- Alaska, Delaware, and West Virginia aren’t home to any billionaires, Forbes reported.
- California, in comparison, has nearly 200 billionaires.
- This is despite nearly 800 billionaires living in the US, per estimates.
Alaska, Delaware, and West Virginia are the only states that still don’t have a single billionaire resident, according to a new report by Forbes.
The outlet on Thursday released its latest ranking of the richest residents of every state. Many of the findings were unsurprising: Elon Musk claims the title for Texas, Mark Zuckerberg for California, and Michael Bloomberg for New York.
As of December, nearly 800 billionaires lived in the US, according to a report by investment-migration consultancy Henley & Partners.
But three states don’t have any billionaires listing them as their primary residence.
Intuit CEO Brad Smith — no, not the Microsoft president of the same name — isn’t far off, however. Forbes estimates that the West Virginia resident, who’s also the president of Marshall University, was worth about $900 million as of March.
And Delaware’s Elizabeth Snyder, whose family’s manufacturing company developed and patented Gore-Tex, is worth about $800 million, per Forbes’ estimates.
But Alaska is still a long way from having a billionaire resident.
The two richest people in the state, Jonathan Rubini and his family and Leonard Hyde and his family, are both worth around $400 million each, per Forbes’ estimates. Rubini and Hyde cofounded JL Properties, a commercial real estate developer.
To be clear, Alaska, Delaware, and West Virginia are among the least-populated states in the US. According to Census Bureau estimates for 2023, Alaska was the fourth-smallest state or district in the US by population, Delaware was seventh-smallest, and West Virginia was 13th-smallest.
And the states with the most billionaires — California, followed by New York and Florida, per Forbes’ ranking — are three of the four most populous states. California has 197 billionaires, per Forbes data from March.
But there are many more factors that contribute to how many billionaires a state has than just its population. California has a swathe of multi-billion-dollar tech companies; New York is home to Wall Street and top law firms; and Florida is building its reputation as a hub for financial-services companies as well as a playground for the superrich.
And where the wealthy choose to live is changing, too. The pandemic has contributed to what Henley & Partners dubs a “millionaire remix,” with more rich people living in cities including Texas state capital Austin, Scottsdale, Arizona, and West Palm Beach, Florida.
