In yet another sign of exploding inequality, a new data analysis finds that while affordability is an urgent issue for average Ohioans, the richest Americans keep getting richer. A lot richer.
The analysis by the Institute for Policy Studies said that the 935 billionaires in the United States saw their combined wealth grow by nearly 21% in 2025, to $8.1 trillion. The group used data from the Forbes Real Time Billionaires list to do the analysis.
For comparison, the median family of four in Ohio saw its income increase less than 6% in part of 2025 when compared to the same period a year earlier, according to Census Bureau figures used by the U.S. Justice Department in bankruptcy proceedings.
Meanwhile, prices for consumers have charged ahead, leaving them further behind.
The analysis referred to a poll conducted for Politico in December. Among other woes, it found that half of those surveyed found it difficult to afford food, 27% skipped a medical checkup due to financial worries, and 23% skipped taking prescription medications for the same reason.
While millions struggle, the analysis by the Institute for Policy Studies found that the richest billionaires have been doing particularly well.
The 15 richest billionaires saw their combined wealth jump from $2.4 trillion at the beginning of 2025 to $3.2 trillion a year later. That’s a 33% increase in wealth.
When President Donald Trump signed the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” last summer, it likely accelerated growing inequality, researchers have found.
The bill made the 2017 tax cuts permanent, adding $4.1 trillion to the federal debt by 2035, while providing $1 trillion in benefits to the richest 1% of Americans over the same period. The bill also cut more than $1 trillion in programs for the poor, including Medicaid and federal food assistance.
Omar Ocampo, a researcher at the Program on Inequality and the Common Good at the Institute for Policy Studies, said the very rich are already paying taxes at much lower rates than average Americans.
“It’s not just that U.S. billionaires are entering 2026 with record-breaking increases in extreme wealth: it’s that they are also paying far less in taxes compared to the huge amount of wealth they amass,” he said in a written statement.
“Average taxpayers like you and I pay income tax at triple the rate of the wealthiest Americans. Not only are a small number of Americans holding more wealth than the rest of America, but they’re also not paying their fair share of taxes.”
Perhaps not surprisingly, some of the very richest American billionaires did especially well last year, according to the analysis:
- Elon Musk of Tesla, X and SpaceX, had $726 billion, up from $421 billion at the beginning of 2025. That’s a 72% increase.
- Larry Page, Google co-founder, had $257 billion, up from $156 billion a year ago. That’s a 65% increase.
- Sergey Brin, another Google co-founder, saw a 60% increase to $237 billion.
- Larry Ellison, co-founder of Oracle, saw a 17% increase to $245 billion.
- Jeff Bezos of Amazon saw a 4% increase, to $242 billion.
All of the top five are heavily involved in artificial intelligence.
Ohio and many other states are providing huge tax subsidies to build data centers to support AI despite the fact that the centers work with skeleton staff and support few jobs. At the same time, the centers’ huge power demands have caused average consumers’ utility rates to spike.
Originally published by the Ohio Capital Journal. Republished here with permission.