These States Have Created the Most Billionaires—See the Map

The United States has created more billionaires than any other country in the world, but some states stand out when it comes to these wealthy individuals.

There are currently 3,428 billionaires around the world, according to Forbes, with 1,647 of them living in the United States. But not all billionaires who live in the U.S. were actually born in the country.

When it comes to the gold standard for states with billionaires, you may be surprised by some of the places these people were born—though the number one spot is probably a given. Visual Capitalist used this data to create map which pinpoints the locations.

The Most Homegrown Billionaires

The first spot on the list is New York, coming in with 90 billionaires calling it their birth state. Most of that number is due to New York City, which has produced more billionaires than any other city in the world.

New York's 90 billionaires are also more than the second and third states combined. California can lay claim to 51 billionaires while Texas has 32 homegrown billionaires. Those states may not be surprising considering the number of tech giants who have called California home or oil and energy business people based in Texas.

On the other hand, some surprises pop out when you analyze the list. For example, the top three states when it comes to billionaires per capita are New York, Massachusetts, and Missouri.

Yes, Missouri. The state has produced 16 billionaires, or 2.6 billionaires per million people. How is that possible? Well, the state is the birthplace of one of the richest families in the country. Several heirs of the Walton family were born in the “Show Me State” and inherited their billions through Sam Walton, who attended high school and college in Columbia, Missouri, before founding Walmart.

In Massachusetts, there are 3.2 billionaires for every 1 million people. The Johnson family dominates the list, giving the state a boost in homegrown billionaires. Edward Johnson II founded Fidelity Investments in the state, and three of his heirs make up the four richest billionaires in Massachusetts, including current Fidelity CEO Abigail Johnson.

But not every state has created billionaires. Based on the data collected by Virtual Capitalist, there are six states that can't claim one from within their borders: Delaware, Idaho, Maine, New Hampshire, South Dakota, and Vermont.

State-By-State

Visual Capitalist provides the full state-by-state breakdown, looking at the number of billionaires per 1 million people and the total number of billionaires for all 50 states. See the list:

Where Billionaires Call Home

Three of the top five billionaires who live in the United States were born in the United States.

Larry Page, a co-founder of Google, is one of 17 billionaires born in Michigan. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is one of only four billionaires born in New Mexico. And Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg is one of the many billionaires born in New York, calling White Plains his hometown.

Other American-born billionaires in the Forbes top 10 list include Oracle founder Larry Ellison, who is also one of the billionaires born in New York City. Michael Dell of Dell Computers calls Houston, Texas, his birthplace.

Rounding out the top 10 is Warren Buffett, the former CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. The businessman is known as The Oracle of Omaha in honor of his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska. He still calls Omaha his home.

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