The Richest Americans Are Worth A Record-Breaking $6.6 Trillion
Elon Musk Retains Number One Spot
Donald Trump $3 Billion Richer
Forbes 400, 2025
Illustration by Neil Jamieson for Forbes
NEW YORK – September 9, 2025 – Forbes today unveils its 44th annual Forbes 400 list, the definitive ranking of the wealthiest Americans.
Despite the ongoing discourse of economic slowdown, tariff threats and interest rate concerns, the richest Americans are shattering wealth records. The 400 wealthiest U.S. billionaires are collectively worth a record $6.6 trillion, up $1.2 trillion from last year. The bar for entry into the exclusive club has increased to a staggering $3.8 billion—$500 million higher than last year’s cutoff and a record high.
Elon Musk remains in the top spot for the fourth year in a row, worth $428 billion—the first person worth more than $400 billion on The Forbes 400. He’s followed by Larry Ellison in the number two spot, which he has taken from Jeff Bezos (No. 4), who held the runner-up ranking for the past three years. Mark Zuckerberg ranks No. 3.
President Donald Trump (No. 201) rises 118 spots in the ranks this year, during the first year of his second presidential term, after returning to The Forbes 400 list last year. Trump has an estimated net worth of $7.3 billion, up from $4.3 billion last year, as his lucrative foray into cryptocurrency has added ten figures to his fortune.
“It’s been a year unlike any we’ve seen in the four decades we’ve tracked America’s billionaire class,” said Chase Peterson-Withorn, Senior Editor at Forbes. “The super-rich at the very top are richer than ever—and between the White House and the booming stock market, they’re as powerful as they’ve ever been.”
Despite the pricey admission to this year’s list, 14 newcomers managed to secure a spot, including stock trading app Robinhood’s Vlad Tenev, Dutch Bros Coffee’s Travis Boersma and Surge AI’s Edwin Chen.
Chen is one of several billionaires benefitting from the AI boom. Others include newcomers such as Michael Intrator and Brian Venturo of CoreWeave, as well as longtime listees such as major Microsoft shareholder Steve Ballmer and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang.
This year, 62 women made The Forbes 400, just over 15% of the list, down from 67 and 17% in 2024. The richest of all remains Alice Walton, the only daughter of Walmart cofounder Sam Walton (d. 1992). The richest self-made woman remains Diane Hendricks of roofing materials distributor ABC Supply. Overall, 71% of Forbes 400 listees are categorized as self-made, meaning he or she amassed their fortune rather than inheriting it, up from 67% last year.
As part of The Forbes 400, Forbes scored billionaires based on the percentage of their fortunes they have donated to charity so far. The rating system ranks list members on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the most philanthropic. The Forbes wealth team estimated list members’ total lifetime giving based on public filings and interviews with listees. Three-quarters of Forbes 400 listees have given less than 5% of their fortunes to charity, though some top givers such as George Soros and Warren Buffett have given away more than 20%.
With the minimum net worth required at a record high, 500 American billionaires are simply not rich enough to make The Forbes 400. This includes famous faces such as Oprah Winfrey, LeBron James and Taylor Swift.
Additional stories running within the package include:
For the complete Forbes 400 ranking, methodology, feature stories and more, visit: www.forbes.com/forbes-400/.
The Forbes 400 list is a snapshot of wealth using stock prices and exchange rates from September 1, 2025. Forbes lists individuals rather than multi-generational families who share large fortunes, though we include wealth belonging to a billionaire’s spouse and children in certain instances, primarily if that person is the founder of the fortune.
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Media Contacts:
Christina Vega Magrini, cmagrini@forbes.com
Feryal Nawaz, fnawaz@forbes.com
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