September 29, 2011 - The Golden State boasts the most billionaires living within its borders among all U.S. states, according to calculations by Forbes to determine the 400 richest Americans.
Of course, if you control for population, Wyoming, Montana, New York, Connecticut and Nevada all have a higher per-capita concentration of billionaires. But California has a couple of billionaires for every million people living in the state.
Oracle co-founder and CEO Larry Ellison is the richest Californian, with a net worth of $33 billion, and the third-richest American behind Bill Gates ($59 billion) and Warren Buffett ($39 billion).
The vast majority of California's billionaires are older than 50, but two are still in their 20s and work at Facebook. With a net worth of $17.5 billion, 27-year-old Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is the second-richest Californian and 14th-richest American, according to Forbes. Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz is also 27, and Forbes estimates his net worth at $3.5 billion.
Googlers Larry Page and Sergey Brin are both 38, among the youngest billionaires, and rank just behind Zuckerberg. They are tied for third-richest Californian and 15th-richest American.
Nationwide, eight out of every nine billionaires on the list is older than 50. For the full list, visit www.forbes.com/forbes-400.
National rank
Name
Age
Net worth (billions)
Residence
Source
Industry
3
Larry Ellison
67
$33
Woodside, CA
Oracle, self-made
Technology
14
Mark Zuckerberg
27
$17.5
Palo Alto, CA
Facebook, self-made
Technology
15
Larry Page
38
$16.7
Palo Alto, CA
Google, self-made
Technology
15
Sergey Brin
38
$16.7
Los Altos, CA
Google, self-made
Technology
26
Donald Bren
79
$12
Newport Beach, CA
real estate, self-made
Real Estate
39
Steve Jobs
56
$7
Palo Alto, CA
Apple, Pixar, self-made
Technology
39
Patrick Soon-Shiong
59
$7
Los Angeles, CA
generic drugs, self-made
Health care
48
Eli Broad
78
$6.3
Los Angeles, CA
investments, self-made
Investments
50
Eric Schmidt
56
$6.2
Atherton, CA
Google, self-made
Technology
58
David Geffen
68
$5.5
Malibu, CA
movies, music, self-made
Media
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