BLOOMINGTON – As of 2023, nearly every state has a billionaire resident, according to Forbes, which released its list of the wealthiest people in the U.S. for the first time since 2019 on Thursday.
In Indiana, the richest person is Carl Cook of Bloomington, IN. After his father Bill passed away in 2011, Carl became CEO of his parents’ medical device manufacturer, Cook Group. Their Bloomington apartment served as the company’s launch pad in 1963, with his parents co-founding it. As of 2023, Cook’s estimated worth is $10.3 billion. Cook also heads a life sciences division called Cook MyoSite, which develops cell therapy to treat urinary incontinence.
The youngest person on the list is Illinois’ 36-year-old Lukas Walton, the grandson of Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart.
The oldest billionaire is 93-year-old Annette Lerner of Maryland, the widow of Washington Nationals owner Ted Lerner. She earned her fortune in real estate.
Only three states are without a billionaire, as of June 2023: Alaska, Delaware, and West Virginia.
California, Florida, New York, and Texas have the most billionaires. According to Forbes, there are 179 billionaires in California, 130 in New York, 92 in Florida, and 73 in Texas.
Texas earns an extra jewel in its crown, it is also home to the richest person in the US and the World — Elon Musk, the CEO of Twitter.
Including Musk, the five richest people in the report are Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Oracle’s Larry Ellison, Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffett, and Google’s Larry Page.
