menu_open
Columnists Actual . Favourites . Archive
We use cookies to provide some features and experiences in QOSHE

More information  .  Close
Aa Aa Aa
- A +

Where America’s Richest People Live: Forbes 400 2024

4 4
02.10.2024

California is a symbol of wealth, famous for the luxuries of Hollywood and the riches of Silicon Valley. So it’s perhaps no surprise that the world’s fifth-largest economy is home to more of the 400 wealthiest people in the U.S. than any other state by far—and has been for 34 years, since overtaking New York in 1991.

The Golden State is home to 83 members of this year’s Forbes 400 list, four fewer than last year and nine fewer than a decade ago, but the state is still home to more than one out of five 400 members. As a group, these Californians are worth around triple the $489 billion the state’s 92 members were worth a decade ago. But it’s not the only hub for the three-comma club. Ranking behind California are New York and Florida, with 54 list members each, followed by Texas, with 43. Those four states are the most populous in the country, holding a third of all Americans—but nearly 60% of the richest ones. The combined fortune of their 234 billionaires totals $3.3 trillion.

California’s days at the top may be numbered. Florida’s rise continues; the Sunshine State has eight more Forbes 400 members this year—enough to tie the Empire State for the first time. Some of the recent gains are due to folks leaving their higher-tax hometowns for Florida’s lower rates, like former Seattle resident Jeff Bezos and onetime Chicagoan Ken Griffin. Five New Yorkers have moved to Florida in the past decade. Those transplants include the state’s most famous resident, Donald Trump, who returns to the 400 list this year thanks to Trump Media & Technology Group, the social media company he took public in March. New York, meanwhile, has eight fewer 400 members than last year as the state’s richest couldn’t keep up. Among the drop-offs: Wesley Edens and Richard LeFrak.

A handful of states have only one Forbes 400 member, including Maine (Susan Alfond), Oregon (Phil Knight) and Kentucky (Tamara Gustavson). Ten states aren’t represented at all on the 400, including Alabama, Minnesota and Vermont. It was harder than ever to make the list this year due to a record-high cutoff of $3.3 billion, up from last year’s $2.9 billion and eons away from the median American family’s net worth of $192,900, per the U.S. Federal Reserve. That was enough to bump Mississippi off the map as its richest residents, James and........

© Forbes


Get it on Google Play