Richest billionaires in California

The first billionaire ever is thought to be Standard Oil magnate John D. Rockefeller back in 1916, or perhaps Henry Ford in 1925.

Fast forward some 100 years to 2021: As the COVID-19 pandemic continued to rage, a record-breaking 660 people became billionaires globally, growing the previous year's number by 30%.

While the U.S. is home to the most billionaires out of any other country, Americans are somewhat split in their feelings on the billionaire class. According to Pew Research Center data, people in the U.S. became somewhat more critical of billionaires between 2020 and 2021.

Although support for individual billionaires like Bill Gates is relatively strong, many Americans view the ultra-rich—as a group rather than as individuals—negatively. Meanwhile, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is projected to become the world's first trillionaire by 2026.

The U.S.'s wealthiest billionaires are mostly concentrated within just a couple of industries: finance and investments, and technology. Other wealthy sectors include food and drink, fashion and retail, and media and entertainment. Stacker compiled a list of the richest billionaires who are residents of California, using data from Forbes. Billionaires are ranked by net worth as of March 24. Forbes lists 154 billionaires in California.

#20. Steven Rales
- Net worth: $7.5 billion (#292 wealthiest in the world)
- Residence: Santa Barbara
- Source of wealth: manufacturing, investments, self made

#19. David Geffen
- Net worth: $7.7 billion (#282 wealthiest in the world)
- Residence: Beverly Hills
- Source of wealth: movies, record labels, self made

#18. Henry Samueli
- Net worth: $7.9 billion (#270 wealthiest in the world)
- Residence: Newport Beach
- Source of wealth: semiconductors, self made

#17. Nathan Blecharczyk
- Net worth: $7.9 billion (#265 wealthiest in the world)
- Residence: San Francisco
- Source of wealth: Airbnb, self made

#16. George Roberts
- Net worth: $8.2 billion (#252 wealthiest in the world)
- Residence: Atherton
- Source of wealth: private equity, self made

#15. Charles Schwab
- Net worth: $8.6 billion (#227 wealthiest in the world)
- Residence: Woodside
- Source of wealth: discount brokerage, self made

#14. Brian Chesky
- Net worth: $9.1 billion (#206 wealthiest in the world)
- Residence: San Francisco
- Source of wealth: Airbnb, self made

#13. Eric Smidt
- Net worth: $9.2 billion (#202 wealthiest in the world)
- Residence: Beverly Hills
- Source of wealth: hardware stores, self made

#12. Marijke Mars
- Net worth: $9.6 billion (#190 wealthiest in the world)
- Residence: Los Angeles
- Source of wealth: candy, pet food

#11. Dustin Moskovitz
- Net worth: $9.6 billion (#189 wealthiest in the world)
- Residence: San Francisco
- Source of wealth: Facebook, self made

#10. John Doerr
- Net worth: $9.7 billion (#186 wealthiest in the world)
- Residence: Woodside
- Source of wealth: venture capital, self made

#9. Laurene Powell Jobs & family
- Net worth: $12.6 billion (#139 wealthiest in the world)
- Residence: Palo Alto
- Source of wealth: Apple, Disney

#8. Jan Koum
- Net worth: $13.8 billion (#126 wealthiest in the world)
- Residence: Atherton
- Source of wealth: WhatsApp, self made

#7. Robert Pera
- Net worth: $15.5 billion (#110 wealthiest in the world)
- Residence: San Jose
- Source of wealth: wireless networking, self made

#6. Donald Bren
- Net worth: $17.4 billion (#93 wealthiest in the world)
- Residence: Newport Beach
- Source of wealth: real estate, self made

#5. Eric Schmidt
- Net worth: $18.1 billion (#90 wealthiest in the world)
- Residence: Atherton
- Source of wealth: Google, self made

#4. Jensen Huang
- Net worth: $24.1 billion (#61 wealthiest in the world)
- Residence: Los Altos
- Source of wealth: semiconductors, self made

#3. Mark Zuckerberg
- Net worth: $73.4 billion (#15 wealthiest in the world)
- Residence: Palo Alto
- Source of wealth: Facebook, self made

#2. Sergey Brin
- Net worth: $86.7 billion (#12 wealthiest in the world)
- Residence: Los Altos
- Source of wealth: Google, self made

#1. Larry Page
- Net worth: $90.6 billion (#9 wealthiest in the world)
- Residence: Palo Alto
- Source of wealth: Google, self made