Meet The Richest Michiganders: The Forbes 400

MICHIGAN — While the pandemic and inflation hit most Michiganders hard in 2021, some of the more notable residents of the state gained more wealth. Five Michiganders made Forbes' 2021 list of the 400 wealthiest Americans. The familiar names totaled a net worth of $68 billion.

Forbes calculated the net worth of those on the list using stock prices at Wall Street's closing bell on Sept. 3, 2021. Amazon's Jeff Bezos topped the list with a net worth of $201 billion. Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates and Larry Page rounded out the top five.

Alice Walton, 71, remained the richest woman in America for the seventh year. The Walmart heir is worth $67.9 billion.

Dan Gilbert came in as the highest-ranked Michigander on the list at No. 23. The 59-year-old Rocket Mortgage Founder totaled a net worth of $30.9 billion, a massive increase from 2020 when his net worth was $7.5 billion. Rocket Companies was valued at $36 billion when it went public in August 2020. Gilbert also owns the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers and has invested $5.6 billion to purchase and rehab a swath of buildings in downtown Detroit, with a plan to create 24,000 jobs.

Hank and Doug Meijer are the second-richest Michiganders, according to Forbes' list, which placed the brothers 42 overall. The Meijer's, who own Michigan-based supermarket chain Meijer, totaled a net worth of $16.9 billion. The brothers still serve on the board of the company, which has an estimated $19.5 billion in sales. There are 230 Meijer stores across the Midwest.

The third-wealthiest Michigander is Mat Ishbia, who Forbes ranked as the 102 wealthiest American overall with a totaled net worth of $8.3 billion. The president and CEO of Michigan-based mortgage lender United Wholesale Mortgage (now UWM Holdings) was founded by his father Jeff in 1986. Ishbia joined the firm in 2003 and became its CEO in 2013.

The fourth-richest Michigander is Ronda Stryker, who was the highest ranked woman in the state with a net worth of $7.5 billion. Stryker is a director of Stryker Corp., the medical equipment company founded by her grandfather, Homer Stryker in 1980. She also owns about 6% of Stryker Corp. which she inherited from her parents; she is the only one of her siblings to serve on the board.

Finally, Marian Ilitch came in on the list ranked at 253 with a net worth of $4.4 billion. Ilitch and her husband, Mike, who died in 2017, cofounded Little Caesars Pizza in 1959. The pizza chain hauls in more than $4 billion in annual systemwide sales. She also owns the Detroit Red Wings and MotorCity Casino Hotel; Mike's Detroit Tigers are now in a family trust.