This week Forbes released its third annual list of America's richest families.The families are collectively worth $722 billion.
The discrepancy in value grows wider moving up the list, with the top five families worth almost $40 billion more than the rest of the 20 families. The outliers are the Walton, Koch and Mars families, which are the only families whose net worth exceeds $50 billion each. The Walton family alone is worth more than the bottom 10 families on the list. (See also: The Richest Person in Each Decade of Life)
| Rank | Name | Net Worth | Origin of Wealth |
| 1 | Walton family | $130 billion | Wal-Mart |
| 2 | Koch family | $82 billion | diversified |
| 3 | Mars family | $78 billion | candy |
| 4 | Cargill-MacMillan family | $49 billion | Cargill Inc. |
| 5 | Cox family | $41 billion | media |
| 6 | S.C. Johnson family | $30 billion | cleaning products |
| 7 | Pritzker family | $29 billion | hotels, investments |
| 8 | (Edward) Johnson family | $28.5 billion | money management |
| 9 | Hearst family | $28 billion | Hearst Corp. |
| 10 | Duncan family | $21.5 billion | pipelines |
| 11 | Newhouse family | $18.5 billion | magazines, cable TV |
| 12 | Lauder family | $17.9 billion | Estee Lauder |
| 13 | Dorrance family | $17.1 billion | Campbell Soup Co. |
| 14 | Ziff family | $14.4 billion | publishing |
| 15 | Du Pont family | $14.3 billion | DuPont (chemicals) |
| 16 | Hunt family | $13.7 billion | oil |
| 16 | Goldman family | $13.7 billion | real estate |
| 18 | Busch family | $13.4 billion | Anheuser-Busch |
| 19 | Sackler family | $13 billion | pain medicines |
| 20 | Brown family | $12.3 billion | liquor |
| 21 | Marshall family | $12 billion | diversified |
| 22 | Mellon family | $11.5 billion | banking |
| 23 | Butt family | $11 billion | supermarkets |
| 23 | Rockefeller family | $11 billion | oil |
| 25 | Gallo family | $10.7 billion | wine, liquor |
Source: forbes.com
Walton Family
The Walton family dwarfs all other families in terms of net worth, with an estimated net value of $130 billion.
They are best known for the all-in-one shopping chain Walmart (WMT), founded by patriarch Sam Walton, which is the largest retailer in the world. It currently has 11,530 stores world-wide and revenue of $482 billion during the 2016 fiscal year, according to its annual report.
Koch Family
Charles and David Koch took the reins from their father Fred Koch to run Koch Industries, currently the second-largest private corporation in the world. The corporation is involved in a variety of industries from chemical technology and mining, to raising cattle for beef, according to the company website. The Koch family’s net worth is estimated at $82 billion.
Mars Family
If you’ve ever bought a bag of candy or chocolate bar somewhere in the world, chances are it was made by Mars, Inc. The Mars family owns Mars, Inc., a privately held corporation which deals with all sorts of consumables, particularly sweets such as Skittles, Starburst, Snickers and more. The Mars family’s net worth is estimated at $78 billion.
For the complete list of America’s 25 richest families and more details on the families, as well as how the list was made, check out the list here.
