In America, the rich are getting richer, according to Forbes' new list of the country's top 400 wealthiest people.
The wealth gap among the ultra-rich is widening, so much so that 590 American billionaires were "too poor" to make the annual Forbes 400 List, which calculated that everyone who made the cut is worth a combined $8 trillion.
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX
According to Forbes, the combined net worths of the top 20 on its list account for 50% of the total, which is up $970 billion from last year. Despite the minimum net worth "soaring to an unprecedented $4.4 billion," 34 newcomers still made the cut.
Forbes formed its 2026 list of the 400 richest Americans using estimates of each person's wealth as of Sept. 4, according to the magazine.
From Elon Musk to Mark Zuckerberg, the usual suspects round out the top 10, with the South African-born businessman earning the No. 1 spot for the fifth year in a row.
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Musk, the Tesla CEO and former leader of the Department of Government Efficiency, broke the $900 billion mark on the list this year, the first person to do so. He also leads the magazine's global real-time billionaires list.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his wife, Lauren Sanchez Bezos, attend the men's singles final match of the U.S. Open on Sept. 13 at Flushing Meadows, N.Y.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos came in second place, short by more than $500 billion behind Musk.
Here's a look at the top 50:
Top 50
Rank | Name | Age | Net worth | Source | State |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Elon Musk | 55 | $908 billion | Tesla, SpaceX | Texas |
2 | Jeff Bezos | 62 | $378 billion | Amazon | Florida |
3 | Larry Page | 53 | $278 billion | California | |
4 | Michael Dell | 61 | $263 billion | Dell Technologies | Texas |
5 | Sergey Brin | 53 | $256 billion | California | |
6 | Mark Zuckerberg | 42 | $212 billion | California | |
7 | Larry Ellison | 82 | $204 billion | Oracle | Florida |
8 | Jensen Huang | 63 | $199 billion | Semiconductors | California |
9 | Steve Ballmer | 70 | $156 billion | Microsoft | Washington |
10 | Warren Buffett | 96 | $144 billion | Berkshire Hathaway | Nebraska |
11 | Rob Walton & family | 81 | $132 billion | Walmart | Arkansas |
12 | Jim Walton & family | 78 | $128 billion | Walmart | Arkansas |
13 | Alice Walton | 76 | $118 billion | Walmart | Texas |
14 | Bill Gates | 70 | $116 billion | Microsoft | Washington |
15 | Thomas Peterffy | 81 | $107 billion | Discount brokerage | Florida |
16 | Michael Bloomberg | 84 | $94.9 billion | Bloomberg LP | New York |
17 | Julia Koch & family | 64 | $84.6 billion | Koch Inc. | New York |
18 | Jeff Yass | 68 | $77.8 billion | Trading, investments | Pennsylvania |
19 | Charles Koch & family | 90 | $76.9 billion | Koch Inc. | Kansas |
20 | Ken Griffin | 57 | $60.5 billion | Hedge funds | Florida |
21 | Jacqueline Mars | 86 | $50.3 billion | Candy, pet food | Virginia |
22 | John Mars | 90 | $50.3 billion | Candy, pet food | Wyoming |
23 | Stephen Schwarzman | 79 | $46.4 billion | Investments | New York |
24 | Lukas Walton | 39 | $44.4 billion | Walmart | Illinois |
25 | Abigail Johnson | 64 | $41.6 billion | Fidelity | Massachusetts |
26 | Eric Schmidt | 71 | $37.8 billion | California | |
27 | Marilyn Simons & family | 75 | $36.6 billion | Hedge funds | New York |
28 | Peter Thiel | 58 | $35.4 billion | Facebook, investments | — |
29 | Len Blavatnik | 69 | $35.2 billion | Music, chemicals | — |
30 | Melinda French Gates | 62 | $34.6 billion | Microsoft | Washington |
31 | Henry Samueli | 71 | $33.8 billion | Semiconductors | California |
32 | Thomas Frist Jr. & family | 88 | $33.6 billion | Hospitals | Tennessee |
33 | Miriam Adelson & family | 80 | $33.5 billion | Casinos | Nevada |
34 | Elaine Marshall & family | 84 | $32.2 billion | Koch Inc. | Texas |
35 | David Sun | 74 | $32.2 billion | Computer hardware | California |
36 | John Tu | 85 | $32.2 billion | Computer hardware | California |
37 | Lyndal Stephens Greth & family | 51 | $30 billion | Oil & gas | Texas |
38 | Robert Pera | 48 | $29.6 billion | Wireless networking | California |
39 | David Tepper | 69 | $28.5 billion | Hedge funds | Florida |
40 | MacKenzie Scott | 56 | $27.9 billion | Amazon | Washington |
41 | Israel Englander | 77 | $27.6 billion | Hedge funds | New York |
42 | Stanley Kroenke | 79 | $27.6 billion | Sports, real estate | Texas |
43 | Steve Cohen | 70 | $26.7 billion | Hedge funds | Connecticut |
44 | Phil Knight & family | 88 | $25.8 billion | Nike | Oregon |
45 | Greg Brockman | 37 | $25.5 billion | OpenAI | California |
46 | Rupert Murdoch & family | 95 | $25 billion | Newspapers, TV network | New York |
47 | Ernest Garcia II | 69 | $24.3 billion | Used cars | Arizona |
48 | Diane Hendricks | 79 | $23.6 billion | Building supplies | Wisconsin |
49 | Jerry Jones & family | 83 | $23.5 billion | Dallas Cowboys | Texas |
50 | Brett Adcock | 40 | $23.4 billion | Robots | California |
