US mega-rich getting mega-richer, says Forbes

The richest 400 Americans are significantly richer in 2013 than they were last year according to a new Forbes report.

Bill Gates is still top of the rich list. Picture: Reuters

The annual Forbes 400 wealthiest Americans list showed that total wealth climbed 19 per cent in the last year to $2.02 trillion, up from $1.7tn, with an average net worth per individual of $5 billion (£3bn), up from $4.2bn in 2012.

It now takes $1.3bn in assets just to get on the list.

Atop the list for another year was Bill Gates, who at 57 has a net worth of $72bn. He was followed by Warren Buffett, who despite giving away about $1bn last year, was the biggest gainer, adding $12.5bn to bring his fortune to $58.5bn.

The average age was 66, according to Forbes senior editor Kerry Dolan. Only 32 of those selected were 48 or younger. Many of the younger billionaires are household names who made their fortunes in the tech industry – Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg (20), computer maker Michael Dell (25), Yahoo’s Jerry Yang (327), Tesla Motor’s Elon Musk (61) and Google’s Larry Page and Sergey Brin (13 and 14).

“Basically, the mega rich are mega richer,” said Dolan.

Meanwhile, the average net worth of the list’s members was also the highest ever, up from $4.2bn in 2012. Net worth grew for 314 members and fell for 30, Forbes said.

The increases are not surprising, given that net worth for America’s wealthiest people has risen in the years since the financial crisis.

According to a study of Internal Revenue Service figures last week, the top 1 per cent of US earners collected 19.3 per cent of household income in 2012, their largest share noted in a century.