How do billionaires avoid paying taxes? This is what we know now.
Super wealthy people can afford to avoid paying taxes, but how? This is what we know now.
For the fourth year in a row, the wealthiest person in the United States is South Africa-born businessman and political figure Elon Musk.
On September 9th, Forbes released an annual list of 400 wealthy Americans. It emphasizes clear facts. The rich are becoming rich.
America’s 400 wealthiest people are worth a total record of $6.6 trillion in 2025. That’s over $1 trillion more than its total revenue last year.
Musk, the CEO of Tesla and former leader of the government’s efficiency department, broke the $400 billion mark on the list this year, becoming the first person to do so. He also led the magazine’s list of world billionaires earlier this year.
More than $150 billion after the mask is Larry Ellison, the second-largest holder of high-tech company Oracle.
Let’s take a look at the top 50 people on the list.
According to Forbes, the top 50 wealthiest people in the United States
According to the magazine, Forbes’s 400 wealthiest Americans list of 2025’s wealthiest Americans was formed using an estimate of each person’s wealth as of September 1st.
Let’s take a look at the top 50:
| Rank | name | Net assets | year | sauce | state |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Elon Musk | $428 billion | 54 | Tesla, SpaceX | Texas |
| 2 | Larry Ellison | $276 billion | 81 | Oracle | California |
| 3 | Mark Zuckerberg | $253 billion | 41 | California | |
| 4 | Jeff Bezos | $24.1 billion | 61 | Amazon | Florida |
| 5 | Rally Page | $179 billion | 52 | California | |
| 6 | Sergei Brin | $166 billion | 52 | California | |
| 7 | Steve Ballmer | $153 billion | 69 | Microsoft | Washington |
| 8 | Jensen Fan | $151 billion | 62 | semiconductor | California |
| 9 | Warren Buffett | $150 billion | 95 | Berkshire Hathaway | Nebraska |
| 10 | Michael Dell | $129 billion | 60 | Dell Technologies | Texas |
| 11 | Rob Walton & Family | $118 billion | 80 | Walmart | Arkansa |
| 12 | Jim Walton & Family | $115 billion | 77 | Walmart | Arkansa |
| 13 | Michael Bloomberg | $109 billion | 83 | Bloomberg LP | new york |
| 14 | Bill Gates | $107 billion | 69 | Microsoft | Washington |
| 15 | Alice Walton | $106 billion | 75 | Walmart | Texas |
| 16 | Julia Koch and the Family | $81.2 billion | 63 | Koch, Inc. | new york |
| 17 | Charles Koch and the Family | $73.8 billion | 89 | Koch, Inc. | Kansas |
| 18 | Thomas Peterphy | $73.3 billion | 80 | Discount broker | Florida |
| 19 | Jeff Yass | $65.7 billion | 67 | Trading, investment | Pennsylvania |
| 20 | Stephen Schwartzman | $51.9 billion | 78 | investment | new york |
| twenty one | Ken Griffin | $50.4 billion | 56 | Hedge funds | Florida |
| twenty two | Jacqueline Mars | $42.2 billion | 85 | Candy, pet food | Virginia |
| twenty two | John Mars | $42.2 billion | 89 | Candy, pet food | Wyoming |
| twenty four | Lucas Walton | $39.8 billion | 38 | Walmart | Illinois |
| twenty five | Miriam Adelson and the Family | $37.9 billion | 79 | casino | Nevada |
| 26 | Phil Knight & Family | $35.7 billion | 87 | Nike | Oregon |
| 27 | Abigail Johnson | $35 billion | 63 | Faithful | Massachusetts |
| 28 | Mackenzie Scott | $33.9 billion | 55 | Amazon | Washington |
| 29 | Marilyn Simons and the Family | $32.5 billion | 74 | Hedge funds | new york |
| 30 | Thomas Frist, Jr. & Family | $32.4 billion | 87 | hospital | Tennessee |
| 31 | Blavatnik only | $31 billion | 68 | Music, chemicals | |
| 32 | Elaine Marshall & Family | $30.9 billion | 83 | Koch Inc. | Texas |
| 33 | Melinda French Gates | $29 billion | 61 | Microsoft, Investment | Washington |
| 34 | Henry Samuel | $27.7 billion | 70 | semiconductor | California |
| 35 | Lindal Steven Sgres & Family | $27.4 billion | 50 | Oil and gas | Texas |
| 36 | Eric Schmidt | $26.8 billion | 70 | California | |
| 37 | Daniel Gilbert | $26.7 billion | 63 | Rocket mortgage | Michigan |
| 38 | Rupert Murdoch and the Family | $24.1 billion | 94 | Newspapers, TV networks | new york |
| 39 | Robert Pera | $24 billion | 47 | Wireless Networking | California |
| 40 | Peter Tiel | $23.9 billion | 57 | Facebook, Investment | California |
| 41 | David Tepper | $23.7 billion | 67 | Hedge funds | Florida |
| 42 | Ernest Garcia, ii. | $23.1 billion | 68 | Used cars | Arizona |
| 43 | Steve Cohen | $23 billion | 69 | Hedge funds | Connecticut |
| 44 | Diane Hendrix | $22.3 billion | 78 | Building Supply | Wisconsin |
| 45 | Rick Cohen and the Family | $22.1 billion | 73 | Warehouse automation | New Hampshire |
| 46 | Todd Graves | $22 billion | 53 | Fast food | Louisiana |
| 47 | Stanley Kroenke | $21.3 billion | 78 | Sports, real estate | Texas |
| 48 | John Menard Jr. | 20 billion dollars | 85 | Home improvement store | Wisconsin |
| 49 | Christie Walton | $19.7 billion | 76 | Walmart | Wyoming |
| 50 | Jerry Jones and the Family | $19.6 billion | 82 | Dallas Cowboys | Texas |
To see the full list, go to https://www.forbes.com/forbes-400/.
Melina Kahn is a national trending reporter for USA Today. She can be contacted at melina.khan@usatoday.com.
