By Brian Warner on February 16, 2013
Who is the richest American of all time, inflation adjusted? America is the richest nation in the world. Today, The United States has more millionaires and billionaires than any other nation and we control over 34% of all the wealth on planet Earth. Interestingly, the richest person in the world today is no longer an American ever since Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim overtook Bill Gates with a net worth of $74 billion. Not that it matters much to Gates, who has pledged to give away the majority of his wealth to the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. Furthermore, at the height of his wealth, Bill Gates was much richer that Carlos Slim. During the peak of the dotcom bubble, Gates had a net worth well over $100 billion which made him by far the richest man on earth. But how does Gates compare to the wealthy tycoons who came before him? The Carnegies, the Astors, the Huntingtons
When you take inflation into account, who was the richest American of all time?
Fun Facts About The 30 Richest Americans Ever:
1) There are no women on this list.
2) Only two out of the thirty are alive today.
3) Many fortunes came from railroads at the turn of the century.
4) Mining and steel are the next most popular ways to make a fortune.
5) These men control a combined $2.445 trillion.
6) The poorest person on this list had net worth of $34 billion.
7) The #1 person on this list is the richest human being to ever walk the earth.
The 30 richest Americans of all time:
#30: James C. Flood Net Worth $34 Billion
#29: Peter AB Widener Net Worth $35 Billion
#28: Collis Potter Huntington Net Worth $36 Billion
#27: George Pullman Net Worth $37 Billion
#26: Henry C. Frick Net Worth $39.3 Billion
#25: Oliver H Payne Net Worth $40.4 Billion
#24: JP Morgan Net Worth $41.5 Billion
#23: Henry Huttleston Rogers Net Worth $42.6 Billion
#22: Edward Henry Harriman Net Worth $42.7 Billion
#21: John I Blair Net Worth $47 Billion
#20: Russell Sage Net Worth $47 Billion
#19: Moses Taylor Net Worth $48.1 Billion
#18: William Weightman Net Worth $48.1 Billion
#17: James G. Fair Net Worth $49.2 Billion
#16: Andrew W. Mellon Net Worth $50.5 Billion
#15: Richard B. Mellon Net Worth $50.5 Billion
#14: Henry Ford Net Worth $54 Billion
#13: Warren Buffett Net Worth $64 Billion
#12: Sam Walton Net Worth $65 Billion
#11: Marshall Field Net Worth $66 Billion
#10: Stephen Van Rensselaer Net Worth $68 Billion
#9: Jay Gould Net Worth $71 Billion
#8: Friedrich Weyerhauser Net Worth $80 Billion
#7: A.T. Stewart Net Wort $90 Billion
#6: Stephen Girard Net Worth $105 Billion
#5: John Jacob Astor Net Worth $121 Billion
#4: Bill Gates Net Worth $136 Billion
#3: Cornelius Vanderbilt Net Worth $185 Billion
#2: Andrew Carnegie Net Worth $310 Billion
#1: John D. Rockefeller Net Worth $340 Billion