Insider Monkey
20 Oldest Richest Families in America
Ty Haqqi
9 min read

In this article, we will be taking a look at the 25 oldest richest families in America. To skip our detailed analysis, you can go directly to see the 5 oldest richest families in America.

You can't talk about generational wealth, and the passing down of wealth across generations and lifetimes, without discussing income inequality. While income inequality has always been a major concern, with monarchs hoarding treasure while the general public toiled, one would think that with industrialization, greater usage of machinery and exponential growth in tech, efficiency would be higher than ever before while wealth was more evenly spread. Unfortunately, the reverse is true; while productivity has continued to increase at record levels, income inequality has continued to increase globally at record levels too, a shift for which the oldest richest families in America have played their part. The World Income Inequality Report 2022 stated that the top 10% globally earn more than half of the global income, continuing a trend which has been going on since the 1970s. To explain the rise in income inequality in the past few decades, the report states "However, for most of the world, the defining experience turned out to be the panicked reaction to the slowdown of growth in US and UK in the 1970s, that led to the conviction that a big part of the problem was that the institutions that kept inequality low (minimum wage, union, taxes, regulation, etc.) were to blame, and that what we needed was to unleash an entrepreneurial culture that celebrates the unabashed accumulation of private wealth. We now know that as the Reagan-Thatcher revolution and it was the starting point of a dizzying rise in inequality within countries that continues to this day." Even countries, which were not traditionally rich but gained economic power, including India and China, have followed this trend, which is why India is one of the countries with the highest income inequality in the world.

20 oldest richest families in America
20 oldest richest families in America

Pixabay/Public Domain

Of course, old rich families isn't just a trend in the U.S.; Europe, with a far greater history has many families which are billionaires right now and among the most powerful old money families not to mention among the the oldest richest families in the world, with said influence being built not just across decades but across centuries. One such example is of course, the Rothschild family, which traces its origins to Frankfurt, Germany, in the 18th century, and in the centuries since, has successfully established businesses and influence in many top European cities including Paris, London and Vienna, with the many castles built by the Rothschild family still dotted across Europe. While royal families, such as the British royal family, have also seen wealth pass down from generation to generation even in today's democratized world, since the U.S. has never had a monarchy within the country, the oldest richest families in America are built on companies and businesses, with wealth being consolidated with each succeeding generation.

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