The chart above shows the number of billionaires per 100,000 people in each EU and US state. Wyoming is the only state to have more than one billionaire for every 100,000 residents.
Findings
- The difference between the state with the most billionaires per capita, Wyoming, and the state with the least (that has billionaires), Romania, is 1.24.
- Wyoming has 278.62 times the billionaires per capita that Romania does.
- The median billionaires per 100,000 people for the 28 EU states is 0.03 and the mean 0.09.
- The median billionaires per 100,000 people for the 50 US states is 0.10 and the mean 0.15.
- The median billionaires per 100,000 people for the 78 EU and US states is 0.07 and the mean 0.13.
- The median billionaires per 100,000 people for the 20 EU states with billionaires is 0.06 and the mean 0.12.
- The median billionaires per 100,000 people for the 42 US states with billionaires is 0.13 and the mean 0.18.
- The median billionaires per 100,000 people for the 62 EU and US states with billionaires is 0.10 and the mean 0.16.
- Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, and Slovenia do not have a single billionaire in the EU.
- Alabama, Alaska, Delaware, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Dakota, and Vermont do not have a single billionaire in the US.
Caveats
- Data is from 2018.
- Rates are rounded to the nearest hundredth.
Details
New York is the only state that is in the top five in both total number of billionaires and billionaires per capita in the combined EU and US. New York, California, and Sweden are the only ones to rank in the top ten in both metrics. Wyoming, which ranks first in the per capita metric, ranks 30th in total billionaires, and California which ranks first in total billionaires ranks seventh in the per capita metric.
The EU only has two states in the top ten: Cyprus and Sweden. Of the states that do have billionaires, the EU has six of the bottom ten, as well as six of the bottom six. The EU and US each have eight states without a single billionaire.
Sources
Eurostat. 2017. "Population on 1 January by Age Groups and Sex - Functional Urban Areas." Accessed December 11, 2017. http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?dataset=urb_lpop1&lang=en.
Forbes. 2018. "The World's Billionaires List." Accessed October 2, 2018. https://www.forbes.com/billionaires/list/21/#version:static.
United States Census Bureau. "Annual Estimates of the Resident Population: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2016." Accessed December 12, 2017. http://factfinder2.census.gov.