Elon Musk Is So Rich It Would Take You 6.8 Million Years On A Median Salary To Catch Up — That's Over 20 Times Longer Than Humans Have Existed
You've probably seen the Reddit threads. Maybe it was a YouTube video with a scrolling bar chart or a guy counting grains of rice to represent Jeff Bezos' wealth. These visual stunts go viral for one reason: normal people can't wrap their heads around billionaire money. But even those fall short of capturing just how far ahead Elon Musk is.
He's not just rich. He's the richest person alive. As of now, Forbes estimates Musk's net worth at $424.7 billion—mostly from Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink, xAI, and every other empire he's casually juggling.
Now let's make this painful.
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The median U.S. salary is $61,984. If you earned that exact amount every year—without spending a cent—it would take you 6,851,768 years to match Musk's net worth.
Let that number sit.
For comparison, modern Homo sapiens have existed for about 300,000 years. One of our earliest known ancestors, Australopithecus afarensis—nicknamed Lucy—walked the Earth 3.2 million years ago, according to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. You could have started earning the median salary back then and still be nowhere near Musk's bank account.
The math here assumes annual income, not hourly work. So forget 40-hour workweeks or overtime. This is based on a full year of pre-tax, pre-life, pre-anything earnings, stacked for nearly 7 million years.
It's wealth on a geologic scale.
Trending: Maker of the $60,000 foldable home has 3 factory buildings, 600+ houses built, and big plans to solve housing —
Sure, Musk's net worth fluctuates with Tesla stock and private company valuations. But even on a "bad" day, he's playing a game that isn't relatable. Most people are worrying about 5% raises. He's watching billions go up or down depending on how Cybertruck memes are trending.
According to Forbes, the planet has 2,781 billionaires—as of their 38th Annual World's Billionaires List published in October.. And even among that elite crowd, Musk isn't just at the top—he's in another financial galaxy. The gap between Musk and the second-richest billionaire is often larger than the total net worth of hundreds of the world's poorest billionaires combined.
So next time you see someone try to visualize billionaire wealth—stretching cash down a highway or stacking rice to the moon—just remember: even those stunts are underestimating it.
And if you're earning the median salary? You're not behind. You're on a completely different evolutionary timeline.
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This article Elon Musk Is So Rich It Would Take You 6.8 Million Years On A Median Salary To Catch Up — That's Over 20 Times Longer Than Humans Have Existed originally appeared on Benzinga.com
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CBS News
26 minutes ago
- CBS News
Vance says Musk's attacks on Trump were a "huge mistake" but tries to downplay spat
Vice President JD Vance said Elon Musk was making a "huge mistake" going after President Trump in a storm of bitter and inflammatory social media posts after a falling out between the two men. But the vice president, in an interview released Friday after the very public blow-up between the world's richest man and arguably the world's most powerful, also tried to downplay Musk's blistering attacks as an "emotional guy" who got frustrated. Musk attacked Mr. Trump in a torrent of social media posts, first criticizing the president's spending package and then targeting him with more direct attacks. Mr. Trump then portrayed Musk as disgruntled and "CRAZY" and threatened to cut the government contracts held by Musk's businesses. Trump ally Steve Bannon called for an investigation into Musk's immigration status and alleged drug use. During an interview with comedian Theo Von, Vance said he hopes that "eventually Elon comes back into the fold," but said it might not be "possible now because he's gone so nuclear." The interview was taped on Thursday as Musk's posts were unfurling on X, the social media network the billionaire owns. "Look, it happens to everybody," Vance said in the interview. "I've flown off the handle way worse than Elon Musk did in the last 24 hours." Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance attend a campaign event, Oct. 5, 2024, in Butler, Pa. Alex Brandon / AP The vice president told Von that as Musk for days was calling on social media for Congress to kill Mr. Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill," the president was "getting a little frustrated, feeling like some of the criticisms were unfair coming from Elon, but I think has been very restrained because the president doesn't think that he needs to be in a blood feud with Elon Musk." "I actually think if Elon chilled out a little bit, everything would be fine," he added. Vance's comments come as other Republicans in recent days have urged the two men to mend fences. Just weeks ago, Mr. Trump and Musk were close allies, spending significant time together while the billionaire served as a special advisor to the president and led the "Department of Government Efficiency," or DOGE. Vance called Musk an "incredible entrepreneur," and said that DOGE, which sought to cut government spending and laid off or pushed out thousands of workers, was "really good." Vance defends Trump against Epstein allegations Musk, who runs electric vehicle maker Tesla, internet company Starlink and rocket company SpaceX, also claimed without evidence that the government was concealing information about the president's association with infamous pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. During the interview, Von showed the vice president Musk's claim that the Trump administration hasn't released all the records related to sex abuser Epstein because Mr. Trump is mentioned in them. Vance responded to that, saying, "Absolutely not. Donald Trump didn't do anything wrong with Jeffrey Epstein." Mr. Trump's name has been found in court documents related to Epstein's case, but his appearance in the documents is not evidence of wrongdoing. CBS News has previously covered Mr. Trump's presence in those documents. In February, the Department of Justice gave a group of right-wing influencers binders labeled "The Epstein Files: Phase 1," but the influencers later said that there was little new information in the files. Attorney General Pam Bondi later shared the documents widely and said the first phase "largely contains documents that have been previously leaked but never released in a formal capacity by the U.S. Government." 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Miami Herald
29 minutes ago
- Miami Herald
Veteran fund manager resets stock market forecast amid Musk, Trump fallout
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UPI
31 minutes ago
- UPI
SpaceX launches satellite for SiriusXM from Florida
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