The Midpeninsula may no longer claim the nation’s most expensive ZIP code after Atherton’s eight-year reign ended when Fisher Island, Florida, took the top spot earlier this year — but the region is home to one of the highest concentrations of billionaires in the world.
Five of the world’s 10 richest individuals reside on the Peninsula, according to Forbes’ Top 10 Richest People in the World list released Nov. 1. Collectively, they hold a combined fortune of about $1.1 trillion.
Leading the group is Oracle founder Larry Ellison, who maintains a home in Woodside and is ranked No. 2 globally with an estimated net worth of $320 billion, behind only Elon Musk. Google cofounder Larry Page of Palo Alto ranks No. 4 at $232 billion, followed by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, also of Palo Alto, at No. 5 with $223 billion. Google cofounder Sergey Brin and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, both Los Altos Hills residents, round out the local contingent at No. 6 and No. 8, with net worths of $215 billion and $176 billion, respectively.
Unlike the broader Forbes 2025 Billionaires List, which provides an annual snapshot of the net worth of the more than 3,000 billionaires around the world, the Top 10 list tracks billionaire wealth in real time using stock prices and exchange rates, meaning these figures – and the people at the top of the list – can fluctuate daily.
Billionaire hub
Beyond its share of the top 10, the Bay Area now surpasses New York City as the world’s leading billionaire hub, according to the 2025 World’s Wealthiest Cities Report released by investment advisory firm Henley & Partners and global data firm New World Wealth.
The Bay Area counts 82 billionaires, compared with 66 in New York, marking a 20% increase in just one year. The surge reflects both the region’s tech dominance and the rebound in technology stock valuations, according to the report.
Other Peninsula billionaires appearing on Forbes’ broader 2025 Billionaires List include Eric Schmidt, Jan Koum, George Roberts, and Douglas Leone of Atherton; John Doerr and Charles Schwab of Woodside; Laurene Powell Jobs of Palo Alto; Sheryl Sandberg of Menlo Park; and Vinod Khosla of Portola Valley.
“The concentration of the tech industry and recent strong performance of tech stocks have created significant wealth in the Bay Area,” said Hannah Jones, senior economic research analyst at Realtor.com. “The Bay is dense with high-growth tech firms, which both grows and attracts billionaires.”
Millionaire growth
The Bay Area ranks No. 2 globally for its millionaire population, with 342,400 residents worth seven figures or more. It places second worldwide in the number of centimillionaires — those worth $100 million or more — at 756, according to the Wealthiest Cities report.
Over the past decade, the region’s millionaire population has surged 98%, a rate the report describes as “exceptional.”
Alongside its business opportunities, the Bay Area’s appeal for the ultrawealthy also stems from its access to nature, space and milder weather compared with East Coast financial hubs, researchers at New World Wealth told Realtor.com.
In September, the median home price in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties reached $1.6 million, according to Redfin, compared with the national median of about $435,000.
Clarification: Forbes’ 2025 Billionaires List identifies Vinod Khosla as a Portola Valley resident. However, according to data from the Santa Clara County Assessor’s Office, his residence is located in Palo Alto.
