The numbers are in. Forbes has released its annual 400 Richest People in the Nation list on Sept. 29.
Bill Gates tops the list of mostly familiar faces, keeping his place at the top for 21 years and counting. These past few years, he and his wife Melinda have been focusing their efforts on philanthropic causes. They have donated over $30 billion through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to various causes, such as education and malaria, smallpox and polio elimination.
At number two since 2001 is Warren Buffett, whose company's stock is the most expensive in the U.S., at $200,000 per share. His net worth grew by $8.5 billion despite the fact that he gave away $2.8 billion worth of shares to the Gates Foundation and also to various foundations belonging to his children.
On third spot is Larry Ellison, founder of Oracle, who recently announced that he was resigning from his job as CEO.
The Walton family, worth billions thanks to their shares in the Wal-Mart retail giant, dominated the top 10 spots.
One of the Walton sisters, Christy Walton, is not only the richest woman in the United States, but also in the whole world. Her net worth also increased due to the success of an investment her late husband made in the solar energy company First Solar.
Mark Zuckerberg missed the top ten, taking instead the number 11 spot. The facebook founder had the biggest surge in wealth among all the people in the list. In the tech industry, Zuckerberg is the third richest.
On the list of 400 richest, only 27 individuals were newcomers, including 30-year-old Elizabeth Holmes, the youngest billionaire in the world. Holmes' fortune is self-made, built from her blood testing company, Theranos, worth $9 billion.
Forbes has been publishing their list of 400 ever since they started collecting data in 1982. This year's billionaires were required to have a net worth of at least $1.55 billion -- $250 million more than last year's inclusions.
"The richest people in the U.S. just keep getting richer," remarked Forbes staff Kerry A. Dolan.
Because of the higher minimum, 133 U.S. billionaires were not included in the list.
The accumulated net worth of all the billionaires on the 400 list are reportedly worth $2.29 trillion.
