Money

Mapped: The Wealthiest Person in Every U.S. State in 2020

Published

3 years ago

March 31, 2020

Jeff Desjardins

The Wealthiest Person in Every U.S. State in 2020

The Wealthiest Person in Every U.S. State

There are different degrees of wealth that exist, even among the richest in America.

For example, a heavy-hitting millionaire might have the most impressive fortune in his or her home state — but venture a few miles across the state border, and suddenly they become a small fish in a much bigger pond.

Today’s map comes to us from HowMuch.net, and it shows the incredible variance in the biggest fortunes on a state-by-state basis.

The Rich List, by State

Below is the full list containing the wealthiest person in every U.S. state, based on calculations by Forbes in early March 2020.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos tops the list with a net worth of $117.1 billion in the state of Washington — meanwhile, the smallest fortune on the list is located in Alaska at just $0.3 billion.

Rank	Person	State	Net Worth ($B)
#1	Jeff Bezos	Washington	$117.1
#2	Warren Buffett	Nebraska	$89.6
#3	Mark Zuckerberg	California	$81.9
#4	Michael Bloomberg	New York	$58.4
#5	Jim Walton	Arkansas	$51.9
#6	Alice Walton	Texas	$51.7
#7	Charles Koch	Kansas	$42.8
#8	Sheldon Adelson	Nevada	$41.4
#9	Phil Knight and family	Oregon	$40.0
#10	Jacqueline Mars	Virginia	$30.2
#11	John Mars	Wyoming	$30.2
#12	Ray Dalio	Connecticut	$18.7
#13	Thomas Peterffy	Florida	$17.6
#14	Abigail Johnson	Massachusetts	$16.0
#15	Pierre Omidyar	Hawaii	$13.2
#16	Ken Griffin	Illinois	$13.1
#17	Thomas Frist Jr and family	Tennessee	$13.0
#18	John Menard Jr	Wisconsin	$11.7
#19	Philip Anschutz	Colorado	$11.5
#20	Carl Cook	Indiana	$10.4
#21	Jim Kennedy	Georgia	$9.9
#22	Harold Hamm & family	Oklahoma	$9.7
#23	James Goodnight	North Carolina	$8.0
#24	Victoria Mars	Pennsylvania	$7.5
#25	Pauline MacMillan Keinath	Missouri	$6.9
#26	Dennis Washington	Montana	$6.7
#27	Daniel Gilbert	Michigan	$6.5
#28	Ernest Garcia II	Arizona	$6.2
#29	John Overdeck	New Jersey	$6.1
#30	Ted Lerner and family	Maryland	$5.5
#31	Harry Stine	Iowa	$5.4
#32	Tamara Gustavson	Kentucky	$5.0
#33	Les Wexner and family	Ohio	$4.5
#34	Frank VanderSloot	Idaho	$3.7
#35	Gayle Benson	Louisiana	$3.1
#36	Glen Taylor	Minnesota	$2.8
#37	T. Denny Sanford	South Dakota	$2.4
#38	Susan Alfond	Maine	$1.9
#39	Anita Zucker	South Carolina	$1.9
#40	Jonathan Nelson	Rhode Island	$1.8
#41	Gail Miller	Utah	$1.6
#42	Jim Justice II	West Virginia	$1.5
#43	James and Thomas Duff	Mississippi	$1.4
#44	Gary Tharaldson	North Dakota	$1.0
#45	Jimmy Rane	Alabama	$0.9
#46	Elizabeth Snyder and Robert Gore	Delaware	$0.9
#47	Andrea Reimann-Ciardelli	New Hampshire	$0.7
#48	Mack C. Chase	New Mexico	$0.7
#49	John Abele	Vermont	$0.6
#50	Leonard Hyde, Jonathan Rubini and Families	Alaska	$0.3

While all of the names above are considered extraordinarily wealthy in their home states, there is still a magnitude of difference involved. The low end of the list ($0.3 billion) would need to multiply their fortune by 390 times to get up to the $117.1 billion Bezos level.

To put this another way, the same degree of difference exists between the median household wealth in the U.S. (~$100,000) and a multi-millionaire with $39 million to their name.

Rising and Falling Fortunes

The above figures were obtained prior to the COVID-19 market crash, which will surely impact the size of some of the fortunes listed here.

Who will be most and least impacted by the recent stock market turmoil?

Even though Jeff Bezos has most of his wealth tied up in Amazon stock, so far it has been relatively unaffected by the volatility. With more people staying home because of social distancing, orders on online platforms such as Amazon have exploded.

Similarly to Amazon, the heirs of the Walmart fortune in the Walton family — including Jim Walton, Alice Walton, and Rob Walton — are also seeing Walmart’s stock price hold relatively steady in the face of volatility. In fact, some analysts consider Walmart to be the ultimate “recession-proof” stock, as consumers flock to discount goods in poor economic times.

Warren Buffett is also an interesting case. Though the stock market has certainly disrupted the real-time value of his fortune, that’s not the game that Warren Buffett plays. In fact, he is known for waiting for times of crisis to deploy his cash, and has a significant stockpile of money ready for just this kind of situation.

Billionaires like Sheldon Adelson in Nevada or Philip Anschutz of Colorado might be singing a different tune than some of the other above magnates. Adelson, for example, owns a good chunk of the Las Vegas Strip, as well as casinos and hotels in Singapore and Macao. Unfortunately, tourism-related businesses are some of the hardest hit in the COVID-19 crash.

Meanwhile, Anschutz owns the Coachella Music Festival and stakes in many professional sports teams (LA Lakers, LA Kings, and multiple MLS teams), which have all been impacted by the cancellation of big events and gatherings throughout the country. Like many others, Anschutz is probably itching for things to get back to normal.

Related Topics:money millionaires billionaires states fortunes bezos

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Animated Chart: Remittance Flows and GDP Impact By Country

Which countries rely on remittance flows the most? This animation shows the amount of remittance income that countries received in 2022.

Creator Program

Published

1 day ago

January 25, 2023

Freny Fernandes

Remittance transfers received by countries in 2022

Visualizing Remittance Flows and GDP Impact By Country

The COVID-19 pandemic slowed down the flow of global immigration by 27%. Alongside it, travel restrictions, job losses, and mounting health concerns meant that many migrant workers couldn’t send money in the form of remittances back to families in their home countries.

This flow of remittances received by countries dropped by 1.5% to $711 billion globally in 2020. But over the next two years, things quickly turned back around.

As visa approvals restarted and international borders opened, so did international migration and global remittance flows. In 2021, total global remittances were estimated at $781 billion and have further risen to $794 billion in 2022.

In these images, Richie Lionell uses the World Bank’s KNOMAD data to visualize this increasing flow of money across international borders in 176 countries.

Why Do Remittances Matter?

Remittances contribute to the economy of nations worldwide, especially low and middle-income countries (LMICs).

They have been shown to help alleviate poverty, improve nutrition, and even increase school enrollment rates in these nations. Research has also found that these inflows of income can help recipient households become resilient, especially in the face of disasters.

At the same time, it’s worth noting that these transfers aren’t a silver bullet for recipient nations. In fact, some research shows that overreliance on remittances can cause a vicious cycle that doesn’t translate to consistent economic growth over time.

Countries Receiving the Highest Remittances

For the past 15 years, India has consistently topped the chart of the largest remittance beneficiaries.

Rank	Remittance Inflows by Country	2022 (USD)
1	India	$100,000M
2	Mexico	$60,300M
3	China	$51,000M
4	Philippines	$38,000M
5	Egypt, Arab Rep.	$32,337M
6	Pakistan	$29,000M
7	France	$28,520M
8	Bangladesh	$21,000M
9	Nigeria	$20,945M
10	Vietnam	$19,000M
11	Ukraine	$18,421M
12	Guatemala	$18,112M
13	Germany	$18,000M
14	Belgium	$13,500M
15	Uzbekistan	$13,500M
16	Morocco	$11,401M
17	Romania	$11,064M
18	Dominican Republic	$9,920M
19	Indonesia	$9,700M
20	Thailand	$9,500M
21	Colombia	$9,133M
22	Italy	$9,000M
23	Nepal	$8,500M
24	Spain	$8,500M
25	Honduras	$8,284M
26	Poland	$8,000M
27	Korea, Rep.	$7,877M
28	El Salvador	$7,620M
29	Lebanon	$6,841M
30	Israel	$6,143M
31	United States	$6,097M
32	Russian Federation	$6,000M
33	Serbia	$5,400M
34	Brazil	$5,045M
35	Japan	$5,000M
36	Portugal	$4,694M
37	Ghana	$4,664M
38	Jordan	$4,646M
39	Czech Republic	$4,539M
40	Haiti	$4,532M
41	Ecuador	$4,468M
42	Georgia	$4,100M
43	Kenya	$4,091M
44	Croatia	$3,701M
45	Peru	$3,699M
46	Sri Lanka	$3,600M
47	West Bank and Gaza	$3,495M
48	Jamaica	$3,419M
49	Armenia	$3,350M
50	Tajikistan	$3,200M
51	Nicaragua	$3,126M
52	Kyrgyz Republic	$3,050M
53	Senegal	$2,711M
54	Austria	$2,700M
55	Switzerland	$2,631M
56	Sweden	$2,565M
57	United Kingdom	$2,501M
58	Hungary	$2,404M
59	Bosnia and Herzegovina	$2,400M
60	Slovak Republic	$2,300M
61	Moldova	$2,170M
62	Azerbaijan	$2,150M
63	Tunisia	$2,085M
64	Zimbabwe	$2,047M
65	Luxembourg	$2,000M
66	Netherlands	$2,000M
67	Myanmar	$1,900M
68	Algeria	$1,829M
69	Albania	$1,800M
70	Somalia	$1735M
71	Congo, Dem. Rep.	$1,664M
72	Malaysia	$1,620M
73	Kosovo	$1,600M
74	Denmark	$1,517M
75	Latvia	$1,500M
76	Bolivia	$1,403M
77	Belarus	$1,350M
78	Cambodia	$1,250M
79	Bermuda	$1,200M
80	South Sudan	$1,187M
81	Uganda	$1,131M
82	Mali	$1,094M
83	South Africa	$1,019M
84	Sudan	$1,013M
85	Argentina	$966M
86	Montenegro	$920M
87	Finland	$880M
88	Bulgaria	$850M
89	Slovenia	$800M
90	Australia	$737M
91	Madagascar	$718M
92	Turkey	$710M
93	Canada	$700M
94	Lithuania	$700M
95	Togo	$668M
96	Greece	$665M
97	Costa Rica	$654M
98	Estonia	$626M
99	Qatar	$624M
100	Iraq	$624M
101	Gambia, The	$615M
102	Tanzania	$609M
103	Norway	$600M
104	Panama	$596M
105	Burkina Faso	$589M
106	Hong Kong SAR, China	$571M
107	Paraguay	$554M
108	Mozambique	$545M
109	Niger	$534M
110	Cyprus	$527M
111	Lesotho	$527M
112	Mongolia	$500M
113	Rwanda	$469M
114	Fiji	$450M
115	North Macedonia	$450M
116	Guyana	$400M
117	Cabo Verde	$375M
118	Kazakhstan	$370M
119	Cameroon	$365M
120	Cote d'Ivoire	$360M
121	Liberia	$351M
122	Afghanistan	$350M
123	Ethiopia	$327M
124	Samoa	$280M
125	Mauritius	$279M
126	Saudi Arabia	$273M
127	Malta	$271M
128	Malawi	$267M
129	Zambia	$260M
130	Tonga	$250M
131	Comoros	$250M
132	Ireland	$249M
133	Suriname	$221M
134	Benin	$209M
135	Lao PDR	$200M
136	Timor-Leste	$185M
137	Sierra Leone	$179M
138	Guinea-Bissau	$178M
139	Trinidad and Tobago	$172M
140	Mauritania	$168M
141	Iceland	$164M
142	Eswatini	$148M
143	Belize	$142M
144	Curacao	$131M
145	Uruguay	$127M
146	Chile	$78M
147	Vanuatu	$75M
148	St. Vincent and the Grenadines	$70M
149	Grenada	$69M
150	Botswana	$56M
151	St. Lucia	$55M
152	Bhutan	$55M
153	Djibouti	$55M
154	Dominica	$52M
155	Burundi	$50M
156	Aruba	$44M
157	Namibia	$44M
158	Guinea	$41M
159	Solomon Islands	$40M
160	Oman	$39M
161	Antigua and Barbuda	$35M
162	St. Kitts and Nevis	$33M
163	Marshall Islands	$30M
164	Kuwait	$27M
165	New Zealand	$25M
166	Macao SAR, China	$17M
167	Angola	$16M
168	Kiribati	$15M
169	Cayman Islands	$14M
170	Sao Tome and Principe	$10M
171	Seychelles	$9M
172	Maldives	$5M
173	Gabon	$4M
174	Palau	$2M
175	Papua New Guinea	$2M
176	Turkmenistan	$1M
Total	World	$794,059M

With an estimated $100 billion in remittances received, India is said to have reached an all-time high in 2022.

This increasing flow of remittances can be partially attributed to migrant Indians switching to high-skilled jobs in high-income countries—including the U.S., the UK, and Singapore—from low-skilled and low-paying jobs in Gulf countries.

Mexico and China round out the top three remittance-receiving nations, with estimated inbound transfers of $60 billion and $51 billion respectively in 2022.

Impact on National GDP

While India tops the list of countries benefitting from remittances, its $100 billion received amounts to only 2.9% of its 2022 GDP.

Meanwhile, low and middle-income countries around the world heavily rely on this source of income to boost their economies in a more substantive way. In 2022, for example, remittances accounted for over 15% of the GDP of 25 countries.

Rank	Remittance Inflows by Country	% of GDP (2022)
1	Tonga	49.9%
2	Lebanon	37.8%
3	Samoa	33.7%
4	Tajikistan	32.0%
5	Kyrgyz Republic	31.2%
6	Gambia, The	28.3%
7	Honduras	27.1%
8	South Sudan	24.8%
9	El Salvador	23.8%
10	Haiti	22.4%
11	Nepal	21.7%
12	Jamaica	21.2%
13	Lesotho	21.0%
14	Somalia	20.6%
15	Comoros	20.1%
16	Nicaragua	19.9%
17	Guatemala	19.8%
18	Armenia	18.9%
19	West Bank and Gaza	18.5%
20	Cabo Verde	18.2%
21	Kosovo	17.3%
22	Uzbekistan	17.0%
23	Georgia	16.2%
24	Moldova	15.4%
25	Montenegro	15.0%
26	Ukraine	13.8%
27	Marshall Islands	11.0%
28	Guinea-Bissau	10.9%
29	Bosnia and Herzegovina	10.1%
30	Albania	9.8%
31	Senegal	9.8%
32	Jordan	9.6%
33	Philippines	9.4%
34	Fiji	9.2%
35	Liberia	9.0%
36	Dominican Republic	8.8%
37	Dominica	8.6%
38	Serbia	8.6%
39	Togo	7.9%
40	Morocco	7.9%
41	Pakistan	7.7%
42	Vanuatu	7.6%
43	Timor-Leste	7.5%
44	Suriname	7.3%
45	St. Vincent and the Grenadines	7.3%
46	Kiribati	7.2%
47	Egypt, Arab Rep.	6.8%
48	Ghana	6.1%
49	Mali	5.9%
50	Grenada	5.8%
51	Zimbabwe	5.3%
52	Croatia	5.3%
53	Belize	5.3%
54	Sri Lanka	4.8%
55	Madagascar	4.7%
56	Vietnam	4.5%
57	Bangladesh	4.5%
58	Tunisia	4.5%
59	Cambodia	4.4%
60	Sierra Leone	4.3%
61	Mexico	4.2%
62	Nigeria	4.1%
63	Rwanda	3.8%
64	Ecuador	3.8%
65	Latvia	3.6%
66	Romania	3.6%
67	Niger	3.6%
68	Kenya	3.5%
69	Bolivia	3.2%
70	Burkina Faso	3.2%
71	Myanmar	3.1%
72	North Macedonia	3.1%
73	Mongolia	3.1%
74	Eswatini	3.1%
75	Azerbaijan	3.0%
76	Mozambique	3.0%
77	St. Kitts and Nevis	2.9%
78	India	2.8%
79	St. Lucia	2.7%
80	Guyana	2.6%
81	Colombia	2.6%
82	Congo, Dem. Rep.	2.6%
83	Solomon Islands	2.4%
84	Luxembourg	2.4%
85	Mauritius	2.4%
86	Sudan	2.3%
87	Uganda	2.3%
88	Malawi	2.3%
89	Belgium	2.2%
90	Sao Tome and Principe	2.0%
91	Afghanistan	2.0%
92	Slovak Republic	2.0%
93	Antigua and Barbuda	2.0%
94	Bhutan	2.0%
95	Cyprus	1.9%
96	Portugal	1.8%
97	Thailand	1.7%
98	Belarus	1.6%
99	Mauritania	1.6%
100	Estonia	1.6%
101	Malta	1.5%
102	Peru	1.5%
103	Czech Republic	1.5%
104	Djibouti	1.4%
105	Burundi	1.3%
106	Paraguay	1.3%
107	Hungary	1.3%
108	Slovenia	1.2%
109	Aruba	1.2%
110	Lao PDR	1.2%
111	Benin	1.1%
112	Israel	1.1%
113	Poland	1.1%
114	Lithuania	1.0%
115	France	1.0%
116	Bulgaria	0.9%
117	Algeria	0.9%
118	Zambia	0.9%
119	Costa Rica	0.9%
120	Palau	0.8%
121	Panama	0.8%
122	Cameroon	0.8%
123	Tanzania	0.7%
124	Indonesia	0.7%
125	Spain	0.6%
126	Iceland	0.5%
127	Trinidad and Tobago	0.5%
128	Austria	0.5%
129	Cote d'Ivoire	0.5%
130	Seychelles	0.4%
131	Korea, Rep.	0.4%
132	Italy	0.4%
133	Germany	0.4%
134	Sweden	0.4%
135	Denmark	0.3%
136	Malaysia	0.3%
137	Namibia	0.3%
138	Switzerland	0.3%
139	Finland	0.3%
140	Botswana	0.3%
141	Greece	0.2%
142	Ethiopia	0.2%
143	Qatar	0.2%
144	Russian Federation	0.2%
145	Brazil	0.2%
146	China	0.2%
147	South Africa	0.2%
148	Iraq	0.2%
149	Guinea	0.2%
150	Netherlands	0.2%
151	Uruguay	0.1%
152	Kazakhstan	0.1%
153	Hong Kong SAR, China	0.1%
154	Argentina	0.1%
155	Norway	0.1%
156	Japan	0.1%
157	Maldives	0.08%
158	Turkey	0.08%
159	United Kingdom	0.07%
160	Macao SAR, China	0.07%
161	Ireland	0.05%
162	Australia	0.04%
163	Oman	0.04%
164	Saudi Arabia	0.03%
165	Chile	0.02%
166	United States	0.02%
167	Gabon	0.02%
168	Kuwait	0.01%
169	Angola	0.01%
170	New Zealand	0.01%
171	Papua New Guinea	0.01%
172	Turkmenistan	0.001%

Known primarily as a tourist destination, the Polynesian country of Tonga banks on remittance inflows to support its economy. In 2022, the country’s incoming remittance flows were equal to almost 50% of its GDP.

Next on this list is Lebanon. The country received $6.8 billion in remittances in 2022, estimated to equal almost 38% of its GDP and making it a key support to the nation’s shrinking economy.