Richest Person in Every State

Source: Brian Harkin / Getty Images

11. Hawaii
> Richest person: Pierre Omidyar
> Est. net worth: $11 billion
> Resides: Honolulu

The founder of auction website eBay, Pierre Omidyar, first became a billionaire in 1998 at the age of 31 when the company went public. Twenty years later, Omidyar has an estimated net worth of $11 billion. Omidyar spent several years as a youth in Hawaii, and he moved back to Honolulu in 2006. The multi-billionaire has invested millions in various business and philanthropic projects throughout the islands, focusing in areas such as local food production, renewable energy, and waste reduction.

Source: Jeremy112233 / Wikimedia Commons

12. Idaho
> Richest person: Frank VanderSloot
> Est. net worth: $2.7 billion
> Resides: Idaho Falls

Idaho’s richest person is Frank VanderSloot, the founder and long-time head of pharmaceutical company Melaleuca. VanderSloot has helmed the company since he started it in 1985. Melaleuca now reports annual revenue of over $2 billion, which is about the same as VanderSloot’s estimated net worth.

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13. Illinois
> Richest person: Ken Griffin
> Est. net worth: $8.8 billion
> Resides: Chicago

Ken Griffin founded global investment fund Citadel in 1990. With an estimated net worth of $8.8 billion, Griffin is the richest person in Illinois and one of the 100 wealthiest people in the United States. Last November, the multi-billionaire also made the most expensive home purchase in Chicago’s history, buying the top four floors of the No. 9 Walton building in the city’s Gold Coast neighborhood for $58.5 million.

Source: Courtesy of Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

14. Indiana
> Richest person: Carl Cook
> Est. net worth: $8.7 billion
> Resides: Bloomington

Bloomington’s Carl Cook is the CEO of Cook Group, a long-time maker of medical equipment. The company specializes in devices used in minimally-invasive surgery such as stents and filters. Carl inherited control of Cook Group from his parents, William and Gayle Cook, who founded the company. With a net worth of $8.7 billion, Cook is the wealthiest person in the state by a wide margin. The next wealthiest, real estate magnate Herbert Simon, has a net worth of $2.8 billion.

Source: Courtesy of Stine Seed Company

15. Iowa
> Richest person: Harry Stine
> Est. net worth: $4.1 billion
> Resides: Adel

With an estimated net worth of $4.1 billion, Harry Stine is the wealthiest person in Iowa. Stine made his fortune in the state’s substantial corn and soybean industries. The Stine Seed Company — originally founded in the 1950s by Stine’s father as Stine Seed Farm — today owns hundreds of patents in soybean and corn genetics and does over $1 billion in sales annually. Stine still resides with his family in Adel, where his grandparents first moved in the late 1800s.