1 Billionaire From NH Among Richest Americans: New Forbes List

NEW HAMPSHIRE — Billionaire Rick Cohen is the wealthiest person in New Hampshire 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 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.

Rick Cohen, 71, and family are worth an estimated $16.2 billion, making them the richest people in New Hampshire. Rick Cohen is owner and executive chairman of C&S Wholesale Grocers, the nation's largest grocery wholesaler, with $33 billion in annual revenue.

Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk, 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.

Read more about Forbes’ methodology.