Who are the richest Americans today? Forbes drops 2026 ranking
Who are the richest Americans today? Forbes drops 2026 ranking
Amaris Encinas, USA TODAYWed, September 16, 2026 at 10:11 PM UTC
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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 did make the cut is worth a combined $8 trillion.
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 2025. Despite the minimum net worth "soaring to an unprecedented $4.4 billion," 34 newcomers still made the cut.
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.
Musk, the Tesla CEO and former leader of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), broke the $900 billion mark on the list this year, becoming the first person to do so. He also leads the magazine's global real-time billionaires list.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos came in second place, short by more than $500 billion behind Musk.
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Here's a look at the top 50 richest Americans named on Forbes' 400 list.
These are the 50 richest Americans, according to Forbes
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.
Here's a look at the 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
StephenSchwarzman
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
Courtesy of Forbes
To see the full list, go to https://www.forbes.com/forbes-400/.
Contributing: Melina Khan, USA TODAY
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Who are the richest Americans today? Forbes drops 2026 ranking
Source: “AOL Money”
