Methodology
All net worth figures are estimates, not audited accounts. They represent Forbes' approximation of asset value minus liabilities.
Data Source
komed3/rtb-api (MIT License) — a community-maintained archive of Forbes Real-Time Billionaires data. Updated monthly. Values in millions USD. Data as of May 4, 2026.
Elon Musk's figure is manually overridden to $1.1T to reflect the SpaceX IPO (June 12, 2026), sourced from Forbes. This override is labeled in the visualization.
Filtering
We include entries with a non-null rank and net worth ≥ $1B (≥ 1,000 in the millions-denominated data).
Gini Coefficient
Computed using the standard formula on billionaire net worths only. A value of 0 = perfect equality, 1 = one person owns everything. The U.S. national comparison (0.494) comes from the Federal Reserve's 2024 Distributional Financial Accounts for household wealth.
Known Limitations
- Private company valuations are imprecise (Forbes uses revenue multiples with ~10% liquidity discount)
- Hidden wealth (offshore trusts, undisclosed assets) is likely underrepresented
- Net worth ≠ liquid cash — most billionaire wealth is in illiquid equity stakes
- Forbes and Bloomberg routinely disagree on the same individual by 5–20%+
- Figures are a snapshot — wealth fluctuates daily with markets
Code
All computation happens client-side in JavaScript. No data is sent to any server. Source is open on GitHub.