The chart above shows the net worth of the billionaires of each state per square mile. The top three states are all from the US as are four out of the top five and seven out of the top ten.
Findings
- The difference between the state with the highest billionaire net worth per area, Connecticut, and the state with the lowest (that has billionaires), Romania, is $12,109,465 per square mile.
- Connecticut has 929.83 times the average billionaire net worth that Romania does.
- The difference between the US state with the highest billionaire net worth per area, Connecticut, and the EU state with the highest, Cyprus, is $7,195,058 per square mile.
- Connecticut has 2.46 times the average billionaire net worth that Cyprus does.
- The median average net worth of billionaires in the 50 US states is $425,686 per square mile ($164,358 per square kilometer) and the mean $1,254,065 per square mile ($484,201 per square kilometer).
- The median average net worth of billionaires in the 42 US states that do have billionaires is $570,011 per square mile ($200,082 per square kilometer) and the mean $1,492,935 per square mile ($576,429 per square kilometer).
- The median average net worth of billionaires in the 28 EU states is $166,014 per square mile ($64,098 per square kilometer) and the mean $914,830 per square mile ($353,218 per square kilometer).
- The median average net worth of billionaires in the 20 EU states that do have billionaires is $852,846 per square mile ($329,286 per square kilometer) and the mean $1,280,763 per square mile ($494,505 per square kilometer).
- The median average net worth of billionaires in the 78 EU and US states is $396,433 per square mile ($153,064 per square kilometer) and the mean $1,132,289 per square mile ($437,181 per square kilometer).
- The median average net worth of billionaires in the 62 EU and US states that do have billionaires is $692,361 per square mile ($267,322 per square kilometer) and the mean $1,424,492 per square mile ($550,002 per square kilometer).
- Alabama, Alaska, Delaware, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Dakota, and Vermont do not have a single billionaire.
- Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, and Slovenia do not have a single billionaire.
Caveats
- Billionaire data is from 2018.
- EU area data is from 2007, US area data is from 2010.
- Figures are rounded to the nearest hundredth.
Details
California which has the highest billionaire net worth overall, ranks ninth when its population is taken into account, 16th in average net worth of billionaires, and fifth in this metric. The leader in the per capita metric, Wyoming, ranks 18th when it comes to total net worth of billionaires, seventh when it comes to the average net worth of its billionaires, and 34th in this metric. Kansas, which ranks first in the average net worth of its billionaires, ranks 16th in total wealth of billionaires, seventh in per capita wealth of billionaires, and 28th in this metric. The leader in this metric, Connecticut, ranks 15th overall, 10th in the per capita metric, and 31st in the average net worth of its billionaires.
Of the 12 states whose billionaires have a total net worth of over $100 billion, New York, California, and Germany rank first, second, and third, respectively and all three have an net worth per square mile of over $4 million.
Sources
Forbes. 2018. "The World's Billionaires List." Accessed October 2, 2018. https://www.forbes.com/billionaires/list/21/#version:static.
United Nations. 2007. "United Nations Statistics Division - Environment Statistics." Accessed January 23, 2018. https://unstats.un.org/unsd/environment/totalarea.htm.
United States Census Bureau. September 2012. "United States Summary: 2010: Population and Housing Unit Counts." Accessed January 23, 2018. https://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/cph-2-1.pdf.