire Alumni: $58,500,000,000
• Average Billionaire Alumni Net Worth: $3,900,000,000.00
• Billionaire Alumni Example: Star Wars Creator, George Lucas; CEO of Salesforce, Marc Benioff; Co-founder of Public Storage, B. Wayne Hughes

6. Cornell University

• Location: Ithaca, New York
• Country: USA
• # of Billionaire Alumni: 18
• Total Net Worth of Billionaire Alumni: $65,100,000,000
• Average Billionaire Alumni Net Worth: $3,616,666,666.67
• Billionaire Alumni Example: Former Citigroup head, Sandy Weill; David Dufield, software entrepreneur

Check Out: The Crazy Amount It Costs To Attend Your Alma Mater Today

5. Mumbai University

• Location: Mumbai
• Country: India
• # of Billionaire Alumni: 20
• Total Net Worth of Billionaire Alumni: $162,800,000,000
• Average Billionaire Alumni Net Worth: $8,140,000,000.00
• Billionaire Alumni Example: Mukesh Ambani, Asia's richest person; Uday Kotak, founded one of India's largest banks in the private sector

Read More: Are ‘Elite’ Colleges Worth the Cost? Experts Weigh In

4. Yale University

• Location: New Haven, Connecticut
• Country: USA
• # of Billionaire Alumni: 21
• Total Net Worth of Billionaire Alumni: $140,800,000,000
• Average Billionaire Alumni Net Worth: $6,704,761,904.76
• Billionaire Alumni Example: Candy heirs John, Valerie and Victoria Mars; Oil heirs Lee, Edward, Robert and Sid Bass; Brooklyn Nets owners Joe Tsai

Be Aware: 15 College Degrees That Won’t Make You Money

3. Stanford University

• Location: Stanford, California
• Country: USA
• # of Billionaire Alumni: 28
• Total Net Worth of Billionaire Alumni: $124,400,000,000
• Average Billionaire Alumni Net Worth: $4,442,857,142.86
• Billionaire Alumni Example: Vlad Tenev, Robinhood founder; Jerry Yang, Yahoo co-founder; David Velez, built digital bank Nubank

Find Out: The Differences Between For-Profit and Nonprofit Colleges

2. University of Pennsylvania

• Location: Philadelphia
• Country: USA
• # of Billionaire Alumni: 28
• Total Net Worth of Billionaire Alumni: $284,800,000,000
• Average Billionaire Alumni Net Worth: $10,171,428,571.43
• Billionaire Alumni Example: Former U.S. President Donald J. Trump; Tesla CEO Elon Musk; Laurene Powell Jobs, Steve Jobs' daughter

Read More: Best and Worst Cities To Score Your Dream Job

1. Harvard University

• Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts
• Country: USA
• # of Billionaire Alumni: 29
• Total Net Worth of Billionaire Alumni: $207,000,000,000
• Average Billionaire Alumni Net Worth: $7,137,931,034.48
• Billionaire Alumni Example: Former Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein; Los Angles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer; Brazilian investment banker Jorge Paulo Lemann

• What Money Topics Do You Want Covered: Ask the Financially Savvy Female
• Can You Afford Education in America at These Prices?
• Nominate Your Favorite Small Business To Be Featured on GOBankingRates
• The Hidden Costs of Education at Every Level

Methodology: For this piece GOBankingRates used Forbes 2021 Billionaire data to find the colleges with the most billionaire alumni. GOBankingRates found the 11 colleges with the most billionaire alumni while collecting the following data points: (1) name of college; (2) location of college; (3) country of college; (4) number of billionaire alumni, meaning had to graduate with a degree from said college; (5) total net worth of billionaire alumni; (6) average billionaire alumni net worth; and (7) some examples of the billionaire alumni from each college. All data was collected and is up to date as of July 26, 2021.

About the Author

Bob Haegele

Bob Haegele is a personal finance writer who specializes in topics such as investing, banking, credit cards, and real estate. His work has been featured on The Ladders, The Good Men Project, and Small Biz Daily. He also co-runs Modest Money and is a dog sitter and walker.

Read More