12 Of The Richest People Per State

Ever wondered who was the richest person in your state? Wonder how they got their money? Did they earn it, did they invest well, did they inherit it all? It all depends on who you’re talking about.

Here are 15 of the richest people per state and how they managed to get so much money. If your state isn’t on here, be sure to check out Forbes list of “Richest Person in Every State.”

[H/T Forbes]

Gail Miller – Utah

After her husband dies in 2009, Gail Miller took over their business, which included more than 55 car dealerships, 17 movie theaters, and the ownership of the NBA’s Utah Jazz. Gail and her husband started their growing business back in 1979 when they decided to purchase a Toyota dealership. Currently the widow is worth $1.6 billion and loves to work charity events with the Jazz. 

 

T Denny Sanford

T Denny Sanford owns First Premier Bank, which is how he was able to collect a net-worth of $1.6 billion. His bank is not only the largest issuer of Visa and Mastercards, but is also specializes in high-risk borrower cards. Though he has made his money in banking, Sanford prefers to spend his time on charity. The billionaire hopes to die broke and has tried to many times – in that he donated $1.4 billion to health and children’s causes last year alone. 

 

Harry Stine – Iowa

Harry Stine is a farm boy turned billionaire. He is worth about $3.4 billion thanks to his booming agriculture business. He built his fortune by selling powerful corn and soybean see genetics to firms like Monsanto and Syngnta. 

Though he grew up working his family farm with his family, he started to dabble in seed breeding in the 1960s and soon created some of the most robust and highest-yielding soybean seeds in the industry. What’s more, Stine is considered dyslexic and mildly autistic, but he was a math and data wiz, so he was able to build quite the business out of his passion for farming. 

 

Pierre Omidyar – Hawaii

Plenty of people out there have been able to make millions on the internet. One of the first pepole to really take advantage of the growing interest in internet sales was Pierre Omidyar, inventor and creator of EBay. 

Omidyar only just recently stepped down as the chairman of the company in July 2015, but he is still worth a whopping $7.8 billion. He is currently working on a number of philanthropy projects through his foundation that he shares with his wife Pam. To think that all of his fortune came about simply because he decided to write code for an auction website at the age of 28.

 

Donald Newhouse – New Jersey

Donald Newhouse is one of those lucky people that happened to be born into the right family. He is currently worth $9.3 billion, which he inherited from his father, Sam Newhouse, in 1979. As part of his inheritance, he also got part of Advance Publications media group, which he and his brother have grown to include cable TV, magazines, newspapers and entertainment assets. 

Newhouse still runs the newspaper side of his business, which has been slowly declining due to lack of circulation and ad revenue. 

 

John Menard Jr. – Wisconsin

John Menard Jr. is the richest man in the state of Wisconsin thanks to his chain of hardware stores. The Menards stores and their success is what helps keep this Menard with an impressive $10.6 billion in his pocket. What’s more, Menard Jr doesn’t like slackers. He is known for making all of his employees clock in for work, including his executives. 

 

Abigail Johnson – Massachusetts

Abigail Johnson is the high powered CEO of Fidelity and is worth a staggering $14.7 billion dollars. She took over as CEO after her father stepped down in 2014. She is the third Johnson to have inherited the position and the first woman at the helm. She has worked at Fidelity since she was in college and joined the company full-time after graduating with her MBA. So, though she inherited the company, she certainly worked for it. 

 

Sheldon Adelson – Nevada

Apparently, the only way to really come out of Las Vegas Nevada with a real fortune is be actually be Sheldon Adelson. The billionaire is worth $26.1 billion thanks to running Las Vegas Sands, the largest casino company in the country. He started his business by buying a newspaper corner when he was 12. Since then he has worked in selling everything from ads to condos. He ran vending machines and hosted trade shows. He has even helped small businesses go public. Eventually he built the Venetian hotel and casino in Vegas. 

 

Michael Bloomberg – New York

You may recognize the name Michael Bloomberg from his time in office as the mayor of New York City. But since his time in office, Bloomberg has been able to scrape together a whopping $43.6 billion from his company Bloomberg LP. He returned to the CEO chair in 20105 and has decided to shake up the business by focusing on business and financial news.

 

Mark Zuckerberg – California

He was everyone’s first friend on Facebook and he is the richest person in the state of California. Mark Zuckerberg is another person who made a fortune taking advantage of the growing internet culture.

When he was just 19, Zuckerberg created Facebook, which is still one of the largest social media sites in the world. This social media site got Zuckerberg a pile of money in the amount of $51.6 billion. Of course, he isn’t done just yet, Zuckerberg is always growing his company by purchasing other sites and technology, such as Instagram and Oculus VR. 

 

Warren Buffett – Nebraska

Warren Buffett is a self-made billionaire thanks to his company Berkshire Hathaway. Currently he is worth a staggering $67.9 billion, but that amount is only growing thanks to his countless investments. He is currently invested – in some shape or form – in well-known companies such as Phillips 66, Kraft Foods, Heinz, and Tim Hortons. His company also owns businesses such as Geico, Dairy Queen, and Fruit of the Loom.

 

Bill Gates – Washington

Surely it’s no surprise who is at the top of the list in Washington. But is it a surprise that Bill Gates is also the richest person in America? Probably not. The creator of Microsoft is currently worth $76 billion dollars. 

Though Gates made his money creating computers and computer software, he is currently known for all of his philanthropy work. Gates and his wife created the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which helps deliver vaccines and health care to those in need in developing countries. Gates is also one of 20 billionaires that have committed to investing their money in clean energy to help save the planet. 

Gates is the richest person in the country and he is using his hard earned cash to help those less fortunate.