Money is the only thing that can buy you a spot on The Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans—but it takes a lot of it. With markets trading near all-time highs, the minimum net worth to rank among the top 400 people in the U.S. has skyrocketed to $4.4 billion, $600 million more than a year ago. That lofty cutoff has left a record 590 American billionaires too poor to make the list, up from 500 in 2025.

Several famous faces just aren’t rich enough, including celebrities Oprah Winfrey (estimated net worth, $3.4 billion—a full billion short of making the list), pop star Taylor Swift ($2 billion) and hip hop mogul Dr. Dre ($1 billion). Plenty of high-profile business names can’t cut it either, including former eBay and Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman ($4.2 billion), OpenAI CEO Sam Altman ($3.3 billion) and former Apple CEO Tim Cook ($3 billion)

The Definitive Ranking Of America’s Richest People 2026

Competition for a spot on the ranking is tough. Ninety percent of 2025 listees held onto their spot. Of the 34 billionaires who fell off the list, seven are actually richer than they were in 2025. That includes industrial tycoon Ira Rennert, hedge fund manager Scott Schleifer and casino mogul Steve Wynn. Thirteen drop-offs saw no change in their fortune since last year; while 14 are poorer. An additional six members of last year’s list passed away.

Five U.S. billionaires were worth $4.3 billion as of September 4, the day we locked in our list—ending up just $100 million shy of making the grade, part of a dozen Americans who were worth at least $4 billion that day but fell short of the cutoff. They, like the hundreds of other American billionaires who find themselves on the outside looking in this year, will have to try again in 2027.

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