Forbes published the 45th edition of its annual ranking of the 400 richest people in the United States on September 15, and the group’s combined wealth set a record at 8 trillion dollars. That is up from 6.6 trillion a year earlier, a leap powered by gains in technology shares and rising valuations for privately held companies. The entry price climbed too, to 4.4 billion dollars, 600 million more than in 2025, and Forbes said 590 American billionaires failed to clear that bar.
Elon Musk kept the top spot for another year at a fortune Forbes put at 908 billion dollars, having seen his wealth more than double over twelve months as Tesla, SpaceX and his other companies advanced. Jeff Bezos ranked second at 378 billion, followed by Google co-founder Larry Page at 278 billion. Michael Dell took fourth place, and the other Google co-founder, Sergey Brin, closed out the top five at 256 billion.
Wealth clustered heavily at the summit. The 20 richest members added close to 1 trillion dollars between them over the year and are now worth about 4 trillion combined, half of the entire list’s value. Further down there was steady churn, with Forbes recording 34 first-time entrants and 34 who dropped off, while six people who had appeared in 2025 have since died.
The composition of the list moved in a few directions worth noting. Sixty-two women feature this year, roughly 16 percent of the total, and ten members are under the age of 40, up from four the year before, a sign that younger founders in technology and finance are amassing fortunes at speed. Forbes reported that 71 percent of the group built their money rather than inheriting it. The average age is 70, and the oldest member, timber magnate Archie Aldis Emmerson, is 97.
Philanthropy again drew scrutiny. Forbes found that 44 percent of the 400 had given away less than 1 percent of their fortune, and close to 80 percent had parted with under 5 percent, while only 13 had donated 20 percent or more. The figures arrived as the distance between the richest Americans and everyone else kept widening, keeping questions about how the very wealthy deploy their money in public view.
