United States

Mapped: The Wealthiest Billionaire in Each U.S. State in 2021

Published

2 years ago

February 3, 2021

Avery Koop

Mapped: The Wealthiest Billionaire in Each U.S. State

Mapping the Wealthiest Billionaires in Each U.S. State

It is a testament to the burgeoning wealth of the U.S. that there is a billionaire in nearly every U.S. state. The country is home to around 800 billionaires among its 330 million people.

This map from HowMuch.Net reveals the wealthiest billionaire in each U.S. state.

The Richest of the Rich

Billionaires are a constant across the United States. The only states that don’t house one of these high-net-worth individuals are: Alabama, New Mexico, North Dakota, Alaska, Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Delaware.

Here’s a further breakdown that shows the wealthiest billionaire in each U.S. state:

Billionaire	Net Worth (Billions)	State
Jeff Bezos	$193.8	Washington
Elon Musk	$191.8	Texas
Mark Zuckerberg	$101.3	California
Warren Buffet	$87.6	Nebraska
Jim Walton	$67.5	Arkansas
Michael Bloomberg	$54.9	New York
Phil Knight and Family	$51.7	Oregon
Daniel Gilbert	$45.5	Michigan
Charles Koch	$44.9	Kansas
John Mars	$29.8	Wyoming
Jacqueline Mars	$28.9	Virginia
Thomas Peterffy	$22.9	Florida
Pierre Omidyar	$22.3	Hawaii
Ernest Garcia II	$18	Arizona
Ray Dalio	$16.9	Connecticut
Ken Griffin	$15	Illinois
Abigail Johnson	$15	Massachusetts
Thomas First Jr. and Family	$14.4	Tennessee
John Menard Jr.	$14.2	Wisconsin
David Duffield	$13.7	Nevada
Carl Cook	$10.5	Indiana
Philip Anschutz	$10.1	Colorado
Tom and Judy Love	$8.2	Oklahoma
Jim Kennedy	$8.2	Georgia
Victoria Mars	$7.2	Pennsylvania
Rocco Commisso	$6.9	New Jersey
James Goodnight	$6.5	North Carolina
Mitchell Rales	$6.5	Maryland
Dennis Washington	$6.2	Montana
Les Wexner and Family	$5.6	Ohio
Harry Stine	$5.4	Iowa
Tamara Gustavson	$5.3	Kentucky
Pauline Macmillan Keinath	$4.9	Missouri
Frank VanderSloot	$3.5	Idaho
Gayle Benson	$3.3	Louisiana
Glen Taylor	$2.5	Minnesota
Jonathan Nelson	$2	Rhode Island
Anita Zucker	$1.9	South Carolina
Gail Miller	$1.9	Utah
Susan Alfond	$1.9	Maine
T. Denny Sanford	$1.6	South Dakota
James Duff	$1.4	Mississippi
Jim Justice	$1.2	West Virginia

Among the richest of the rich in the U.S., most are men, but there are 10 female billionaires who are the wealthiest in their respective states.

Jeff Bezos is worth an astounding $193.8 billion. Amazon became increasingly successful during the pandemic, as lockdown orders caused many people to have to stay home and shop online rather than in stores.

The runner up, Elon Musk, is worth $191.8 billion. The recent boom in Elon Musk’s net worth was due to the sharp rise in Tesla’s share prices. Recently, Elon Musk shifted his residence to the state of Texas, a move which is indicative of a larger trend of internal migration away from America’s most pricey urban areas.

Mind the Gap

Many of these individuals have actually become more wealthy during the COVID-19 pandemic, widening the existing gap of wealth inequality within the country.

Together Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, and Warren Buffet (the five richest American billionaires) experienced a collective 85% increase in their wealth since the pandemic took hold. This equates to an added $303 billion in wealth.

In contrast, the median wealth of American households is about $121,700, and due to COVID-19, there has been a rising inability to cover bills and a risk of mass home loss in the country.

Overall, while we rely on companies like Amazon for our socially-distanced shopping and Facebook to keep us connected during the pandemic, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg will likely continue to accrue immense fortunes. The wealthiest billionaires in the U.S. are likely to continue growing their net worth, pandemic or not, and have been consistently outpacing the lower to upper-middle income groups.

Up Next

Visualizing the UK and EU Trade Relationship

Don't Miss

Mapping Global Income Support During COVID-19

Click for Comments

Economy

Charted: Public Trust in the Federal Reserve

Public trust in the Federal Reserve chair has hit its lowest point in 20 years. Get the details in this infographic.

Published

5 days ago

May 23, 2023

Marcus Lu

The Briefing

Gallup conducts an annual poll to gauge the U.S. public’s trust in the Federal Reserve
After rising during the COVID-19 pandemic, public trust has fallen to a 20-year low

Charted: Public Trust in the Federal Reserve

Each year, Gallup conducts a survey of American adults on various economic topics, including the country’s central bank, the Federal Reserve.

More specifically, respondents are asked how much confidence they have in the current Fed chairman to do or recommend the right thing for the U.S. economy. We’ve visualized these results from 2001 to 2023 to see how confidence levels have changed over time.

Methodology and Results

The data used in this infographic is also listed in the table below. Percentages reflect the share of respondents that have either a “great deal” or “fair amount” of confidence.

Year	Fed chair	% Great deal or Fair amount
2023	Jerome Powell	36%
2022	Jerome Powell	43%
2021	Jerome Powell	55%
2020	Jerome Powell	58%
2019	Jerome Powell	50%
2018	Jerome Powell	45%
2017	Janet Yellen	45%
2016	Janet Yellen	38%
2015	Janet Yellen	42%
2014	Janet Yellen	37%
2013	Ben Bernanke	42%
2012	Ben Bernanke	39%
2011	Ben Bernanke	41%
2010	Ben Bernanke	44%
2009	Ben Bernanke	49%
2008	Ben Bernanke	47%
2007	Ben Bernanke	50%
2006	Ben Bernanke	41%
2005	Alan Greenspan	56%
2004	Alan Greenspan	61%
2003	Alan Greenspan	65%
2002	Alan Greenspan	69%
2001	Alan Greenspan	74%

Data for 2023 collected April 3-25, with this statement put to respondents: “Please tell me how much confidence you have [in the Fed chair] to recommend the right thing for the economy.”

We can see that trust in the Federal Reserve has fluctuated significantly in recent years.

For example, under Alan Greenspan, trust was initially high due to the relative stability of the economy. The burst of the dotcom bubble—which some attribute to Greenspan’s easy credit policies—resulted in a sharp decline.

On the flip side, public confidence spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic. This was likely due to Jerome Powell’s decisive actions to provide support to the U.S. economy throughout the crisis.

Measures implemented by the Fed include bringing interest rates to near zero, quantitative easing (buying government bonds with newly-printed money), and emergency lending programs to businesses.

Confidence Now on the Decline

After peaking at 58%, those with a “great deal” or “fair amount” of trust in the Fed chair have tumbled to 36%, the lowest number in 20 years.

This is likely due to Powell’s hard stance on fighting post-pandemic inflation, which has involved raising interest rates at an incredible speed. While these rate hikes may be necessary, they also have many adverse effects:

Negative impact on the stock market
Increases the burden for those with variable-rate debts
Makes mortgages and home buying less affordable

Higher rates have also prompted many U.S. tech companies to shrink their workforces, and have been a factor in the regional banking crisis, including the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.

Where does this data come from?

Source: Gallup (2023)

Data Notes: Results are based on telephone interviews conducted April 3-25, 2023, with a random sample of –1,013—adults, ages 18+, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. For results based on this sample of national adults, the margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. See source for details.