Houston's Richest Family

This Houston family is the richest in Texas and ranks among the wealthiest in America

Dan Duncan passed away in 2010. His family once again makes the richest list.

Courtesy photo

Forbes, purveyor of America's richest lists, has a new one out that features a handful of well-known Texas families. Two families from Dallas, one from Houston, and one from San Antonio appear on the magazine's 2016 list of America's 25 richest.

Unlike Forbes' flagship list of America’s 400 richest and its world billionaires ranking, which focus on individual or nuclear-family wealth, this list includes families of all sizes, ranging from just three relatives to the estimated 3,500 members of one clan. All 25 fortunes were started by a previous generation, and self-made entrepreneurs who founded their companies and already appear with their nuclear family on the Forbes 400 list have been left off.

To make the list, net worth had to be at least $10.7 billion. Family members’ assets, including stakes in public and private companies, real estate, art, and cash were taken into account, along with estimates of debt.

At No. 10, the Duncan family of Houston is the richest Lone Star clan on the list. The $21.5 billion fortune, made in pipelines, is split among four siblings, Randa Duncan Williams, Milane Frantz, Dannine Duncan Avara and Scott Duncan.

The Butt family of San Antonio, known for the popular H-E-B grocery chain, comes in at No. 23, with $11 billion shared among five members.

Dallas' Hunt family ties with New York City's Goldman family for No. 16. The 33 members of the legendary oil family are valued at $13.7 billion, the wealthiest in the area.

The Marshall family of Dallas is up five spots from last year, to No. 21. The estimated three family members are worth $12 billion, though they have been involved in a lengthy legal battle to ensure the estate of Anna Nicole Smith doesn't end up with any of the late J. Howard Marshall II's dough.

Unsurprisingly, the Waltons take the top spot. Though their wealth has diminished a little, the seven family members behind Walmart are still valued at a whopping $130 billion.

forbes rankings

income news

How Texans' income compares to the rest of the U.S. in 2025

SimplifyYourMoney.com

Texans aren't quite making the national median income, but they're doing better than people in many other states.

Hardworking Texans are making less money per year than the national median, a new WalletHub study has revealed.

The just-released report, "States Where People Have the Highest Income," found Texas workers are making an adjusted median annual income of $73,718, compared to the national median of $81,000 per year.

The study examined the average annual income of the top five percent, the average income of the bottom 20 percent, and the median income for all residents in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Income was adjusted for the cost of living.

Although individual Texans are not quite making the national median, the state as a whole ranked 11th for "highest" incomes, moving up one spot from its 2024 ranking. Virginia claimed the No. 1 spot, followed by New Jersey (No. 2) and New York (No. 3). (As a note, the earnings of each state's top five percent were double weighted, meaning they counted twice as much as the median and bottom categories.)

Based on WalletHub's findings, the top five percent of Texans are making more than $504,000 per year, adjusted for cost of living. Meanwhile, the bottom 20 percent of Texas residents are making only an adjusted $17,461 annually.

In a major city like Houston, income disparities may appear to be even wider than other Texas cities. Earning a "comfortable" wage in Houston now costs $15,000 more than it did in 2024, and being a middle-class earner means making a minimum of $41,754 a year and as much as $125,274.

Yet Houston still ranks as one of the wealthiest cities in America with 18 billionaires and about 82,000 millionaires calling the city home. Even Houston's suburbs are attracting more high-earning households than many other U.S. cities.

"The highest-earning 10 percent of individuals in the United States earn over 12 times more than those in the lowest-earning 10 percent, based on the latest Census data," said WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo. "By measuring the income of various percentiles against a state's median income, we can better identify where income disparities are more prevalent, which could help us better understand why residents of certain states struggle more to make ends meet."

The top 10 states with residents earning the highest income are:

No. 1 – Virginia
No. 2 – New Jersey
No. 3 – New York
No. 4 – Connecticut
No. 5 – Washington
No. 6 – Utah
No. 7 – Minnesota
No. 8 – Colorado
No. 9 – Illinois
No. 10 – Massachusetts

texas wallethub reports income