Wealth

Top 1% of Harvard grads richer than America's 1%

Harvard University campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Michael Fein | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Harvard has topped many of the "rich lists" that rank universities: Richest endowment, most billionaire graduates, richest students. Now, it adds another rich distinction: The largest number of alumni worth $30 million or more.

According to a new report from Wealth-X, 3,130 of Harvard's alumni are "ultrahigh net worth individuals" worth at least $30 million—the most of any university. That's about 1 percent of its total graduates.

By comparison, the top 1 percent of all Americans by wealth have a minimum net worth of around $7.8 million—meaning the richest 1 percent of Harvard grads are nearly four times as wealthy as the richest 1 percent of Americans.

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The cause and effect, of course, is unclear. Are alumni rich because they went to Harvard, or does Harvard have a larger number of students who are already wealthy?

Either way, wealth in America is highly concentrated among the top universities. According to Wealth-X, the top 10 schools for ultrahigh net worth alums account for 5 percent of the world's 211,275 people worth $30 million or more.

Here are the top 10 schools for ultra-wealthy alumni.

Top 10 schools for ultra-wealthy alumni

Rank Name of institution UHNW alumni population
1Harvard University3,130
2University of Pennsylvania1,580
3Stanford University1,240
4Columbia University940
5New York University860
6Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)670
7University of Chicago665
8Northwestern University575
9Yale University570
10Cornell University560

Source: Wealth-X