Visualize the world's top 20 billionaires in 2026

American billionaires' wealth, visualized

America's top 20 billionaires have a combined wealth of $2.7T as of 2024. That's more than Russia's annual GDP. But some billionaires, like Elon Musk, hold a greater share of that $2.7T number than others. To see just how much money each of these 20 billionaires have in comparison to the others in the group, check out this data visualization.

See Bloomberg's continuously updated Billionaire Index

This ranking, updated daily, shows a running tally of the world's 500 richest people. Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has largely been atop the list, with a net worth of around $723B as of June 2026. Values fluctuate significantly as much of the wealth is tied to equity in companies. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

How to visualize the enormous wealth of Elon Musk

The disruptive innovator and founder of SpaceX and Tesla is worth hundreds of billions of dollars, an unimaginable sum. This simple interactive visual uses pixels (representing $1K each) on a scrolling screen to demonstrate the billionaire's wealth compared to other known financial values, like the cost of building a Boeing 777 or the net worth of Tiger Woods.

The wealthiest person in every US state in 2021

Alongside Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, who are the richest people in the U.S.? This map reveals the wealthiest billionaire in each U.S. state.

See a visual of the US states with the most billionaires

This map of the US shows the states with the most billionaires as of 2025. As of July 2025, there were 899 US billionaires, although some of them live abroad.

Warren Buffett is the world's all-time most generous philanthropist

This list of America's top 25 philanthropists features the "Oracle of Omaha" at the top, as the former Berkshire Hathaway CEO has given away more than $68B—roughly 32% of his total net wealth. Among the country's richest individuals, Mark Zuckerberg is second to Buffett, having donated over $6B of his wealth. Mackenzie Scott, meanwhile, is on a blitz of giving, already departing with almost half of the $30B she received amid her divorce from Jeff Bezos.

The world's 50 most valuable private companies

While public companies typically have the highest valuations, private companies get close. This list breaks down the top 50 as of 2025, with SpaceX at the top with a value of $350B, followed by ByteDance. Over three-fifths of the list are located in the US, with eight in China.

The 'ultrawealthy' in 2026 hold $30M or more

This group of ultra-high-net-worth individuals holds more than double the assets of the top 1% of Americans (and this group holds over a third of all American wealth). These folks go beyond a well-funded retirement plan and a paid-off home common to middle-class households with investments in private equity, commercial real estate, and alternative assets like art.

LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault was among the world's 10 wealthiest people as of early 2026

With a reported net worth of about $190B, Arnault consistently ranks among the world's richest individuals. He held the number one spot on the list until early 2023, when Elon Musk overtook him.

Visualizing the world's wealth in 2019

The world has a net worth of $360T. The U.S. economy continues to dominate given its sheer size, Asia and Europe are not that far behind.

How popular are America's billionaires?

The US has more billionaires than any other country, and they are a mix of media moguls, entrepreneurs, and entertainers. This list ranks the 10 richest Americans by their popularity. The oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffett, ranks highest in favorability at 52%, while Google cofounder Sergey Brin ranks lowest—likely because 72% of respondents didn't recognize his name.

Ranking the world's highest paid athletes in 2022

The top 100 highest-paid athletes in the world include players from 10 sports and 24 countries. They earned $4.46 billion in total income, including $3.24 billion in salary and prize money, as well…

Explore Ray Dalio's real-time wealth ranking and net worth

Dalio's profile in Forbes tracks his net worth, wealth history, and global wealth ranking. As of early 2026, Dalio is in the top 200 richest people in the world.

Track Warren Buffett’s real-time net worth

Buffett is worth many, many billions of dollars. As a self-made billionaire, he is the eighth-richest man in the world, and his real-time net worth changes daily.

Who are America's highest-paid CEOs?

As of 2024, Apple's Tim Cook, Starbucks' Brian Niccol, and Microsoft's Satya Nadella were among America's highest-paid CEOs, each making tens of millions of dollars per year.

The number of billionaires in Saudi Arabia is projected to increase by 183% by 2031

Countries in the Middle East and Asia are projected to have some of the largest economic expansions by 2031, including within their billionaire populations. The global average growth projection for billionaires is 26% between 2026 and 2031.

See a ranking of the world's most valuable brands

Evaluating a brand's value involves evaluating investments in marketing, the strength of the brand, and even the company's performance. Technology companies represent most of the global economy's brand value. As of 2026, Apple has the most valuable brand in the world at $608B.

Many of the top companies in the US by market cap began as tech startups

Combined, the top seven companies by market cap in the US as of December 2024—Apple, Nvidia, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Tesla—were worth more than $16T at the time.

The Forbes Midas List is an annual ranking of the world's top 100 venture capitalists

To qualify, investors are ranked by portfolio companies that have gone public or been acquired for at least $200M in the past five years, or that have at least doubled their private valuation to $400M or more over the same period.

Three AI startup founders broke the record for the youngest self-made billionaire previously set by Mark Zuckerberg

Mark Zuckerberg became the youngest self-made billionaire in 2006 at 23 years old when Facebook held its initial public offering. In January of 2026, three AI startup founders—Brendan Foody, Adarsh Hiremath, and Surya Midha—broke Zuckerberg's record and became billionaires at 22 years old.

The Walton family behind Walmart is the world’s richest family with $432B

The world’s 10 richest families, including the families behind Hermès and Mars, control hundreds of billions of dollars worth of the world’s wealth.

In Switzerland, there was one billionaire for every 80,000 people as of 2022, making it one of the countries with the most billionaires per capita

Swiss residents overall have a mean net worth of almost $700K, making them some of the richest in the world, ahead of both the US and Hong Kong. In Switzerland, there is no capital gains tax on financial assets, although the country does have a relatively low wealth tax.

Nearly half of billionaires plan to increase exposure to direct private equity investments in 2026

In a global survey administered by the Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS), 49% of billionaires plan to continue investing in companies by providing direct access to capital. However, only 37% of billionaires plan to increase their investments in private equity funds.

Bezos' wealth primarily stems from his Amazon ownership stake

Three decades after founding Amazon, Jeff Bezos has built a sprawling empire of business and financial interests. A chart from Visual Capitalist details his many business interests outside of Amazon, including his ownership of the Washington Post; his private aerospace company, Blue Origin; and his personal stake in companies ranging from Airbnb to Uber and Google.

Most US billionaires made their wealth in banking and finance rather than tech

A third of US billionaires inherited much or all of their enormous fortunes. It can be tough to determine the exact net worth of billionaires given that much of their money is often tied up in company stocks, which fluctuate significantly in a given week. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

Ranking valuations of NBA teams

NBA teams were worth a total of $138B in 2024, with the Golden State Warriors the highest-valued at over $9B, according to research and analysis conducted by sports business outlet Sportico. Dive into the data with this write-up and visualization.

This year's highest-paid dead celebrities

Forbes unveiled the list of 13 highest-paid dead celebrities. For the first time ever, the top five people in Forbes 2022 list of highest paid dead celebrities, have made more than $100 million each

Visual Capitalist shows the top 50 countries by central bank reserves

As of 2024, China, Japan, and the United States held the top three spots in terms of the value of their respective central bank reserves.

The world’s top 20 cities for startups include San Francisco

In 2023, Singapore had the highest venture capital funding per capita in the world. But that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the best place to have a startup. In 2023, PitchBook analyzed data to determine the world’s best startup city, including fundraising activity, venture capital deals, and exit value. San Francisco ranked as No. 1. See which other locales landed in the top 20 with this graphic.

See the world’s largest stock markets in 1900 versus 2023

The US is now home to the world's largest stock market, but that wasn't always the case. This data visualization shows where the largest stock markets in the world were in 1900, then compares that map to the current geographical distribution of stock markets today, based on each country’s percentage share of global market capitalization. See what it looks like by clicking here.

Explore 25 of the world's richest universities beyond the US

This article from The College Post highlights 25 of the wealthiest universities outside the United States. It showcases institutions like King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), the University of Oxford, and the University of Hong Kong. Learn more about the global landscape of higher education funding.

Visualizing the AI investment wave

This data visualization from Reuters shows how massive AI investment has become by December 2025—revealing that, in today’s dollars, spending has surpassed the combined total of the Apollo program and the Manhattan Project.

Billionaires are racing to space to control future markets

Although different companies have described focuses ranging from luxury tourism to Martian space colonies, all are building infrastructure to capitalize on the shift away from government-only control and betting big on reusability and scale. By securing public contracts and subsidies, they aim to develop strategic partnerships toward dominance in low Earth orbit.

See who attended Davos 2025

Each year, Davos draws one of the most exclusive guest lists in the world. In 2025, attendees included 60 heads of state, over 900 CEOs and corporate chairs, and top leaders from global civil society, who gathered in the Swiss Alps.

A group of billionaires and millionaires wants to pay more taxes

Hundreds of billionaires and millionaires have signed a letter called “Proud to Pay More,” in which they ask world leaders to tax the wealthiest individuals more than they currently do. The group, which includes Disney heir Abigail Disney and Valerie Rockefeller, re-upped their call at the World Economic Forum in Davos this year. Learn about the “Proud to Pay More” letter in this article.

Explore America’s top companies by revenue in 1994 versus 2023

America’s top companies by revenue have changed a lot in the past few decades. Sears, for instance, isn’t on the 2023 list, while Amazon isn’t in the 1994 edition.

Microsoft was the most popular stock in hedge fund portfolios as of Q1 2024

874 hedge funds held Microsoft stock at the time. This infographic shows more of the most popular stocks in hedge fund portfolios.

Mark Zuckerberg, Katy Perry, and other celebrities have attended Burning Man

Burning Man is an expensive endeavor, most attractive and accessible to those with deep pockets and an interest in artistic endeavors. Therefore it’s no surprise the event attracts various famous innovators and entertainers, including the world's richest people.

As of 2025, Wikipedia is one of the top 10 most-visited sites in the world

Alphabet Inc.'s Google search engine and YouTube received nearly 150 billion combined visits in November, followed by Facebook, ChatGPT, and Instagram, which each received over 5 billion visits during the same span. With 4.42 billion visits for the month, Wikipedia ranked just behind Reddit's 4.85 billion.

A video compares two visions for the metaverse: one from Nvidia and one from Facebook

The CEOs of top technology companies Nvidia and Meta recently revealed their visions for the metaverse of the future. As of 2021, both Jensen Huang and Mark Zuckerberg were bullish on virtual world-building, although Huang seemed more focused on the metaverse's business implications than its social ones, which Zuckerberg prioritized.

Eleven of modern history's greatest investors

The greatest investors have all made a fortune off of their success and, in many cases, have helped millions of others achieve similar returns. Read about the lives and approaches of Carl Icahn, Warren Buffett, George Soros, and more.

As of 2021, 8.2% of Fortune 500 CEOs were women

Eighty-five percent of those women were white. A data visualization breaks down what the face of corporate America looks like, plus provides information about the history of female CEOs on the Fortune 500 list.

See a list of all of Elon Musk's known children as of April 2026

Although it's possible that these numbers could be larger than the public realizes, as of April 2026, it was believed that Elon Musk had fathered 14 children with four different women. While he has six children with his ex-wife Justine Musk, he has three with the musician Grimes, including a son named X Æ A-12.

'Planet Money' debates the financial indicators that defined 2025

In this end-of-year episode, "Planet Money" stages a playful debate over which economic indicators best captured the chaos of 2025—from tariffs to AI bubbles—and which signals may matter most as the US economy heads into 2026.

View the list of most followed users on X

X, formerly Twitter, may now face more competition from rival social networks than ever, but it also had over 650 million active users as of early 2025. Elon Musk, Barack Obama, and Cristiano Ronaldo led the list of most-followed accounts then.

The world's wealthiest 10% are responsible for 48% of greenhouse gas emissions

An analysis by the International Energy Agency found that in 2021, the top 1% of emitters each produced over 50 metric tons of carbon dioxide, over 1,000 times the amount produced by those in the bottom 1%. The average energy-related carbon footprint, including household heating and electricity use, was about 4.7 metric tons per person.

League tables show the number of deals top investment banks do in a time period

These tables provide a visual to help keep track of the leading companies in investment banking. Companies such as JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs typically sit up top.

2023's worst performing US IPOs

While an IPO is a huge milestone, it isn't always a total success in the long-term. This data visualization shows some of the worst-performing IPOs of 2023, based on their percentage returns at the end of the year, It includes an NFT gaming company and a Chinese EV battery company.

See a website that tracks layoffs

A startup founder has been tracking tech layoffs since 2020. In 2025, 124,201 tech employees were laid off, per the website.

Watch this video to find out how Taylor Swift became a billionaire from her musical empire

The news that Taylor Swift's wildly successful Eras Tour had made her a billionaire came out in October 2023. While most billionaires in the music industry use their fame as a foundation for other business ventures outside the industry (think: billionaire singer-songwriter Rihanna's Fenty Beauty makeup line), Swift has earned her wealth almost exclusively through music.