Inside Forbes’ ranking of the richest billionaires in the United States.
Another year, another set of broken records for the 400 richest Americans. They’re worth a record $6.6 trillion in all, after getting $1.2 trillion richer over the past 12 months. It now takes a record $3.8 billion to make the ranking, $500 million more than the minimum in 2024.
There’s a record at the top of the list, too: Elon Musk is the first person to ever break the $400 billion mark on The Forbes 400. He’s the wealthiest person in America for the fourth straight year, worth a staggering $428 billion after adding $184 billion to his fortune thanks to a runup in Tesla stock (which has climbed 56%) and 12 more months of increasing valuations of his privately held rocket firm SpaceX and artificial intelligence outfit xAI. Musk is $152 billion ahead of second-place Larry Ellison—a sum greater than Warren Buffett’s entire net worth. Still, Ellison (now worth $276 billion) is $101 billion richer this year on the back of a 60% jump in the value of Oracle shares. He ranks second for the first time in 25 years. Mark Zuckerberg, meanwhile, is America’s third richest person, worth $253 billion following a 42% rise in the stock of Facebook parent company Meta. Forbes calculated net worths using share prices from September 1, 2025.
Much of America’s great wealth remains concentrated at the very top of the very top. The 20 richest people in the country hold a collective $3 trillion—nearly half of all American billionaire wealth—up from $2.3 trillion a year ago. Fifteen of these 20 are now members of the $100 billion club, those whose fortunes span a dozen digits, up from 12 in 2024. The three new members to join the group: Alice, Rob and Jim Walton, the three surviving children of Walmart cofounder Sam Walton (d. 1992). Shares of the retail giant are up 26% since last year’s ranking, helping Alice Walton (who, at $106 billion, is the first centibillionaire woman on the list) retain her title as America’s richest woman. The wealthiest self-made woman remains Diane Hendricks ($22.3 billion), owner of roofing materials distributor ABC Supply.
In all, there are 62 women on this year’s ranking, around 16% of the list and down from 67 (or 17%) in 2024. Two women fell below the $3.8 billion cutoff, while another three passed away. All were replaced on the list by men, though nearly three-quarters of the women who remain among the top 400 are richer than a year ago.
More than two-thirds of the list is richer than a year ago, though 89 billionaires’ fortunes stagnated or declined. Among them is Bill Gates, who spent nearly three decades as the first or second richest person in America, until 2021. Gates now ranks outside the top ten for the first time in 34 years, after transferring large sums in recent years to charity and to his ex-wife Melinda French Gates (who ranks No. 33).
The Forbes 400 remains overwhelmingly self-made. Overall, 71% built their own fortunes, rather than inheriting them, up from 67% last year.
Despite the record-high barrier to entry, 14 super-rich Americans managed to steal a spot on this year’s ranking for the first time. All are self-made. The richest newcomer is Edwin Chen, who is worth $18 billion thanks to an estimated 75% stake in artificial intelligence data-labeling firm Surge AI. At age 37, he’s the youngest member of The Forbes 400, and one of only four thirtysomethings. (The oldest listees are lumber and timber baron Archie Aldis Emmerson, who celebrated his 96th birthday in April, and media tycoon Donald Newhouse, who turned 96 in August.)
Chen is one of four new members who are worth more than $10 billion. The other three are Adam Foroughi ($17.4 billion), who is the cofounder and CEO of marketing software and mobile game maker AppLovin, and Robert Pender and Michael Sabel ($12.8 billion each), cofounders of liquified natural gas exporter Venture Global.
Other notable newcomers include Vlad Tenev of stock trading app Robinhood and Travis Boersma of Dutch Bros Coffee. Twenty-two people who fell off a previous Forbes 400 list managed to climb back into the ranks this year, including Charles Ergen of Dish Network and EchoStar, David Baszucki of gaming platform Roblox and the Facebook-famous, crypto-investing Winklevoss twins.
With the competition stiffer than ever, 26 people dropped off The Forbes 400 this year, including the cofounder and former CEO of Uber Travis Kalanick and wellness products billionaire Frank VanderSloot, both of whom saw their fortunes hold steady while others passed them by. They join the growing list of American billionaires who have amassed ten-figure fortunes—but are simply too poor to make The Forbes 400. A record 500 people now fit into this (slightly) less fortunate group, including Oprah Winfrey (who is worth an estimated $3.1 billion), Scale AI’s Alexandr Wang ($3.2 billion) and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick ($3.4 billion), plus an A-list of celebrity billionaires such as South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone ($1.2 billion each), NBA great LeBron James ($1.2 billion) and pop superstar Taylor Swift ($1.6 billion).
The nation’s richest people are richer than ever, yet their charitable giving has not kept pace. Forbes once again investigated the lifetime donations of every member of the ranking. In all, these 400 billionaires have donated at least $319 billion to charitable causes. But three-quarters of them have given away less than 5% of their fortunes, including 40% who have donated less than 1%. Only 11 people—2.75% of the list—have given away at least 20% of their riches.
For more information on how Forbes compiles The Forbes 400, see here. For the full 2025 Forbes 400 list, see here.
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