The Super Rich Are Getting Richer
Despite a decline in the total number of U.S. billionaires, the total wealth of the exclusive nine-figure-club grew by $500 billion over the last five months.
There are now 801 billionaires based in the United States with a combined wealth totaling $6.22 trillion, according to an Institute for Policy Studies analysis of the Forbes Real Time Billionaire List.
The total number of billionaires is down 11 people as of September 13, 2024 from April when Forbes published their 38th annual World’s Billionaire List. Despite that decline in the number of billionaires, the total wealth of the exclusive nine-figure-club grew by $500 billion over the last five months.
The top five billionaires and by individual wealth are:
- Elon Musk of Tesla/X and SpaceX with $252.5 billion
- Jeff Bezos of Amazon with $204.8 billion
- Larry Ellison of Oracle fame moving into number three spot with $197 billion, surpassing Marc Zuckerberg
- Mark Zuckerberg of Meta with $182 billion
- Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway with $141 billion
There are now a total of 12 billionaires with more than $100 billion each. For context, the first person to cross the $100 billion personal wealth threshold—Jeff Bezos—only did so in 2018.
When Forbes started tracking wealth in 1982 there were only 13 billionaires on the Forbes 400 list and it took $75 million to join the list. Today, a person needs have a minimum of $3.2 billion to make the cut.
Among the wealthiest families on the Forbes list:
- Walton: Six members of the Walton Family have a combined wealth of $349.3 billion
- Mars: Six members of Mars family have combined wealth of $142.7 billion
- Koch: Two members of Koch family have a combined wealth of $141.6 billion
Many top billionaires have seen their wealth surge since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.
On March 18, 2020, Elon Musk had wealth valued just under $25 billion. By the start of the next year he became the richest person in the world with a net worth of $185 billion.
After a decline of his assets from the acquisition of Twitter (now X) and falling Tesla valuations, Musk’s wealth has almost reached its 2022 peak with $252 billion.
Jeff Bezos saw his wealth rise from $113 billion on March 18, 2020 to $204 billion in the September 13, 2024 survey.
Three Walton family members—Jim, Alice, and Rob—saw their combined assets increase from $161.1 billion on March 18, 2020 to $286 billion this September.
