A few weeks ago, Wealth-X, an international wealth intelligence firm, released its annual list of the richest person in every US state. Based on this information, we created a map that not only shows who and how rich the wealthiest person in each state is, but also how states stack up against each other based on which one has the wealthier resident.
Hover over your state to see who is your state’s wealthiest:
The wealthiest individuals in 35 states out of 50 happen to be entrepreneurs and/or business owners, whose financial gambles, personal risks and investments paid off. Expressed in a different way, 7 out of 10 achieved the American Dream through their own hard work.
One prime example of a successful entrepreneur is Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who, with a net worth estimated at over $81 billion, is not only Washington state’s wealthiest resident, but also the world’s.
The runner-up in the list is billionaire Warren Buffett (a.k.a The Oracle of Omaha) arguably the most successful investor of the 20th century and Nebraska’s most prosperous son.
In terms of persons who inherited a vast fortune, the most notable example is Christy Walton, the wealthiest resident of Arkansas, who inherited part of the Wal-Mart fortune after her husband John (Sam Walton’s son) died. There is also Alabama’s Marguerite Harbert, who inherited her wealth from her husband John M. Harbert, the construction magnate and founder of Harbert Corporation.
While most of of the individuals on this list are billionaires (41 out of 50), the following states did not have a single billionaire resident:
- Utah
- New Mexico
- Mississippi
- Maine
- Delaware
- Hawaii
- South Dakota
- Alaska
Here is the complete list, ranked by Net worth:
State | Person | Net Worth |
---|---|---|
Washington | Bill Gates | $81.5 billion |
Nebraska | Warren Buffett | $66.9 billion |
California | Lawrence Ellison | $47.3 billion |
Kansas | David Koch | $42 billion |
Arkansas | Christy Walton | $37.9 billion |
New York | Michael R. Bloomberg | $33.7 billion |
Nevada | Sheldon Adelson | $29 billion |
Virginia | Forrest Mars, Jr. | $25.9 billion |
Oregon | Phil Knight | $19 billion |
Texas | Michael Dell | $17.9 billion |
Oklahoma | Harold Hamm | $17.6 billion |
Colorado | Charles Ergen | $16.7 billion |
Massachusetts | Abigail Johnson | $16.2 billion |
Connecticut | Raymond Dalio | $14.3 billion |
Georgia | Anne Cox Chambers | $12.1 billion |
North Carolina | James Goodnight | $11.1 billion |
New Hampshire | Richard Cohen | $10.1 billion |
New Jersey | David Tepper | $10 billion |
Wisconsin | John Menard, Jr. | $9.2 billion |
Missouri | Jack C. Taylor | $7.4 billion |
Florida | Micky Arison | $6.5 billion |
Michigan | Kenneth Dart | $5.8 billion |
Montana | Dennis Washington | $5.8 billion |
Illinois | Kenneth C. Griffin | $5.3 billion |
Indiana | Gayle Cook | $5.1 billion |
Ohio | Leslie Wexner | $5.1 billion |
Arizona | Bruce Halle, Sr. | $4.7 billion |
Tennessee | Thomas Frist, Jr. | $4.3 billion |
Minnesota | Whitney MacMillan | $3.8 billion |
Maryland | Theodore Lerner | $3.7 billion |
South Carolina | Anita Zucker | $2.7 billion |
Kentucky | Brad M. Kelley | $2 billion |
Alabama | Marguerite Harbert | $1.8 billion |
Pennsylvania | John S. Middleton | $1.8 billion |
Rhode Island | Jonathan Nelson | $1.6 billion |
Vermont | Robert Stiller | $1.6 billion |
West Virginia | James C. Justice II | $1.6 billion |
Louisiana | Thomas Benson | $1.5 billion |
Iowa | Dennis Albaugh | $1.4 billion |
Idaho | Frank Vandersloot | $1.2 billion |
North Dakota | Gary Tharaldson | $1 billion |
Utah | Jon M. Huntsman, Sr. | $950 million |
New Mexico | Mack C. Chase | $910 million |
Mississippi | David H. Nutt | $880 million |
Maine | Leon Gorman | $840 million |
Delaware | Robert Gore | $830 million |
Hawaii | Jay Shidler | $700 million |
South Dakota | T. Denny Sanford | $580 million |
Alaska | Robert Gillam | $480 million |
Wyoming | Jonathan Ledecky | $340 million |