In the United States, there are over 800 billionaires, so it’s not surprising that many super wealthy individuals attended the same top universities. So, which elite universities have produced the most billionaires?
The richest individuals in America come from universities across the country – from small liberal arts colleges like Hobart and William Smith Colleges (where Fidelity Investments CEO Abigail Johnson studied art history) to large public research universities like Indiana University Bloomington (where Mark Cuban earned his business degree).
Among the 813 American citizens on Forbes’ billionaire list, a quarter of them obtained their undergraduate degrees from a select group of schools in the United States. According to Forbes’ list of the top 12 American universities that have produced the most billionaires, the Ivy League schools dominate the list, with seven prestigious members of the league having 11 or more billionaire alumni each. Brown University is the only Ivy League school not featured on the list.
Apart from the Ivy League schools, this group of billionaires also graduated from three private universities, including two private universities in California and two state universities.
The University of Pennsylvania has the highest number of billionaire undergraduate alumni to date, with 36, about two-thirds of whom studied at the renowned Wharton School of Business.
The total assets of the billionaires from the 12 listed universities amount to nearly $1.7 trillion. This figure only includes the net assets of alumni who graduated, so the contributions of college dropouts like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg are not included in the asset calculation.
Below are the universities with the most billionaire alumni on Forbes’ list, each with at least 10 billionaire graduates.
This university in Philadelphia boasts over 30 billionaire alumni, including Elon Musk, former President Trump, and Apollo Global Management co-founders Marc Rowan and Josh Harris.
Fashion designer Tory Burch, as well as four heirs of Estee Lauder, also graduated from this university.
The billionaire alumni from this school have a combined net worth of $367 billion.
This Silicon Valley school has helped cultivate many tech industry billionaires, from Andy Fang and Stanley Tang, who co-founded the food delivery app DoorDash as students, to Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy, co-founders of the Snapchat project. Several banking and finance tycoons also graduated from Stanford University with bachelor’s degrees, including Richard Fairbank, founder of Capital One, and Scott Crabill, managing partner of private equity firm Thoma Bravo.
Billionaire alumni of Stanford University have a total asset value of $900 billion.
Harvard University’s billionaire alumni have a total asset value of $261 billion.
Harvard University has produced renowned actors and producers like Natalie Portman, prominent astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, six U.S. presidents, and over twenty current American billionaires.
Airbnb co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer Nathan Blecharczyk graduated from Harvard University in 2005 with a degree in computer science.
FedEx founder Fred Smith wrote an economics paper while studying at Yale University, which later became the foundation of the $90 billion company. Other notable Yale alumni include Stephen Schwarzman, Chairman and CEO of the Blackstone Group.
Yale University’s billionaire alumni have a total asset value of $149 billion.
The SC Johnson College of Business at Cornell University is named after the founder of household cleaning product giant Johnson, with three members of the fifth generation of this family graduating from Cornell University.
Billionaire alumni from Cornell University have a total asset value of $604 billion.
The University of Southern California is well-known for its School of Cinematic Arts and is the alma mater of filmmaker George Lucas, who graduated in 1967 and donated $175 million to the film school in 2006.
Salesforce Chairman and CEO Marc Benioff graduated from the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California.
Billionaire alumni from the University of Southern California have a total asset value of $725 billion.
The second richest man in the U.S., Jeff Bezos, graduated from Princeton University, and his billionaire ex-wife Mackenzie Scott is also a Princeton alumna. Princeton has also been the alma mater for several other tech industry giants, with former Google CEO Eric Schmidt among its alumni.
Billionaire alumni from Princeton University have a total asset value of $292 billion.
MIT is known for its engineering and physical science programs, cultivating several famous medical and tech billionaires. Charles Koch, CEO of Koch Industries, and his brother William Koch both studied engineering at MIT.
AMD CEO Lisa Su is also an alumna of the school.
Billionaire alumni from MIT have a total asset value of $883 billion.
Dartmouth’s billionaire alumni are mostly self-made through private equity. Leon Black, co-founder of Apollo Global Management, studied philosophy and history at Dartmouth.
Billionaire alumni from Dartmouth have a total asset value of $485 billion.
Most of the billionaire alumni from this Ivy League institution in New York made their wealth through finance and investment, including Sami Mnaymneh, CEO of private equity firm H.I.G. Capital, and Daniel Loeb, founder of New York hedge fund Third Point.
Billionaire alumni from this university have a total asset value of $495 billion.
The University of Michigan boasts billionaire alumni from various industries. Larry Page is the wealthiest alumnus of the University of Michigan, having earned his engineering degree in 1995 from the school and three years later co-founded Google with Stanford University graduate Sergey Brin.
Billionaire alumni from the University of Michigan have a total asset value of $181 billion.
As a Silicon Valley pioneer, most of the billionaires who graduated from the flagship campus of the University of California made their wealth in the tech field. The richest among them is engineering and mathematics graduate Charles Simonyi, who was an early application developer at Microsoft, contributing to the creation of Word and Excel.
Billionaire alumni from the University of California have a total asset value of $304 billion.