BILLIONAIRE ROLL CALL

Local billionaires Jeffery Hildebrand and Tilman Fertitta top list of richest in Houston, per Forbes

Jeff and Mindy Hildebrand at the Camp for All event September 2014

Jeffery and Mindy Hildebrand are noted for their service to employees and community.

Photo by Anthony Rathbun

According to Forbes, half of all of the world’s billionaires are less wealthy than they were in 2022. But that’s not the case for most Houston-area billionaires like oil tycoon Jeffery Hildebrand, who was named the richest man in the city.

The 2023 edition of Forbes’ World’s Billionaires List declared Hildebrand’s net worth at $10.2 billion, placing him as the 171st richest person in the world. His fortune is $2.7 billion higher than his 2022 net worth of $7.5 billion, when he ranked No. 316 on the list.

As CultureMap reported, in 2015, Hildebrand made headlines when he gifted each of his 1,381 employees a $100,000 holiday bonus.

Houston’s favorite hospitality mogul and Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta is the city’s second-richest man, with his net worth climbing up to $8.1 billion. He ranked No. 256 on Forbes’ list, substantially higher than his No. 471 rank in 2022 when his net worth was $5.6 billion. Fertitta is surely living life to the fullest after hosting Miami rapper Pitbull at his San Luis Salute celebration earlier this year.

Tilman Fertitta Shut Up and Listen book laughing Tilman Fertitta is sitting pretty at No. 2. Photo by J. Thomas Ford

Other Houston-area billionaires that made Forbes 2023 world’s richest list are:

Pipeline magnate Richard Kinder: tied for No. 317, $7.2 billion, down from $7.5 billion
Houston siblings and pipeline heirs Dannine Avara, Scott Duncan, Milane Frantz, and Randa Duncan Williams: all tied for No. 352, $6.8 billion, up from $6.6 billion
Toyota mega-dealer Dan Friedkin: tied for No. 466, $5.5 billion, up from $4.3 billion
Houston Texans owner Janice McNair: tied for No. 534, $5 billion, up from $4.2 billion
Hedge fund honcho John Arnold: tied for No. 878, $3.3 billion, unchanged since 2018
Energy exploration chief exec George Bishop: tied for No. 982, $3 billion, up from $2.7 billion

New to the 2023 report is Kamal Ghaffarian, the co-founder and executive chairman of Houston's Axiom Space, with a net worth of $2.1 billion. Though his LinkedIn notes that he is based in Maryland, reports add that he resides in Florida. His Forbes rank is No. 1434.

An honorable mention (and billionaire newbie) is Amy Adams Strunk, the controlling owner of the Tennessee Titans and daughter of Houston Oilers owner Bud Adams. She has a residence in Waller (about 40 miles northwest of Houston) and her net worth is $1.7 billion — making her No. 1725 on the list.

One name missing from Forbes 2023 report is software entrepreneur Robert Brockman, who passed away last August. Brockman fell from grace after he was charged in the largest tax fraud case in U.S. history in 2020. Forbes listed his 2022 net worth at $4.7 billion. He is survived by his wife, son, and two grandchildren.

Elsewhere in Texas, Elon Musk reigns as the richest man in the state and in its capital city of Austin with a net worth of $180 billion. The Tesla and Space-X founder is the second richest person in the world, wedging his way between No. 1 Bernard Arnault of France (overseer of the LVMH empire of 75 fashion and cosmetics brands, including Louis Vuitton and Sephora), with a net worth of $211 billion; and No. 3 Jeff Bezos, the American Amazon founder, worth $114 billion.

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones' $13.3 billion net worth won him the title of Dallas' richest person, and the 12th richest sports owner on Forbes' "World's Richest Sports Owners 2023." His net worth is up from $10.6 billion last year.

The Fort Worth-based Walmart family heiress Alice Walton earned a spot on Forbes’ list as the third richest woman in the world. Her fortune is pegged at $56.7 billion, down slightly from $65.3 billion last year.

Billionaires Forbes Houston

4th of July Fun

Houston shines as a top city in Texas to celebrate 4th of July

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Houston is looking pretty patriotic this summer. H-Town has just been named the third-best city in Texas for celebrating the Fourth of July, and it lands among the top 50 in the nation for its Independence Day festivities in 2026.

Houston ranks No. 3 statewide and No. 47 nationally in WalletHub's annual report comparing the "Best & Worst Places for 4th of July Celebrations." WalletHub's experts annually ranks the 100 biggest U.S. cities across 18 metrics like affordability, the variety of celebrations on July 4th, weather favorability, safety, and more. Last year, Houston ranked 39th nationwide.

The three best cities in the U.S. for celebrating the Fourth of July in 2026 — marking the nation's monumental 250th birthday — are Las Vegas (No. 1), New York City (No. 2), and Orlando (No. 3).

Among individual categories, Houston is the 8th most affordable U.S. city to visit over the Fourth of July holiday, and it ranks 16th in the "attractions and activities" subcategory — based on a separate survey of the best and worst cities for recreation. Houston also ranked 37th overall for its abundance of July 4th celebrations. Local festivities in honor of America's 250th birthday will include spirited performances from Keith Urban and Collective Soul at the Freedom Over Texas festival.

Houston's predictably hot weather forecast for the holiday earns it a bottom-tier ranking at No. 92 overall, and the city's safety and accessibility comes in 95th place.

Elsewhere in Texas, Dallas and Fort Worth ranked as the top two best cities in the Lone Star State for celebrating America's founding, and ranked 39th and 42nd nationally. The remaining 10 Texas cities that appeared in the report ranked among the bottom 50.

This year's festivities are expected to be meteoric compared to previous years to commemorate the milestone anniversary, according to the report.

"This year, the National Retail Federation projects that U.S. households will spend a collective $9.4 billion on food for Fourth of July festivities alone," the report's author wrote.

Here's how the rest of Texas stacks up in the report:

No. 57 – El Paso
No. 63 – Lubbock
No. 74 – San Antonio
No. 80 – Arlington
No. 81 – Plano
No. 84 – Austin
No. 91 – Corpus Christi
No. 93 – Irving
No. 99 – Laredo
No. 100 – Garland

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