If you’re looking to get ultra-rich, these are the 10 sectors most represented on our 2024 ranking of America’s richest people.
The 400 richest people in America include athletes, entrepreneurs, artists and engineers. Chewing gum has landed someone on The Forbes 400 list. So have plush toys and porn. Of course, some industries have better odds of placing someone on the ranking than others.
Even in the age of technology, finance reigns as the sector with the most members on the list. This year, a total of 108 billionaires, more than a quarter of the ranking, hail from finance and investments. From private equity to hedge funds, these investors and financiers are worth a collective $1.3 trillion. There are four fewer than last year’s 112, but most are richer than before. Warren Buffett (estimated net worth: $150 billion), the richest of the bunch, upped his fortune by $29 billion this year as Berkshire Hathaway became America’s first non-tech company to reach $1 trillion in market capitalization. The sector also welcomed six new faces, including investor and Phoenix Suns part-owner Justin Ishbia ($6.1 billion) and Byron Trott ($3.7 billion), the banker to the billionaires behind merchant bank BDT & MSD.
Higher risk, higher reward? With 71 billionaires, technology is the second most popular industry on the 2024 Forbes 400—but, as a group, they’re the wealthiest of all. Worth a collective $1.8 trillion, up from $1.4 trillion last year, this sector continues to dominate the upper ranks of the list, including claiming seven spots in the top ten. Nearly all of them are richer this year, including Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg ($181 billion)—the list’s biggest gainer in dollar terms—who added $75 billion to his net worth and climbed to the No. 3 overall spot following a 75% increase over the past year for the Facebook parent company’s stock. Jensen Huang ($104 billion), meanwhile, climbed to the No. 11 spot on the back of a 162% rise in shares of his semiconductor darling, Nvidia. Forbes categorizes America’s richest person, Elon Musk ($244 billion), whose fortune mainly comes from electric vehicle-maker Tesla, as primarily an automotive billionaire.
Food and beverage billionaires are the third most common on The Forbes 400, with 42 listees worth a collective $371 billion, including Subway heir Elisabeth DeLuca ($8.6 billion), In-N-Out Burger boss Lynsi Snyder ($7.3 billion) and Tito’s vodka founder Bert Beveridge ($5.7 billion). The sector has added some notable new names this year, including Todd Graves ($9.5 billion), who founded fried chicken chain Raising Cane’s, and Peter Cancro ($5.6 billion), the man behind Jersey Mike’s Subs.
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These three industries were the most popular in 2023, too. But others in the top ten shuffled places. Real estate, which has taken a hit amid the rise in interest rates, fell from number 5 to number 7, pushing up the likes of media and entertainment, energy and manufacturing. This year, the healthcare industry also joined the top ten, tying for the tenth spot after a 740% increase in the share price of publicly-traded Summit Therapeutics put billionaire Robert Duggan ($9.3 billion) back among the 400 richest people in America.
Here are the industries with the most Forbes 400 members in 2024.
Net worths are as of September 1, 2024.
10 (tie). Service
12 billionaires | 3% of the list
Collective net worth: $72 billion
The richest: Tamara Gustavson, $9.1 billion
10 (tie). Healthcare
12 billionaires | 3% of the list
Collective net worth: $102 billion
The richest: Thomas Frist Jr & family, $31.5 billion
9. Sports
18 billionaires | 5% of the list
Collective net worth: $123 billion
The richest: Stan Kroenke, $16.9 billion
7 (tie). Real Estate
19 billionaires | 5% of the list
Collective net worth: $136 billion
The richest: Donald Bren, $18.9 billion
7 (tie). Manufacturing
19 billionaires | 5% of the list
Collective net worth: $98.5 billion
The richest: Steven Rales, $9.6 billion
6. Energy
20 billionaires | 5% of the list
Collective net worth: $175 billion
The richest: Lyndal Stephens Greth & family, $32.3 billion
5. Media & Entertainment
21 billionaires | 5% of the list
Collective net worth: $143 billion
The richest: Rupert Murdoch & family, $20.6 billion
4. Fashion & Retail
33 billionaires | 8% of the list
Collective net worth: $582 billion
The richest: Jim Walton & family, $95.9 billion
3. Food & Beverage
42 billionaires | 11% of the list
Collective net worth: $371 billion
The richest: Jacqueline Mars, $47.6 billion; John Mars, $47.6 billion
2. Technology
71 billionaires | 18% of the list
Collective net worth: $1.8 trillion
The richest: Jeff Bezos, $197 billion
1. Finance & Investments
108 billionaires | 27% of the list
Collective net worth: $1.3 trillion
The richest: Warren Buffett, $150 billion
This article was originally published on forbes.com and all figures are in USD.
