12 Billionaires From Illinois Among Richest Americans: New Forbes List

ILLINOIS — Billionaire Lukas Walton is the wealthiest person in Illinois, according to The Forbes 400, an annual ranking of America’s super-rich released Tuesday.

Overall, the 400 richest billionaires in America are worth $4.5 trillion, tying a record set in 2021. Overall, they are about $500 billion richer than they were a year ago, in large part because of rebounding stock markets and an AI-driven tech boom, Forbes said.

Billionaires had to have a net worth of at least $2.9 billion to be included on the prestigious list, up from $2.7 billion a year ago. Forbes said its net worth calculations use stock prices from Sept. 8.

Walton, 37, the richest person in Illinois, is worth an estimated $24.2 billion. Walton, who is part of the Walmart family fortune, is ranked as the nation’s 37th wealthiest person, according to Forbes.

Other Illinois billionaires who made the cut:

• Patrick Ryan, 86, Insurance, $10.1 billion
• Neil Bluhm, 85, Real Estate, $6.3 billion
• Mark Walter, 63, Finance, Asset management, $5.7 billion
• Ty Warner, 79, Plush Toys, Real Estate, $5.7 billion
• Joe Mansueto, 67, Investment Research, $5.6 billion
• Thomas Pritzker, 73, Hotels, Investments, $5.6 billion
• Elizabeth Uihlein, 78, Packaging materials, $4.9 billion
• Richard Uihlein, 78, Packaging materials, $4.9 billion
• Eric Lefkofsky, 54, Groupon, Investments, $4.3 billion
• Joseph Grendys, 61, Poultry processing, $4.2 billion
• J.B. Pritzker, 58, Hotels, Investments, $3.5 billion
• Penny Pritzker, 64, Hotels, Investments, $3.3 billion

Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk, the owner of the social media platform X, tops the list for a second year with an estimated net worth of $251 billion — $90 billion richer than Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and No. 2 on the list, and $93 billion ahead of Oracle software development company founder Larry Ellison.

Forbes also tracked the charitable giving of every member of The Forbes 400 and scored each person on a scale of 1 (those who have given less than 1 percent of their wealth away so far) to 5 (those who have given at least 20 percent). The richest people in America are, so far, not all that generous. Two-thirds of them have given less than 5 percent of their wealth away so far; only 11 have donated 20 percent or more.

In Illinois, 11 of the 13 billionaires scored either 1 at 2 on Forbes’ philanthropy scale while J.B. and Penny Pritzker each scored a three on the scale, Forbes reported.

Read more about Forbes’ methodology.