Who are the richest Americans of all time when wealth is adjusted for inflation?
While modern tech leaders dominate today’s billionaire rankings, America’s industrial past produced fortunes that still rival—or exceed—those seen today.
This graphic ranks American billionaires throughout history by their peak net worth, adjusted to 2025 dollars. The data for this visualization comes from Business Insider, drawing on Forbes’ 2007 list of history’s wealthiest individuals. Historical fortunes were calculated at peak wealth and adjusted to 2025 dollars using the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics inflation calculator. Net worth figures for living individuals reflect Forbes estimates as of December 29, 2025.
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One bit of context - the old guys in the past actually had cash. These yahoos today are paper billionaires. It can disappear as fast as capitalization goes poof in the market.
Underrated point. And from a pure influence perspective, I don't think it's close -- it's one thing to be a billionaire when there are (crazily enough) lots of billionaires. It's another when the distribution is massively more kurtotic. It's hard to fathom the sheer economic power of those older ones.
Although I guess you might counter that, when you consider the media control and cultural weight of the guy, that Elon is still in a league of his own, even with the value-on-paper aspect of it. Although now I've changed the goalposts a bit.
I also love that Larry Ellison has fallen to number three, given how much he wants to be #1.
I'm surprised Bill Gates is that far down.
Many of the great billionaires of the past would be richer than today's billionaires if we account for inflation...
good to hear from you!
I often think this is what the power brokers want us to believe who is rich