What Would It Look Like If Warren Buffett’s Net Worth Was Evenly Distributed Across the US?
Written by
Brooke Barley
Edited by
Rebekah Evans
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We’ve all heard the aspirational song “If I Had a $1,000,000.” Well, Warren Buffett has 150,000 times that. According to Forbes, Buffett is worth a tremendous $154 billion. The 94-year-old runs Berkshire Hathaway and is considered one of the greatest investors of all time.
Buffett has promised to donate 99% of his wealth, which would be about $152 billion. So far, he’s donated $62 billion of that. Read below to see would what it look like if every American got a piece of Buffett’s current wealth — the answer might surprise you.
How Many People Are in America?
As of June 2025, 347 million people live in America, according to Worldometer. The most populated places are California, Texas and Florida. The least populated states are Alaska, Vermont and Wyoming, according to Brittanica.
What Is the Salary of the Average American?
How much is the average person making each year? As of 2025, SoFi reported that the national average salary is $63,795. To put that in perspective, Buffett’s worth is more than two million times that figure. When it comes to regions, Massachusetts had the highest average salary at $80,330. Mississippi had the lowest average salary of $47,569. SoFi reported that the average American household income is $66,622.
What Do the Top 10% of Americans Make?
What is America’s upper class bringing in? According to the same SoFi report, the top 10% of Americans make $167,639 per year. That’s a little less than three times the average salary.
How Much Does the Average American Make in Their Life?
Some good news to ponder: many Americans do end up making $1,000,000 in their lifetimes. According to the National Library of Medicine, the median lifetime income of an American man is $1,850,000 and $1,100,200 for an American woman. How does Buffett stack up? Buffett has made more than 80,000 times those figures in his lifetime.
How Much Would Each American Get If Buffett’s Wealth Was Evenly Distributed?
The sum might be less than you’re thinking. If you took Buffett’s $154 billion and split it among the 347 million Americans, each person would only get $443.80. Consumer Shield reported that the average monthly income for Americans is about $5,000. The $443.80 figure would only be 11% of this. Of course, we’ll still take it.
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