85 California Billionaires Make the List of the 100 Richest People on the Planet

California could easily be called the new gold mine.

The “Golden State” is home to 85 of the wealthiest Americans, according to Forbes’ annual ranking of the 400 richest people in the United States. The list includes tech moguls, entrepreneurs and entire billionaire families, the New York Post reports.

The combined wealth of those on the 2026 list reached a record $8 trillion, while 34 newcomers joined the elite club. The minimum fortune required to make the list has now risen to $4.4 billion, up from $3.8 billion a year earlier.

Overall, California is home to more Forbes 400 billionaires than any other state. New York ranks second with 54 billionaires, followed by Florida with 49 and Texas with 43.

The concentration of enormous fortunes is particularly notable ahead of a November vote in California on a proposal that would impose a one-time 5% tax on the wealth of billionaires who were state residents at the beginning of 2026.

Proposition 40 will go before voters on November 3. According to a September poll conducted by the University of California, Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies in partnership with the Los Angeles Times, 45% of likely voters currently support the measure, while 42% oppose it.

According to the Forbes ranking, which estimates each individual’s wealth as of September 4, 2026, Alphabet co-founder Larry Page is California’s richest resident. He ranked third nationally, with a staggering fortune of $278 billion.

Not far behind him was fellow Alphabet co-founder Sergey Brin, the second-richest Californian and the fifth-wealthiest American overall. His fortune is estimated at $265 billion.

Both billionaires climbed higher in the Forbes rankings this year, although not every member of California’s billionaire club managed to maintain their previous position.

Rounding out the top three wealthiest residents of the Golden State is Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg. Nationally, however, he fell from third place in 2025 to sixth this year. His fortune is currently estimated at $212 billion.

Still, the shift is unlikely to have made much of a difference to his wealth. This year, as many as 590 American billionaires were not wealthy enough to make even the Forbes 400 list.

The only other Californian to make the national top 10 was Nvidia co-founder Jensen Huang. His fortune is estimated at $199 billion, making him California’s fourth-richest resident and the eighth-wealthiest American overall.

From there, the numbers become considerably more modest.

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt ranks fifth among California’s wealthiest residents. His $37.8 billion fortune places him 26th nationally.

Next comes Henry Samueli, co-founder of semiconductor manufacturer Broadcom. With a fortune of $33.8 billion, he ranks sixth in California and 31st among the wealthiest Americans.

Right behind him are Kingston Technology CEO John Tu and company co-founder David Sun. Each is worth an estimated $32.2 billion. They rank seventh and eighth in California, respectively, and are tied for 34th place nationally.

Robert Pera, founder and CEO of wireless equipment manufacturer Ubiquiti, ranks ninth in California. His fortune stands at $29.6 billion, putting him 38th in the United States.

Rounding out California’s top 10 is Greg Brockman, co-founder and president of OpenAI. His fortune is estimated at $25.5 billion, giving him 45th place among the wealthiest Americans. He is also the richest newcomer to this year’s ranking.

It is hardly surprising that the technology sector dominates among the Golden State’s biggest fortunes. Silicon Valley has produced a whole generation of billionaires whose wealth ranks among the largest in the country.

And the trend shows little sign of slowing. More than a dozen billionaires who made their fortunes in artificial intelligence joined the 34 newcomers to the Forbes list this year, amid the ongoing AI boom.

Even California’s billionaires, however, have a long way to go to catch the richest American of them all.

That title belongs to Elon Musk, whose fortune is estimated at an astonishing $908 billion. The Tesla chief left California in 2020 and now lives in Boca Chica, Texas, near SpaceX’s Starbase facility.

The gap between Musk and Jeff Bezos, the second-richest American, is striking. The fortune of the Florida-based Amazon founder is estimated at a comparatively modest $378 billion — less than half of Musk’s wealth.