Chicago Home To 21 Of The World's Richest People

By aaroncynic in News on Nov 12, 2013 9:20PM

Citadel LLC founder and CEO Kenneth Griffin is the richest man in Chicago. (Photo via Citadel LLC's website.)

Chicago is a popular place to live among the super rich, according to a new report by Wealth-X, an organization that dubs itself the “definitive source of intelligence on the ultra wealthy.” The city is home to 21 billionaires and ranks 13th out of the top 20 cities globally for the mega-wealthy.

The United States has the highest portion of billionaires worldwide, with 515 of the world’s 2,170. According to the survey, 68 percent of United States billionaires said their fortunes were “self-made,” with the remaining 32 percent reporting their money was either inherited or began with an inheritance. The average billionaire is “incredibly well connected,” the report says, and after all those connections are factored together, that becomes a “social circle” worth $33 trillion, nearly twice the value of the national debt.

Ken Griffin, founder and CEO of the investment firm Citadel LLC sits at the top of the 21 ultra-wealthy individuals who reside in Chicago. Griffin, whose net worth is $4.4 billion according to the Huffington Post, is followed by Sam Zell’s $4 billion fortune, and the Reyes brothers who earned their fortune in food and liquor distribution.

Chicago’s billionaire list also includes six Pritzker’s, whose collective worth tops $13 billion. In total, Chicago’s richest 15 individuals are worth more than $38 billion, 4 times more than the City’s estimated 2014 budget.

The collective net worth of the world’s billionaires doubled since the 2009 global financial crisis.