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    List of richest Americans in history - Wikipedia

    • Elon Musk has since surpassed John D. Rockefeller as the richest person in the history of the United States, and of modern history, according to size of wealth compared to GDP. On December 2024 his wealth reached $474 billion dollars (1.61% of USA's GDP at that year) compared to Rockefeller's 1.5% at the height of his wealth.… See more

    Overview

    Comparing wealth of individuals across large spans of time is difficult, as the value of money and assets is heavily … See more

    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 a… See more

    Klepper and 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… See more

    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". The list was compiled by taking each person's wealth at death, addi… See more

    Bernstein and Swan (2008)

    Bernstein and Swan in All the Money in the World (2008) mention the 15 richest Americans in history.
    1. John D. Rockefeller
    2. Andrew Carnegie
    3. Cornelius Vanderbilt… See more