About the List

People throughout history have been fascinated by the rich and famous. Whether you find their lives exciting and different or hope to learn from their success, the stories of these wealthy individuals make fascinating reading.

Some rich people, like John D. Rockefeller and Bill Gates, are well-known. Others who have been equally successful, like A.T. Stewart and Stephen Girard, are hardly known at all. Here you'll find a summary of the lives of sixteen of the richest, most successful people this country has produced. Why sixteen?

In order to create a list of the richest Americans ever it is necessary to adjust for the different value of money over time. A hundred dollars today won't buy as much as it did in 1850. Another complicating factor is that some of these people gave away a great deal of money during their lifetime. Should that money be considered part of their fortune?

The list below displays two rankings of the fifteen richest Americans of all time from two widely respected sources: the New York Times and Forbes. Some were born before the United States gained its independence, and some are still alive today. A significant number of them made their fortunes during the Gilded Age of the late 19th century.

Since these people lived in different eras and had different ideas about philanthropy, there is some difference of opinion as to the ranking of the all-time richest Americans, but there is widespread agreement about who belongs among the top fifteen. Because there is still some difference of opinion, the list below includes sixteen people instead of fifteen.

Click on each person's name to read a brief biography and see how much each was worth in today's dollars.