Where the Forbes 400 Live: States with More Billionaires

>

The great states of America span the country, from Oregon to Rhode Island, from Montana to Texas. But the wealth is not evenly distributed from sea to shining sea. More than half of the 400 wealthiest people in the U.S. live in one of four states. These four billionaire destinations are home to 240 of the wealthiest Americans with a combined net worth of $2.6 trillion.

The most popular state among Forbes 400 list members is not sunny Florida or low-tax Texas, but California.

The Golden State is home to the largest number of American super-rich people, 87 of whom are worth more than $1 trillion. The richest is Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, with an estimated net worth of $158 billion. He has about twenty homes, including ten in California, mostly in the city of Woodside and in Malibu's Carbon Beach. Forbes ranks Ellison as a California resident based on his voter registration.

The second highest number of Forbes 400 members is New York State.

The Empire State is home to 62 people on the list with a total net worth of $562 billion. The wealthiest New Yorker is Michael Bloomberg, co-founder of Bloomberg LP and former mayor of New York City. Florida ranks third, with 46 entries on the list, valued at $314 billion. The richest of them all is Ken Griffin, who moved his hedge fund and market giant Citadel to the Sunshine State last year.

Fourth place goes to Texas.

Which boasts 45 of America's richest people, worth more than $670 billion.

The Forbes 400 member lives in 40 states in total. The U.S. Virgin Islands is also home to one billionaire private-equity tycoon Steven Dekoff, who bought Jeffrey Epstein's island earlier this year. Another eight Americans worth more than $2.9 billion (the threshold to make the list this year) live overseas, in places like London, Seoul and Singapore.

The richest resident of Washington state is Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who is worth an estimated $161 billion. He is one of nine Americans worth more than $100 billion. In New York City, most billionaires made their fortunes on or near Wall Street, in finance and investment. In California, the largest number of billionaires are related to technology, finance and investment, real estate and entertainment. Florida is attracting entrepreneurs who became wealthy elsewhere and moved to the Sunshine State.