Based on an Institute for Policy Studies analysis of data from the Forbes real time billionaire list from 2025, there are 935 billionaires in the United States with combined wealth totaling $8.1 trillion.
While the S&P 500 increased by 16 percent over the year, U.S. billionaire assets surged over 20.8 percent. The biggest gains were among the top 15 U.S. billionaires, those with assets over $100 billion. This elite group saw their wealth surge to $3.2 trillion at the end of 2025, up from $2.4 trillion a year ago, a gain of 33 percent (more than double the S&P 500 increase of 16 percent).
The richest three American wealth dynasties – the Waltons, Mars and Koch families – saw their wealth accelerate from $657.8 billion to $757 billion in one year.
— source ips-dc.org | Jan 02, 2026