The 25 Richest People in the US

Although the World Bank worries that 100 million people could be pushed into extreme poverty as a result of the pandemic, those who live in extreme wealth weathered the storm just fine. The world's billionaires added $3.9 trillion to their collective fortunes between March and December 2020, bringing their combined net worth to $11.95 trillion, according to the Economic Times.

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Some of America’s richest people made their fortune as innovators, like Elon Musk with his electric cars and space rockets. Others were born into fortunes built by forebearers with names like Mars, Walton and Koch. Then there are people like Bill Gates, who spends most of his time and effort on giving money away through philanthropy, yet somehow, keeps getting richer.

Using data from Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaire List, GOBankingRates identified the 25 richest people in America and ranked them in ascending order from least rich to richest. The list also includes their ages, net worths and the source of their fortunes.

Keep reading to find out who you’ll have to outearn if you want to become one of the country’s wealthiest people.

Thomas Peterffy

• U.S. wealth rank: 25
• Overall wealth rank: 76
• Net worth: $24,400,000,000
• Age: 77
• Source of income: discount brokerage

One of the early pioneers of digital trading, Thomas Peterffy founded Interactive Brokers in 1993 and served as CEO until 2019. He’s also a land baron who owns more than 500,000 acres of Florida timberland.

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Leonard Lauder

• U.S. wealth rank: 24
• Overall wealth rank: 71
• Net worth: $25,100,000,000
• Age: 88
• Source of income: Estee Lauder

The son of Estee Lauder herself, Leonard Lauder ran the company that bears his mother’s name for 30 years. He oversaw an era of brand acquisition and expansion into research and development.

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Pierre Omidyar

• U.S. wealth rank: 23
• Overall wealth rank: 68
• Net worth: $25,600,000,000
• Age: 54
• Source of income: eBay, PayPal

In 1995, Pierre Omidyar founded eBay, which then bought PayPal, making the entrepreneur the mind behind the most famous online auction marketplace and the most famous payment system. He now owns 5 percent and 6 percent of eBay and PayPal, respectively.

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John Mars

• U.S. wealth rank: 21
• Overall wealth rank: 53
• Net worth: $28,900,000,000
• Age: 86
• Source of income: candy, pet food

One of the only billionaires whose name makes you hungry, John Mars is the grandson of candy magnate Frank Mars. He and his two siblings inherited about a third of the famous sweets empire each.

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Jacqueline Mars

• U.S. wealth rank: 21
• Overall wealth rank: 53
• Net worth: $28,900,000,000
• Age: 82
• Source of income: candy, pet food

John Mars’ only living sibling is Jacqueline Mars. The company they inherited is famous for candy, but it’s also a pet food giant with brands like Whiskas and Pedigree in its portfolio.

Len Blavatnik

• U.S. wealth rank: $31,600,000,000
• Overall wealth rank: 20
• Net worth: 46
• Age: 64
• Source of income: music, chemicals

Ukraine native Len Blavatnik sold his stake in a Russian oil company for $7 billion in 2013. Two years earlier in 2011, he purchased Warner Music for $3.3 billion.

Daniel Gilbert

• U.S. wealth rank: 19
• Overall wealth rank: 33
• Net worth: $42,400,000,000
• Age: 59
• Source of income: Quicken Loans

Daniel Gilbert was just 22 years old when he founded the company that would become Quicken Loans in 1985. In 2020, it went public as Rocket Companies and is now the country’s largest mortgage lender.

Michael Dell

• U.S. wealth rank: 18
• Overall wealth rank: 31
• Net worth: $42,700,000,000
• Age: 56
• Source of income: Dell computers

Michael Dell struck it rich with the direct-order computer company that bears his name, and when Dell merged with EMT in 2016, the $60 billion deal was the largest tech acquisition in history. His side hustle is MSD Capital, which owns a portfolio of restaurants and hotels.

Julia Koch

• U.S. wealth rank: 16
• Overall wealth rank: 27
• Net worth: $44,900,000,000
• Age: 58
• Source of income: Koch Industries

Along with her three children, Julia Koch inherited roughly 42 percent of Koch Industries when her husband, David Koch, died in 2019. She previously worked in the fashion industry.

Charles Koch

• U.S. wealth rank: 16
• Overall wealth rank: 27
• Net worth: $44,900,000,000
• Age: 85
• Source of income: Koch Industries

Charles Koch is known not only as a billionaire businessman, but as a heavyweight in the political donor class. Since 1967, he has served as chairman and CEO of Koch Industries, the company his father Fred Koch founded in 1940 after developing a new way to produce gasoline.

Phil Knight

• U.S. wealth rank: 15
• Overall wealth rank: 24
• Net worth: $53,700,000,000
• Age: 83
• Source of income: Nike

Phil Knight co-founded Nike and oversaw its ascent to the pinnacle of the global athletic shoes and apparel industry. He formed what would become Nike with his old track coach with an investment of $500 each in 1964.

Michael Bloomberg

• U.S. wealth rank: 14
• Overall wealth rank: 23
• Net worth: $54,900,000,000
• Age: 79
• Source of income: Bloomberg LP

Michael Bloomberg built his enormous fortune from the ground up, starting his Wall Street career at the entry level before building a financial empire that was based on media and technology. His second act was a political career that included a long run as the mayor of New York City.

MacKenzie Scott

• U.S. wealth rank: 13
• Overall wealth rank: 22
• Net worth: $58,400,000,000
• Age: 51
• Source of income: Amazon

Mackenzie Scott’s 2019 divorce from Amazon boss Jeff Bezos made the author and former hedge fund employee one of the richest people on Earth. She immediately put her newfound wealth to good use, becoming one of the world’s most prolific philanthropists in that short time alone.

Rob Walton

• U.S. wealth rank: 12
• Overall wealth rank: 19
• Net worth: $68,100,000,000
• Age: 77
• Source of income: Walmart

The oldest son of legendary Walmart founder Sam Walton, Rob Walton took the mantle when the elder Walton died in 1992. Rob Walton and the rest of Sam Walton’s heirs together own half of the stock of the company their father founded.

Jim Walton

• U.S. wealth rank: 11
• Overall wealth rank: 18
• Net worth: $68,400,000,000
• Age: 73
• Source of income: Walmart

Sam Walton’s youngest son is Jim Walton, who turned his seat on the company’s board over to his own son, Steuart, in 2016. Instead, he serves as chairman of Arvest Bank, which—along with its $20 billion in assets—belongs to his family, as well.

Alice Walton

• U.S. wealth rank: 10
• Overall wealth rank: 17
• Net worth: $68,600,000,000
• Age: 72
• Source of income: Walmart

The renegade of the Walmart heirs, Alice Walton is Sam Walton’s only daughter. Unlike her siblings, company life was not for her. She pursued a career as an art curator and museum founder, instead.

Steve Ballmer

• U.S. wealth rank: 9
• Overall wealth rank: 11
• Net worth: $81,300,000,000
• Age: 65
• Source of income: Microsoft

Stanford dropout Steve Ballmer joined Microsoft in 1980 as employee No. 30. As CEO from 2000-2014, he shepherded the company through the dot-com bust, the rise of Google, and Apple’s most transformative era of innovation.

Larry Ellison

• U.S. wealth rank: 8
• Overall wealth rank: 10
• Net worth: $86,800,000,000
• Age: 77
• Source of income: software

Larry Ellison still owns more than one-third of Oracle, the software giant he co-founded. He also sits on the board of Tesla, a position he has held since 2018 when he bought 3 million shares of Elon Musk’s company.

Sergey Brin

• U.S. wealth rank: 7
• Overall wealth rank: 9
• Net worth: $89,300,000,000
• Age: $89,300,000,000
• Source of income: Google

Sergey Brin is no longer the president of Google’s parent company Alphabet, but he remains a member of the board and a controlling shareholder. Along with Larry Page, he co-founded Google in 1998 while studying at Stanford.

Larry Page

• U.S. wealth rank: 6
• Overall wealth rank: 8
• Net worth: $92,000,000,000
• Age: 48
• Source of income: Google

Like Sergey Brin, Larry Page was pursuing an advanced computer science degree at Stanford when he co-founded Google in 1998. He was instrumental in developing the PageRank algorithm that made it possible to search the early Internet. Although he stepped down as CEO of Alphabet, he remains a controlling shareholder.

Warren Buffett

• U.S. wealth rank: 5
• Overall wealth rank: 7
• Net worth: $93,200,000,000
• Age: 91
• Source of income: Berkshire Hathaway

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway owns dozens of companies and brands, many of which, like Duracell and Geico, are household names. He also happens to be one of the most successful stock investors of all time.

Mark Zuckerberg

• U.S. wealth rank: 4
• Overall wealth rank: 5
• Net worth: $100,100,000,000
• Age: 37
• Source of income: Facebook

Mark Zuckerberg built Facebook into the world’s biggest social network, but he also used the company to acquire an astonishing collection of other companies. Most recently, Zuckerberg became the youngest person ever to cross $100 billion in personal wealth when Facebook-owned Instagram launched Reels as a competitor to TikTok in 2020.

Bill Gates

• U.S. wealth rank: 3
• Overall wealth rank: 4
• Net worth: $123,600,000,000
• Age: 66
• Source of income: Microsoft

Bill Gates spent the first part of his life amassing one of the world’s greatest fortunes and now seems intent on giving it away. Although he rose to power, prominence, and wealth as the founder of Microsoft, he is now best known for his philanthropic efforts through the world’s largest charity, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Elon Musk

• U.S. wealth rank: 2
• Overall wealth rank: 2
• Net worth: $173,700,000,000
• Age: 50
• Source of income: Tesla, SpaceX

Elon Musk has spent the last few months bouncing in and out of the No. 1 spot among the world’s richest billionaires. He had an epic 2020, as Tesla shares soared like SpaceX rockets. Most recently Musk was in the news for placing an enormous bet on Bitcoin.

Jeff Bezos

• U.S. wealth rank: 1
• Overall wealth rank: 1
• Net worth: $192,400,000,000
• Age: 57
• Source of income: Amazon

Among the world’s four centibillionaires—that’s 11 zeros in front of a one—Jeff Bezos is the richest of them all. In 2020, Bezos became the face of pandemic profiteering. The billionaire class in general got much richer during the crisis, but none more so than Bezos.

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About the Author

Andrew Lisa

Andrew Lisa has been writing professionally since 2001. An award-winning writer, Andrew was formerly one of the youngest nationally distributed columnists for the largest newspaper syndicate in the country, the Gannett News Service. He worked as the business section editor for amNewYork, the most widely distributed newspaper in Manhattan, and worked as a copy editor for TheStreet.com, a financial publication in the heart of Wall Street's investment community in New York City.

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