Richest 15 U.S. centi-billionaires see wealth surge 33 percent to $3.2 trillion

January 2, 2026 – 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.

[Note: Bloomberg reported global billionaire wealth increased $2.2 trillion over 2025, in an analysis released several days before the market closed at 4 pm on December 31, 2025. The market fluctuated considerably in the final days of 2025.]

The IPS analysis, released on January 2, 2026, found that the number of U.S. billionaires increased from 813 at end close of 2024 markets, with combined wealth of $6.7 trillion, to 935 U.S. billionaires with combined assets of $8.1 trillion

The top five current billionaires and their individual wealth on January 1, 2026, compared to January 1, 2025:

Elon Musk of Tesla/X and SpaceX with $726 billion, up from $421 billion a year ago.

Larry Page of Google, with $257 billion, up from $156 billion a year ago.

Larry Ellison of Oracle fame with $245.billion, up from $209 billion a year ago.  

Jeff Bezos of Amazon with $242.billion, up from $233.5 billion a year ago.

Sergey Brin of Google with $237 billion, up from $148.9 billion a year ago.

The three wealthiest dynastic families in the U.S. hold an estimated $757 billion, up from $657.8 billion at the end of 2024, a 16 percent gain.  These are:

Walton.  Seven members of the Walton Family with combined wealth of $483 billion, up from $404.3 billion a year ago.

Mars. Six members of Mars family with combined wealth of $120 billion, down from $130.4 billion a year ago.

Koch. Two members of Koch family have a combined wealth of $154.8 billion, up from $121.1 billion a year ago.

Wealth Gains Since Beginning of Pandemic. Many top billionaires have seen their wealth surge during and after the Covid-19 pandemic at the beginning of 2020.

On March 18, 2020, Elon Musk had wealth valued just under $25 billion.  Less than five years later, at the end of 2025, Musk’s wealth is $726 billion, a dizzying 2,800 percent increase from before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jeff Bezos saw his wealth rise from $113 billion on March 18, 2020 to $242 billion at the end of 2025.

Three Walton family members –Jim, Alice and Rob, saw their combined assets increase from $161.1 billion on March 18, 2020 to $378 billion at the end of 2025.

Sources:

Forbes Real Time Billionaires

https://www.forbes.com/real-time-billionaires/#47eaba113d78

Bloomberg Billionaire Index

https://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires

CNBC: S&P Closes lower Wednesday, but wraps 2025 with a 16% gain

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/30/stock-market-today-live-updates.html