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Four billionaires from New Jersey are among the wealthiest people on the planet, according to a newly released ranking from Forbes.

The 39th annual World’s Billionaires list features a record 3,028 individuals, which is 247 more than last year, the business publication said.

In total, the entrepreneurs, investors and heirs included have an estimated $16.1 trillion in wealth, a $2 trillion increase from 2023. Forbes noted that the overall sum is more than the GDP of every country in the world besides the U.S. and Canada.

According to Forbes, the average fortune now stands at $5.3 billion, up $200 million from last year.

By contrast, the average net worth of American households is about $1.06 million, while the median net worth is $192,900, Federal Reserve data shows.

Forbes said it calculated its numbers using March 7 stock prices and exchange rates. Reporters also review other materials – from shares in publicly traded companies to investments – while determining the ranking.

The richest people from New Jersey on the list are:

• No. 430: John Overdeck $7.4 billion – co-founder of Two Sigma, a New York City-based hedge fund with $60 billion in assets under management
• No. 540: Rocco Commisso $6.4 billion – founder and CEO of cable television company Mediacom and owner of the New York Cosmos and A.C.F. Fiorentina
• No. 767: Peter Kellogg $4.7 billion – former leader of Wall Street brokerage house Spear, Leeds & Kellogg, and controller shareholder of IAT Reinsurance

Billionaire ‘Boss’

Rock star Bruce Springsteen is one of a handful of celebrity newcomers who landed on this year’s ranking.

With an estimated net worth of $1.2 billion, the publication placed the 75-year-old at No. 2623, saying he “spun his New Jersey, blue-collar upbringing into a substantial fortune from five decades of touring and recorded.”

These billionaires don’t currently live here but have ties to New Jersey:

• No. 95: David Tepper $21.3 billion – hedge-fund leader and founder of Appaloosa Management
• No. 160: Donald Newhouse $14.4 billion – owner of broadcasting empire Advance Publications, the parent company of The Star Ledger/NJ Advance Media
• No. 274: Josh Harris $9.9 billion – co-founder of alternative investment firm Apollo Global Management and co-founder of Harris Blitzer Entertainment, owner of the New Jersey Devils, Philadelphia 76ers and Prudential Center

Richest people in the world

According to the compilation, the U.S. has the most billionaires, followed by China and India. The top 25 richest people ranged in age from 40 to 94.

Here are the top 10 ranked by wealth, according to Forbes:

• No. 1: Elon Musk $342 billion – co-founder of Tesla and SpaceX
• No. 2: Mark Zuckerberg $216 billion – co-founder of Facebook and CEO of Meta
• No. 3: Jeff Bezos $215 billion – founder of Amazon
• No. 4: Larry Ellison $192 billion – co-founder of tech giant Oracle
• No. 5: Bernard Arnault and family $178 billion – founder and CEO of luxury goods conglomerate LVMH
• No. 6: Warren Buffet $154 billion – investor, CEO and chairman of Berkshire Hathaway
• No. 7: Larry Page $144 billion – co-founder of Google and former CEO of its parent company, Alphabet
• No. 8: Sergey Brin $138 billion – co-founder of Google and former president of Alphabet
• No. 9: Amancio Ortega $124 billion – founder of clothing retailer Inditex, which sells brands like Zara
• No. 10: Steve Ballmer $118 billion – former CEO of Microsoft

Forbes Senior Editor Chase Peterson-Withorn told NPR that while it’s “a great time” to be ultra wealthy, many billionaires “don’t have great reputations these days.” However, he said, “They’re more powerful than ever.”

“Now we have sort of a billionaire president bringing a lot of billionaires into his government. And so you can see a lot of pushback and backlash against that. But it also depends on what side of the coin you’re sort of looking at,” Peterson-Withorn said.

President Donald Trump – whose estimated worth of $5.1 billion places him at No. 700 on Forbes list – has tapped several billionaires to serve in his second administration, including Musk, as a special government employee with the Department of Government Efficiency, Education Secretary Linda McMahon and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.