Business magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller is widely considered the wealthiest American in history.

Most sources agree that adjusting for inflation, John D. Rockefeller (1839-1937) was the richest American in history in terms of wealth vs. contemporary GDP. He amassed a fortune of more than $410 billion, adjusted to 2022.[1][2][3][4]

There are various methods of comparing individuals' wealth across time, including using simple inflation-adjusted totals or calculating an individual's wealth as a share of contemporary gross domestic product (GDP). For example, economic blogger Scott Sumner noted in 2018 that Rockefeller was worth $1.4 billion when he died in 1937, about $24 billion in dollars adjusted to 2018. Meanwhile, Bill Gates in 1999 was worth nearly $150 billion in dollars adjusted to 2018.[5]

The second-richest person in terms of wealth vs. contemporary GDP is disputed. Most sources list Andrew Carnegie, but others say Bill Gates, Cornelius Vanderbilt I, John Jacob Astor IV, or Henry Ford. Lower ranks are a matter of even bigger debate. Vanderbilt left a fortune worth $100 million upon his death in 1870 ($2,300,000,000 today[6]). As the United States became the world's foremost economic power by the late 19th century, the wealthiest people in America were often also the wealthiest people in the world.

Fortune's wealthiest Americans (1957)

In 1957, Fortune magazine developed a list of the seventy-six wealthiest Americans, which was published in many American newspapers. Jean Paul Getty, when asked his reaction to being named wealthiest American and whether he was worth a billion dollars, said, "You know, if you can count your money, you don't have a billion dollars" and then added, "But remember, a billion dollars isn't worth what it used to be."[7]

The second category, the second to eighth richest individuals, included Andrew Mellon's son, daughter, niece, and nephew. Wealthiest Americans included a total of seven members of the Rockefeller family, five members of the Ford family, four members of the Du Pont family (and a non-family DuPont executive), and four General Motors executives.


$400,000,000 to $700,000,000

$200,000,000 to $400,000,000

$100,000,000 to $200,000,000

$75,000,000 to $100,000,000

Klepper & Gunther (1996)

In the 1996 book The Wealthy 100, authors Michael Klepper and Robert Gunther placed John D. Rockefeller atop the list of the richest Americans in history, followed by Cornelius Vanderbilt and John Jacob Astor.[8] Bill Gates was the top living person, coming in fifth.

American Heritage (1998)

American Heritage magazine published the following list of 40 richest Americans ever in 1998, subtitling it "Surprise: Only three of them are alive today".[9] The list was compiled by taking each person's wealth at death, adding the amount given away during his lifetime, and expressing the total as a fraction of the nation's GDP at the time.

  1. John D. Rockefeller
  2. Andrew Carnegie
  3. Cornelius Vanderbilt
  4. John Jacob Astor
  5. Bill Gates
  6. Stephen Girard
  7. Alexander Turney Stewart
  8. Frederick Weyerhauser
  9. Jay Gould
  10. Marshall Field
  11. Sam Walton
  12. Henry Ford
  13. Warren Buffett
  14. Andrew W. Mellon
  15. Richard B. Mellon
  16. James Graham Fair
  17. William Weightman
  18. Moses Taylor
  19. Russell Sage
  20. John Insley Blair
  21. Cyrus H. K. Curtis
  22. Paul Allen
  23. J. P. Morgan
  24. E. H. Harriman
  25. Henry Huddleston Rogers
  26. Oliver Hazard Payne
  27. Henry Clay Frick
  28. Collis Potter Huntington
  29. Peter Arrell Browne Widener
  30. Nicholas Longworth
  31. Philip Danforth Armour
  32. James Clair Flood
  33. Mark Hopkins Jr.
  34. Edward Cabot Clark
  35. Leland Stanford
  36. Hetty Green
  37. James J. Hill
  38. William Rockefeller
  39. Elias Hasket Derby
  40. Claus Spreckels

Bernstein & Swan (2008)

Bernstein and Swan in All the Money in the World (2008) mention the 15 richest Americans in history.[10]

  1. John D. Rockefeller
  2. Andrew Carnegie
  3. Cornelius Vanderbilt
  4. John Jacob Astor
  5. Stephen Girard
  6. Richard B. Mellon
  7. A. T. Stewart
  8. Frederick Weyerhäuser
  9. Marshall Field
  10. Sam Walton
  11. Jay Gould
  12. Henry Ford
  13. Bill Gates
  14. Andrew W. Mellon
  15. Warren Buffett

Business Insider (2011)

Business Insider agreed on Rockefeller in first, but placed Andrew Carnegie second, followed by Vanderbilt, and Gates.[11]

  1. John D. Rockefeller
  2. Andrew Carnegie
  3. Cornelius Vanderbilt
  4. Bill Gates
  5. John Jacob Astor
  6. Stephen Girard
  7. A. T. Stewart
  8. Frederick Weyerhäuser
  9. Jay Gould
  10. Stephen Van Rensselaer
  11. Marshall Field
  12. Sam Walton
  13. Warren Buffett

CNN Money (2014)

The following is a list compiled by CNN Money in 2014.[12]

  1. John D. Rockefeller
  2. Cornelius Vanderbilt
  3. John Jacob Astor
  4. Stephen Girard
  5. Richard Mellon
  6. Andrew Carnegie
  7. Stephen Van Rensselaer
  8. A. T. Stewart
  9. Frederick Weyerhäuser
  10. Jay Gould
  11. Marshall Field
  12. Bill Gates
  13. Henry Ford
  14. Warren Buffett
  15. Andrew Mellon
  16. Sam Walton
  17. Moses Taylor
  18. Russell Sage
  19. James G. Fair
  20. William Weightman

By half decade

This list names the richest American by half decade starting in 1770.[13]

Year Name Picture
1770Peter Manigault[14]
1775Robert Morris[15]
1780William Bingham[16]
1785Benjamin Franklin[17]
1790John Hancock[18]
1795Elias Hasket Derby[19]
1800Thomas Willing[20]
1805Stephen Girard[21]
1810
1815
1820
1825
1830
1835Stephen Van Rensselaer[22]
1840John Jacob Astor[23][24]
1845
1850Cornelius Vanderbilt[25][26]
1855
1860
1865
1870
1875
1880William Henry Vanderbilt[27]
1885
1890John D. Rockefeller[28][29]
1895
1900Andrew Carnegie
1905
1910John D. Rockefeller
1915
1920Henry Ford
1925
1930Andrew Mellon
1935
1940Henry Ford[30]
1945
1950H. L. Hunt[31]
1955J. Paul Getty
1960Howard Hughes[32]
1965
1970
1975
1980Daniel Ludwig[33]
1985Sam Walton[34]
1990John Kluge[35]
1995Bill Gates[36]
2000
2005
2010
2015
2020Jeff Bezos[37]

References

  1. ↑ Gus Lubin (April 17, 2011). "The 13 Richest Americans of All Time". Business Insider.
  2. ↑ "The All-Time Richest Americans". Forbes. September 14, 2007.
  3. ↑ All the Money in the World (2008) by Bernstein and Swan, p. 17 "Introduction"
  4. ↑ "CPI Inflation Calculator". United States Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved December 15, 2022.
  5. ↑ Sumner, Scott (February 24, 2018). "Virtually all sources are wrong". The Money Illusion. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
  6. ↑ 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved May 28, 2023.
  7. ↑ "J. Paul Getty Dead at 83; Amassed Billions From Oil". The New York Times. June 6, 1976. Retrieved April 22, 2013.
  8. ↑ "The Wealthiest Americans Ever". The New York Times. July 15, 2007.
  9. ↑ Gibson, Christine (October 1998). "The American Heritage". American Heritage. Vol. 49, no. 6.
  10. ↑ All the Money in the World (2008) by Bernstein and Swan, p. 17 "Introduction"
  11. ↑ Gus Lubin (April 17, 2011). "The 13 Richest Americans of All Time". Business Insider.
  12. ↑ Hargreaves, Steve (June 1, 2014). "The richest Americans in history". CNNMoney. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
  13. ↑ Klepper, Michael; Gunther, Michael (1996), The Wealthy 100: From Benjamin Franklin to Bill Gates – A Ranking of the Richest Americans, Past and Present, Secaucus, New Jersey: Carol Publishing Group, p. xii, ISBN 978-0-8065-1800-8, OCLC 33818143
  14. ↑ Heitzler, Michael James (2005). Goose Creek, South Carolina: A Definitive History 1670–2003. Vol. 1. Charleston, SC: The History Press. p. 86. ISBN 978-1-59629-055-6.
  15. ↑ Kennedy, John (1894). Robert Morris and the Holland Purchase. Batavia, NY: J. F. Hall. p. 121. richest man 1775 robert morris.
  16. ↑ Spingola, Deanna (2011). The Ruling Elite: a Study in Imperialism, Genocide and Emancipation. Bloomington, IN: Trafford Publishing. p. 48. ISBN 978-1-4269-5462-7.
  17. ↑ Gross, Daniel (April 1, 2002). "Finance & Investment: Cash of the Titans". Robb Report. Malibu, CA.
  18. ↑ "Finance & Investment: Cash of the Titans".
  19. ↑ Kellogg, Day Otis (1898). New American Supplement to the Latest Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 2. New York, NY: The Werner Company. p. 1031.
  20. ↑ Burke, James (2007). American Connections: The Founding Fathers. Networked. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster. pp. 157–58. ISBN 978-0-7432-8226-0. richest man america 1800.
  21. ↑ Phillips, Kevin (June 18, 2002). Wealth and Democracy: A Political History of America's Rich. New York, NY: Broadway Books. p. Chapter 1. ISBN 9780767911511. richest man united states 1810.
  22. ↑ Jones, Abner Dumont (1854). The Illustrated American Biography. Vol. 2. New York, NY: J. Milton Emerson & Co. p. 463.
  23. ↑ Scharrenberg, Paul, ed. (February 1, 1929). "The Slow Climb of Wages". The Seamen's Journal. San Francisco, CA: International Seamen's Union of America. p. 48 – via Google Books.
  24. ↑ Pinheiro, John C. (October 4, 2016). "James K. Polk: The American Franchise". U.S. Presidents: James K. Polk. Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia: The Miller Center. Retrieved June 13, 2021.
  25. ↑ Buder, Stanley (2009). Capitalizing on Change: A Social History of American Business. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press. p. 105. ISBN 978-0-8078-3231-8. Cornelius Vanderbilt (1794–1877) succeeded Astor as the wealthiest American.
  26. ↑ Kemp, Michael (2016). Uncommon Sense: Investment Wisdom Since the Stock Market's Dawn. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons. p. 242. ISBN 978-0-7303-2424-9. Consider also Cornelius Vanderbilt, the wealthiest American at the time of his death in 1877.
  27. ↑ Davies, Norman (2018). Beneath Another Sky: A Global Journey into History. London, United Kingdom: Allen Lane. p. 534. ISBN 978-1-8461-4831-6 – via Google Books.
  28. ↑ Li, Xiaobing; Molina, Michael (2014). Oil: A Cultural and Geographic Encyclopedia of Black Gold. Vol. 1. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. p. 335. ISBN 978-1-61069-271-7.
  29. ↑ "America's Richest Man: J. D. Rockefeller and his Enormous Fortune". The Star. Canterbury, NZ. Detroit Free Press. April 6, 1895.
  30. ↑ National Republic: A Monthly Review of American History, Policy, Politics and Public Affairs. Washington, DC: National Republic Publishing Co. 1940. p. 30. The richest man in America is Henry Ford.
  31. ↑ Knowles, Ruth Sheldon (1978). The Greatest Gamblers: The Epic of American Oil Exploration. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press. p. 302. ISBN 978-0-8061-1513-9.
  32. ↑ Swindoll, Charles R. (2005). Living on the Ragged Edge Workbook: Finding Joy in a World Gone Mad. Nashville, TN: Nelson Reference & Electronic. p. 95. ISBN 978-1-4185-5938-0 – via Google Books.
  33. ↑ Berglund, Nina (August 15, 1980). "Billionaire Buys Catalina Savings". Tucson Citizen. Tucson, AZ. pp. 1A, 3A – via Newspapers.com.
  34. ↑ "America's richest man is one of the boys". UPI Archives. Washington, DC. United Press International. November 10, 1985. Retrieved June 13, 2022.
  35. ↑ Miller, Stephen (September 9, 2010). "A One-Man Empire, From TV to Laundry". The Wall Street Journal.
  36. ↑ "Forbes magazine profile on Bill Gates". Forbes. 2015. Retrieved May 1, 2015.
  37. ↑ "Jeff Bezos Becomes the Richest Man in Modern History, Topping $150 Billion". Bloomberg. July 16, 2018. Retrieved May 10, 2020.
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