California’s “gold rush” reputation is well deserved. According to Forbes’ annual list of the 400 wealthiest individuals in America, which includes tech giants, entrepreneurs, and billionaire families, 85 of the wealthiest individuals in the United States reside in the “Golden State” of California.
The 2026 list shows that the combined wealth of the wealthy individuals on the list has reached a record-setting $8 trillion, with 34 new members joining this elite group. The threshold for making it onto the list has also risen significantly, from $3.8 billion last year to at least $4.4 billion.
Overall, California leads all states in the number of billionaires on the Forbes 400 list. New York follows closely with 54 individuals, while Florida and Texas have 49 and 43 individuals, respectively.
According to the Forbes annual list (reflecting the wealth status of members as of September 4, 2026), Larry Page, co-founder of Alphabet, leads the ranks of California’s billionaires with a net worth of $278 billion, placing him third wealthiest in the United States.
Following closely is Sergey Brin, another co-founder of Alphabet, with a $265 billion fortune, making him the second wealthiest in California and fifth wealthiest in the US.
Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and CEO of Meta, ranks in the top three of California’s billionaire list, but his national ranking has dropped from third in 2025 to sixth. His current net worth is $212 billion.
Jensen Huang, co-founder of Nvidia, is another Californian who made it to the top ten wealthiest in the United States, with a fortune of $199 billion, ranking him fourth in California and eighth nationwide.
The list shows significant changes in wealth figures.
Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt is the fifth wealthiest individual on the California list, with a fortune of $37.8 billion, ranking him 26th in the US.
Henry Samueli, co-founder of chip manufacturer Broadcom, follows closely with a net worth of $33.8 billion, placing him sixth on the California billionaire list and 31st in the US.
John Tu and David Sun, CEO and co-founders of Kingston Technology, with fortunes of $32.2 billion each, tie for seventh and eighth on the California list and jointly rank 34th nationally.
Robert Pera, Founder and CEO of Ubiquiti, follows closely with a fortune of $29.6 billion, ranking ninth in California and 38th in the US.
Greg Brockman, co-founder and president of OpenAI, rounds up the top ten California billionaires with a fortune of $25.5 billion, ranking 45th on the US billionaire list. He is the wealthiest newcomer on the list.
The tech industry dominates the lineup of California’s top billionaires, which is not surprising given that Silicon Valley has nurtured many of the wealthiest individuals on the list.
However, even the billionaires of the “Golden State” cannot compete with the richest individual in the United States.
That title still belongs to Elon Musk, whose staggering wealth of $908 billion solidifies his position at the top. The Tesla CEO left California in 2020 and currently resides in Boca Chica, Texas, neighboring SpaceX’s Starbase launch site.
The wealth gap between Musk and the second richest individual in the US, Jeff Bezos, who resides in Florida, is astonishingly large.
The fortune held by the Amazon founder is comparatively “meager,” standing at $378 billion, less than half of Musk’s wealth.
*(This article referenced reporting from The New York Post)*