Bose has the current upper hand in the ongoing race for the best noise-cancelling headphones. The brand's QuietComfort Ultra provide class-leading audio suppression to go along with great features, a comfortable design, and the best sound we've heard from a pair of Bose headphones. 

The Ultra ooze luxury from the moment you pull them from their zippered case. The headphones use sleek and durable materials like dimpled aluminum along the arms and band and plush padding coated in soft protein leather. The ear cups are foldable and fully collapsible, making the headphones easy to pack for travel. Battery life is solid at 24 hours, though we would have liked to see a bit more, given the Ultra's price point.

As for performance, the Ultra's noise cancelling is supremely powerful, edging out everything we've tested. It's fantastic at silencing low-end sounds like fans or street noise but also effective for higher frequencies, wholly eliminating sounds like keystrokes and muffling voice chatter, even without music playing. And when you do want to let in outside noise, the Ultra's Transparency mode is among the most natural sounding we've heard. 

The Ultra's sound quality is also a step up for the series. Music comes through with deft precision, detail, and balance across genres, especially after bumping down the bass a notch or two with the Bose Music app's three-band EQ. As with other Bose headphones, instrumentals can sometimes sound slightly sharp and overly processed, but it's toned down here for an overall pleasing presentation. Calls come through with crystal clarity as well.

The headphones also boast Bose's new spatial audio feature, which includes head tracking that can move the soundstage with you independent of your source device. We had mixed results with this, as the feature can sometimes create an echo effect, especially with video content. The headphones are otherwise well-appointed, with features like Multipoint Bluetooth to connect two devices simultaneously, customizable noise-cancelling modes, and a wind buffering setting.

As for controls, the Ultra's mix of hard keys and a volume slider touchpad work well. We would have liked to see a dedicated key for noise cancelling and transparency mode, but that's a minor complaint. Even with a price that goes beyond any pair of QuietComfort headphones before them, the Ultra are a worthy investment, offering a premium experience and noise cancelling that can't be beaten.

Thanks to the latest advancements in noise-cancelling technology, you don't have to spend a ton of money to get some decent peace and quiet. Anker's Soundcore Life Q30 are a great example, and at well under $100, they're a relatively easy investment. 

The Q30's noise cancelling ranks among the best for their price point, doing an especially good job in the lower registers. It's certainly not as effective as the pricier models on our list, especially in the upper frequencies, but the Q30's ear cups also offer solid passive noise isolation, which helps to defray some of the ambient annoyances in your life.

Anker's Soundcore headphones consistently punch above their weight when it comes to audio performance, and the Q30s hold their own in this department, especially after a few tweaks to their hefty bass in the Soundcore mobile app for Android or iOS. There you can also customize other settings, swap between three noise-cancelling modes, and engage the available sleep mode to activate ambient sounds as you drift off on your commute. 

The Q30s fit comfortably thanks to their solid padding and collapse for travel. Convenience features like Multipoint Bluetooth pairing and the ability to activate transparency mode by holding your hand on the right ear cup recall fancier models that cost double or triple the price, while their massive battery life is among the best you'll find.

If you're after a solid pair of noise-cancelling headphones but simply can't stomach the high prices of other top models, Anker's Soundcore Q30 are a very enticing option.

Sennheiser's Momentum 4 Wireless headphones don't have the best or even the second-best noise-cancelling performance on our list. That's OK, though, because once you hear them, you may not care. If you're an audiophile, the great sound quality you get here could be a more than acceptable tradeoff. 

It took Sennheiser three years to update its storied Momentum headphones, doing away with the retro styling that had defined the series up to now. But it was worth the wait and the redesign. The Momentum 4s deliver audio performance that rises above everything we've heard in their class, offering effortless presence, detail, and separation that lets you dig deep into each instrument's timbres and textures with remarkable clarity. 

The Momentum 4s are no slouches in the features department, either, starting with battery life that's double what you'll get from options like Sony's WF-1000XM5. You'll also get features like Multipoint pairing, the ability to adjust noise cancelling and transparency mode based on your environment, a three-band EQ, and great wind buffering that also aids in call quality.

As mentioned, the Momentum 4s' noise cancelling is good-not-great for headphones at their price point. They do a swell job with lower frequencies but let higher register noises like voices slip through more easily than the very best noise-cancelling headphones. Add a bit of music, and that shouldn't be much of an issue in most scenarios, but it's worth considering before you pull the trigger.

Although the headphones are quite comfortable, they're also heavier than some competitors, and they don't fold up completely, making them slightly harder to pack. That said, if sound is your compass, the Momentum 4s are well worth considering, offering a lush sonic experience.

Sitting nearly even with Bose's QuietComfort Ultra when it comes to top-notch noise cancelling, Sony's WH-1000XM5 headphones are an excellent alternative and may even be a better option for some. The M5 (as in Mark 5) may not have the catchiest name, but they make up for it with a formidable mix of brilliant performance and a truckload of great features.

Sony wrote the book on modern headphone design with its WH-1000X series, putting you in the driver's seat for a dizzying array of options. It all starts with the brand's powerful Headphones app letting you control your noise cancelation in multiple ways, including an option based on your environment. You can silence audio with your voice or let in the outside world with a simple hand gesture on the right ear cup. Alexa is available for smart control, and customization of Sony's 360 Reality Audio lets you unlock spatial sound with supported content.

Features aside, the XM5s are as polished as you'd expect a flagship pair of headphones from a market leader to be. Their touch controls are intuitive and responsive. Their noise cancelling is incredibly effective across registers. Sound quality is sweet, smooth, and superbly detailed to the point that you'll likely hear things you've missed in multiple previous listens. Their streamlined design and memory foam padding also make them comfortable for hours (though Bose's Ultras are even comfier).

The only noteworthy issue we take with Sony's latest design is that, unlike the Bose Ultra and Sony's cheaper WH-1000XM4, the M5s don't collapse for travel, making them harder to pack. Frankly, the most convincing argument against these cans is made by Sony's cheaper M4 headphones, which offer a lot of what makes the M5s great for less cash. But if you want Sony's best and all the features that come along, the WH-1000XM5s are a great buy.

Read our Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones review.

The WF-1000XM5 are our pick for the best wireless earbuds you can buy. They pack what we love about Sony's top-tier over-ear headphones into a micro-sized frame with an in-ear design, offering tons of features, great sound, and excellent noise cancelling in a sleek design that fits neatly in your pocket.

Even for earbuds, the WF-1000XM5 are remarkably small for their class, especially compared to their predecessors, the WF-1000XM4, and top rivals like Bose's QuietComfort II and Ultra buds. Their size is all the more impressive given their exceptional battery life and performance, with noise cancelling that knocks out low-end frequencies and effectively muffles high-register sounds like voices and clattering dishes.

Like their full-sized cousins, the WF-1000XM5 are also packed with features. Opening the Sony Headphones app, you'll find settings to adjust everything from ambient sound and noise cancelling to Multipoint pairing, speak-to-chat (pausing sound when you speak), head gesture controls, and a multi-band EQ.

Sound performance is crisp, punchy, and accurate across genres, with a penchant for instrumental definition. You can raise the sound quality further by activating Sony's DSEE Extreme audio upscaling engine, while supported Android devices can access high-resolution Bluetooth streaming with Sony's LDAC audio technology. The buds also provide good call quality thanks to bone conduction sensors.

With the XM5s, Sony has also improved the physical design of its top earbuds thanks to a more stable and secure fit to go along with basic water resistance for versatile use cases. One complaint about the redesign: these things are slippery, making it challenging to grip or nudge them out of the case. They're also quite expensive, but their fantastic performance and packed set of features make them an excellent option for anyone who wants a compact pair of noise-cancelling earbuds.

When testing headphones for consideration in our guide to the best noise-cancelling headphones, we use them as we would in our daily lives to get a sense of how they'll perform for a typical listener. That includes evaluating features like ease of setup with different source devices, comfort, battery life, and general usability. We assess sound quality by listening to music across multiple genres from the best music streaming services as well as in high resolution. We also play videos and listen to them with each model to test features like spatial audio and head tracking with stereo and Dolby Atmos content.

To evaluate noise cancelling and transparency mode, we conduct real-world testing in natural environments and, whenever possible, in situations like plane flights or train commutes. We also incorporate a sound-treated room and professional stereo monitors to reproduce sounds like airplane noise, voices, and other effects. Battery testing includes putting the headphones on a stopwatch at medium volume to make sure they live up to their manufacturer's claims or come close.

What is noise cancelling?

Noise cancellation, also known as Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) or Adaptive Noise Cancellation, is a technology designed to suppress sounds in your immediate environment. Noise-cancelling headphones are outfitted with tiny microphones which pick up ambient sounds. They then use onboard circuitry to analyze those sounds in real time, flipping the polarity of the frequencies (essentially reversing their waveforms) to "cancel" them. 

Noise cancellation is an imperfect science and, as of yet, it's not able to block out all of the sounds in a given environment. That said, with each iteration, the best noise-cancelling headphones and earbuds increase how much sound they can block, especially at higher frequencies which are generally the hardest to cancel. The better the noise cancellation, the more frequencies are blocked, and the more noise your headphones can reduce.

Are over-ear headphones better than earbuds for noise cancelling?

While the gap between over-ear headphones and earbuds was once more prominent, today's top noise-cancelling earbuds are close to or on par with the best over-ear headphones with ANC. Both types offer good passive noise isolation, and both also use a mix of advanced hardware and software, including multiple microphones. While it varies case by case, you can now get very effective noise cancelling in either over-ear headphones or earbuds.

What is transparency mode?

Transparency mode, also called ambient audio (or sometimes hear-thru), is essentially the opposite of noise cancelling. Using the same exterior microphones, instead of cancelling the sound around you, transparency mode pipes ambient sound into your headphones in an effort to keep you aware of your surroundings. Transparency modes on most headphones can be easily toggled on and off so you can go from listening to music with ANC to letting outside sound in. This is not only a great safety feature, but it can also be helpful for situations like flights or other forms of mass transit where you need to communicate quickly.

What is Bluetooth wireless connectivity?

Bluetooth is a wireless technology that allows for an exchange of data, for our purposes in the form of audio, across short distances. Most Bluetooth devices offer a range of around 33 feet, though some, such as Class 1 Bluetooth devices, can travel 100 feet or more. Improvements in Bluetooth over time have allowed for increased bandwidth and, among other things, higher sound quality that's more reliable. In general, having the latest Bluetooth version can mean speed, efficiency, and reliability improvements.

On Thursday, May 9, Sen. Rick Scott of Florida became the first elected Republican to show up to the trial.

"What he is going through is just despicable," Scott told reporters outside the courtroom, arguing the trial was "clearly criminal" and was being run by "political thugs."

Scott's visit came in the middle of the week, while the Senate was taking votes on a bill to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration for the next five years.

The Florida senator, who's up for reelection in November, ended up missing a procedural vote on the bill later that day.

That prompted his Democratic opponent, former Rep. Debbie Mucarsel Powell, to slam him as "sucking up to a defendant found liable for sexual abuse" and putting his "own extreme agenda before the people he was elected to represent."

On Monday, May 13, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio was among the next crop of senators to show up — and the first vice presidential contender to do so.

He later took to social media, calling the courtroom "dingy" while suggesting that the "main goal of the trial is psychological torture."

Tuberville came to the trial alongside Vance, where he derided jurors as being "supposedly American."

He later told the conservative network Newsmax that he came to the trial to help Trump "overcome this gag order."

The Missouri senator, among the first to endorse Trump in 2024, visited the trial on Tuesday, May 21.

Like Sen. Scott, he ended up missing votes to do so.

"You want to talk about threats to democracy? That's what this is across the street," Schmitt said at a press conference with other Republicans outside the trial.

Burgum — another VP contender whose political stock has been on the rise recently — attended the trial on Tuesday, May 14.

He and the other Republicans in attendance quickly made waves on social media for wearing apparently matching outfits.

Vivek Ramaswamy, the tech entrepreneur and 2024 presidential candidate, showed up to the trial on the same day as Burgum.

He also happens to be a vice presidential contender — albeit, a lower-tier one.

The highest-ranking Republican to visit the trial has been House Speaker Mike Johnson, who traveled to Manhattan on the same day as Burgum and Ramaswamy.

The speaker delivered a series of remarks — including slamming the district attorney, the judge, and Michael Cohen — without taking questions afterwards.

"He is soon to be officially the nominee of one of the major parties in our country," Johnson said of Trump. "Running for president, and they have him tied up here in this ridiculous prosecution. That is not about justice, it's all about politics, and everybody can see that."

He concluded by insisting that he came to the trial "on my own" because he's "deeply concerned about this."

On Thursday, May 16, the biggest crop of House Republicans yet attended Trump's trial.

That included Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, who was met with chants of "Beetlejuice" as she took to the microphones outside the courtroom.

Here are the 20 rank-and-file House Republicans who've attended the trial so far:

• Andy Biggs of Arizona
• Lauren Boebert of Colorado
• Eric Burlison of Missouri
• Michael Cloud of Texas
• Andrew Clyde of Georgia
• Eli Crane of Arizona
• Byron Donalds of Florida
• Matt Gaetz of Florida
• Bob Good of Virginia
• Diana Harshbarger of Tennessee
• Ronny Jackson of Texas
• Anna Paulina Luna of Florida
• Mary Miller of Illinois
• Cory Mills of Florida
• Nicole Malliotakis of New York
• Dan Meuser of Pennsylvania
• Troy Nehls of Texas
• Ralph Norman of South Carolina
• Andy Ogles of Tennessee
• Maria Elvira Salazar of Florida
• Keith Self of Texas
• Dale Strong of Alabama
• Mike Waltz of Florida
• Daniel Webster of Florida

One other intriguing cohort of trial attendees: three Republican state attorneys general.

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird and Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall were among the cohort of Republicans who attended the trial on Monday, May 13. South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson attended the trial on Monday, May 20.

Their attendance is particularly striking: they are the top law enforcement officials in their respective states, and they're publicly taking the side of a criminal defendant in another state.

Net worth: $1.5 billion

Age: 77

Source of wealth: As the founder and CEO of Great Southern Wood Preserving, Rane helped popularize the lumber business by appearing in commercials as a cowboy known as "the Yella Fella."

Residence: Abbeville

Net worth: $400 million

Age: Rubini is 69; Hyde is 67.

Source of wealth: Rubini serves as the CEO and chairman of commercial real-estate developer JL Properties, while Hyde serves as its president. Each of them owns 50% of the business, which also includes properties in Florida and Utah, Forbes reported.

Residence: Anchorage

Net worth: $8 billion

Age: 67

Source of wealth: Ernest Garcia II owns the used car retailer DriveTime Automotive. He is also the largest shareholder of Carvana, an online used car dealer founded by his son Ernest Garcia III in 2012.

Residence: Tempe

Net worth: $78.4 billion

Age: 75

Source of wealth: Jim Walton and his siblings inherited their wealth from their father, Sam Walton, who opened the first Walmart store in 1962 and founded the discount warehouse Sam's Club in 1983. Jim Walton is also the chairman of Arvest Bank.

Residence: Bentonville

Net worth: $177 billion

Age: 40

Source of wealth: As a student at Harvard, Zuckerberg cofounded a social network known as "The Facebook" in 2004. He went on to become CEO of Meta, the parent company for Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Threads.

Residence: Palo Alto

Net worth: $15.3 billion

Age: 84

Source of wealth: Anschutz initially amassed his fortune through the discovery of an oil field on the Wyoming-Utah border in 1979 and subsequent investments in railroad companies. He founded Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) in 1994, which owns major sports teams and performance venues such as the Crypto.com Arena. AEG is also the parent company for Coachella music festival.

Residence: Denver

Net worth: $19.8 billion

Age: 67

Source of wealth: Cohen founded two hedge funds, SAC Capital and Point72. Until SAC Capital was shut down after pleading guilty to insider trading charges in 2013, it was one of the most successful hedge funds in the world. (Cohen himself was never charged.) Point72 currently manages over $30.6 billion, Forbes reported. He also holds a 95% ownership stake in the New York Mets.

Residence: Greenwich

Net worth: $800 million

Age: 77

Source of wealth: Snyder's parents founded WL Gore & Associates, a manufacturing company that holds over 7,000 patents, in 1958. Gore-Tex, a waterproof fabric used in outdoor apparel and shoes, remains its most profitable invention. Snyder owns around 5.5% of the company, Forbes reported.

Residence: Wilmington

Net worth: $194 billion

Age: 60

Source of wealth: Bezos founded e-commerce titan Amazon in 1994 and still owns around 9% of the company. As of March 2024, he was the second-richest person in the US behind Elon Musk. Bezos has since overtaken Musk and attained the title of second-richest person in the world behind LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault, according to Forbes' real-time billionaires list.

Residence: Miami

Net worth: $11.2 billion

Age: 71, 69, and 68

Source of wealth: The Cathys are heirs to the Chick-fil-A family fortune. Founded by their father, S. Truett Cathy, in the 1960s, the fried-chicken fast-food chain now has over 2,800 restaurant locations worldwide.

Residence: Atlanta

Net worth: $6.3 billion

Age: 56

Source of wealth: Omidyar founded eBay in 1995 and became a billionaire when the e-commerce company went public during the dot-com bubble in 1998. eBay also acquired PayPal in 2002 for $1.5 billion.

Residence: Honolulu

Net worth: $3.3 billion

Age: 75

Source of wealth: VanderSloot is the founder and former chief executive of Melaleuca, Inc., which sells nutritional and wellness products online. Forbes reported that the company now has over one million customers each month.

Residence: Idaho Falls

Net worth: $28 billion

Age: 37

Source of wealth: Lukas Walton is the billionaire heir to the Walmart fortune and the grandson of Walmart founder Sam Walton. Lukas Walton inherited his vast wealth after his father, John T. Walton, died in a plane crash in 2005 at the age of 58.

Residence: Chicago

Net worth: $10.6 billion

Age: 61

Source of wealth: Cook has served as CEO of Cook Group, a medical-device manufacturing company founded by his parents, since his father's death in 2011. Bloomberg reported the company made about $2.3 billion in revenue in 2022 and sells its products in over 135 countries.

Residence: Bloomington

Net worth: $9.7 billion

Age: 82

Source of wealth: Stine is an agricultural pioneer and the founder and owner of Stine Seed, a corn and soybean seed company based in Adel, Iowa. According to the company's website, Stine Seed and its affiliates own around 800 patents related to soybean and corn genetic technology. Major licensing deals have helped it become one of the world's largest private seed companies.

Residence: Adel

Net worth: $58.5 billion

Age: 88

Source of wealth: Koch amassed his billions from serving as co-CEO of Koch Industries, which produces around $125 billion in revenue each year, Forbes reported. Founded in 1940 by his father, Fred Koch, Koch Industries is involved in various businesses, from oil pipelines to paper goods, and is the second-largest private company in the US.

Residence: Wichita

Net worth: $7.8 billion

Age: 62

Source of wealth: Gustavson made her billions as the heiress to the Public Storage empire and as a prize-winning horse breeder. Her father, B. Wayne Hughes, cofounded Public Storage, a self-storage company that now owns and operates thousands of locations across the US and Europe, in 1972. Forbes reported Gustavson owns about 10% of the company.

Residence: Lexington

Net worth: $9.1 billion

Age: 52

Source of wealth: Graves, the founder and CEO of the chicken-tender restaurant chain Raising Cane's, opened his first restaurant in 1996. The company now has more than 750 restaurants in the US and internationally and $3.7 billion in annual sales, Forbes reported.

Residence: Baton Rouge

Net worth: $3.1 billion

Age: 78

Source of wealth: Alfond's father, Harold Alfond, made a fortune as the founder of the Dexter Shoe Company, once one of the largest shoe manufacturers in the US. He sold the company to Warren Buffett in 1993 for $420 million in Berkshire Hathaway stock, Forbes reported. Harold Alfond died in 2007, leaving his fortune to Susan Alfond and her three siblings.

Residence: Scarborough

Net worth: $6.4 billion

Age: 94

Source of wealth: Lerner's fortune grew after she loaned $250 to her husband, Ted Lerner, to establish a firm that sold homes to real-estate developers, Forbes reported. Founded in 1952, the firm grew to become one of the most successful real-estate companies in the DC area. The Lerners also made their money as owners of the Washington Nationals baseball team.

Residence: Chevy Chase

Net worth: $29 billion

Age: 62

Source of wealth: Johnson is the president and CEO of Fidelity Investments, and holds an estimated 28.5% ownership in the company. In 2022, American Banker named Johnson the second-most-powerful woman in finance, and she has been praised for embracing mobile technology and cryptocurrency in the company's business initiatives.

Residence: Milton

Net worth: $26.2 billion

Age: 62

Source of wealth: Gilbert is the founder and chairman of Rocket Companies, formerly known as Quicken Loans. From 2013 to 2018, under Gilbert's leadership, the company closed nearly half a trillion in home loans, according to the Gilbert Family Foundation. In 2020, when Quicken Loans went public as Rocket Companies, it was valued at $36 billion, Reuters reported.

Residence: Franklin

Net worth: $2.9 billion

Age: 83

Source of wealth: Taylor purchased Carlson Letter Service, a wedding stationery business that he worked for while attending college, in 1975, according to the company's website. It became the Taylor Corporation, a print services and communications company. He also owns stakes in the Minnesota Timberwolves and other sports teams.

Residence: Mankato

Net worth: $3 billion

Age: 66 and 63

Source of wealth: The Duff brothers' wealth originates from their family business: tires. Their father, Ernest, founded Southern Tire Mart in the '70s and sold it in 1998. James and Thomas bought it back in 2003 and then cofounded Duff Capital Investors, a holding company, in 2007. According to Forbes, it now brings in $5 billion in revenue across 20+ businesses.

Residence: Hattiesburg

Net worth: $9.5 billion

Age: 76

Source of wealth: Morris is the founder and CEO of Bass Pro Shops, the outdoor gear chain that brings in $8.1 billion in sales revenue annually, according to Forbes. He founded Bass in 1972 in the back of his father's liquor store. In 2016, Bass acquired Cabela's for $5 billion.

Residence: Springfield

Net worth: $7 billion

Age: 89

Source of wealth: Washington owns a business group called Washington Companies, which owns copper mines, marine transportation, and heavy-equipment businesses. He's also invested in his son Kyle's container-ship business, Seaspan Corp.

Residence: Missoula

Net worth: $133 billion

Age: 93

Source of wealth: Buffett is perhaps one of the best-known and most successful investors of all time. He's made his fortune via Berkshire Hathaway, which owns brands such as Geico, Dairy Queen, and Duracell. Despite his immense wealth, he's also known for his modest spending habits.

Residence: Omaha

Net worth: $32 billion

Age: 78

Source of wealth: Miriam Adelson is on the list after the 2021 death of her husband, casino magnate and major Republican donor Sheldon Adelson. Now, Miriam Adelson and her family own over 50% of Las Vegas Sands, a casino company worth over $34 billion.

Residence: Las Vegas

Net worth: $19.6 billion

Age: 71

Source of wealth: Most of Cohen's familial wealth comes from Symbotic, a warehouse automation company that has partnered with Walmart. Cohen is the chairman and CEO. However, Cohen also owns the US' largest grocery wholesaler, C&S Wholesale Grocers, which brings in $33 billion annually, Forbes reported.

Residence: Keene

Net worth: $8 billion

Age: 74

Source of wealth: Commisso is the founder and CEO of Mediacom, the fifth-largest cable television provider in the US, based on the number of video customers, according to the brand. Commisso also owns two professional soccer teams: the New York Cosmos and ACF Fiorentina.

Residence: Saddle River

Net worth: $1.7 billion

Age: 62

Source of wealth: Corio's billionaire status — the first in New Mexico — stems from Array Technologies, a solar tracking systems business. He is the founder and former CEO, resigning in 2020 before its IPO.

Residence: Albuquerque

Net worth: $106 billion

Age: 82

Source of wealth: What hasn't Bloomberg done? Besides his 12-year stint as the mayor of New York City and an unsuccessful presidential campaign, Bloomberg cofounded Bloomberg LP in 1981. Bloomberg is a media company and a financial firm with revenues of $13 billion.

Residence: New York

Net worth: $10.1 billion

Age: 81

Source of wealth: Goodnight and his colleague John Sall (also a billionaire) cofounded a private school, Cary Academy, and also co-own a hotel and country club. But their biggest business venture together is the software company SAS, founded in 1976. It made over $3 billion in 2022, according to Forbes.

Residence: Cary

Net worth: $1.2 billion

Age: 78

Source of wealth: Tharaldson, the only billionaire in North Dakota, got his start in 1982 when Tharaldson Hospitality purchased a Super 8 Motel. It then became a huge hospitality group and one of America's largest developers of new hotels.

Residence: Fargo

Net worth: $6 billion

Age: 86

Source of wealth: Wexner opened The Limited in Ohio in the 1960s. He then founded a retail empire that, at one point, owned brands like Abercrombie & Fitch, The Limited Too, Express, and Victoria's Secret. Now Wexner's company has been renamed Bath & Body Works Inc., and solely owns the chain of the same name.

Residence: New Albany

Net worth: $18.5 billion

Age: 78

Source of wealth: Hamm founded the Shelly Dean Oil Company, now known as Continental Resources, in 1967 when he was only 21. It's now one of the largest oil companies in the US, thanks in part to Hamm's revolutionary decision to use horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing in the Bakken region of North Dakota in the '90s. The company went public in 2007, but in 2022, Hamm and his five children took the company private again in a deal worth $27 billion.

Residence: Oklahoma City

Net worth: $40.9 billion

Age: 86

Source of wealth: One word: Nike. Knight cofounded the iconic brand in 1964 alongside Bill Bowerman. Although Knight retired in 2016, he and his family still own 20% of the company, which, in 2023, earned $51 billion in fiscal revenue, per Forbes.

Residence: Hillsboro

Net worth: $27.6 billion

Age: 65

Source of wealth: After spending time as a pro gambler and trader on the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, Yass cofounded Susquehanna International Group in 1987. The successful Wall Street trading firm has a 15% stake in ByteDance, TikTok's parent company. NBC reported that Yass also has a personal share (7%) of ByteDance worth about $21 billion.

Residence: Haverford

Net worth: $3.4 billion

Age: 68

Source of wealth: In 1989, Nelson founded and led the private equity firm Providence Equity Partners. He was CEO until January 2021 and is now its executive chairman. The firm has invested in over 170 companies, including Hulu, Warner Media Group, and Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network (YES).

Residence: Providence

Net worth: $5.8 billion

Age: 60

Source of wealth: Robert "Bob" Faith founded Greystar, a global real estate firm, in 1993 and continues to serve as chairman and CEO. Throughout his career, Faith grew Greystar from 9,000 units in the US to more than 850,000 units across five continents, worth more than $290 billion, the company reported in an April press release. The company also has an investment management platform with $34 billion in assets under development.

Residence: Charleston

Net worth: $2.1 billion

Age: 88

Source of wealth: The University of Minnesota alum made his fortune as the owner of First Premier Bank. Despite having just 17 branches across South Dakota, the bank is one of the largest issuers of Mastercards, in part because it specializes in offering credit cards to those with low credit scores. Often, the cards have low limits and high interest rates.

Residence: Sioux Falls

Net worth: $26.2 billion

Age: 85

Source of wealth: Frist Jr. cofounded Hospital Corp. of America with his father in 1968. According to its website, the for-profit healthcare company is responsible for 186 hospitals and over 2,400 care sites (like urgent care centers, surgery clinics, and physician clinics) across the US and UK. He and his family own over 20% of the company, and his sons, Thomas Frist III and William Frist, are board members.

Residence: Nashville

Net worth: $195 billion

Age: 52

Source of wealth: Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are in a continuous battle for the title of richest person in the US. Musk is cofounder of tech giants Tesla and SpaceX, neurotechnology startup Neuralink, and tunneling company The Boring Company. He also helped found OpenAI, but he left in 2018 and announced his own AI endeavor, xAI, in 2023. He also owns an estimated 74% of social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

Residence: Austin

Net worth: $3.9 billion

Age: 80

Source of wealth: Miller owns the Larry H. Miller Company, which she founded with her husband, Larry H. Miller, in 1979 after purchasing their first Toyota dealership. The LHM Company's car dealership business became the eighth-largest in the US, and she sold it for $3.2 billion in 2021, Forbes reported. (Larry H. Miller died in 2009.) LHM's portfolio also includes companies in real estate, entertainment, sports, and insurance, among others. In 2020, after more than 30 years of owning the Utah Jazz, Miller sold the team and their home arena for $1.66 billion.

Residence: Salt Lake City

Net worth: $1.9 billion

Age: 87

Source of wealth: In 1979, Abele cofounded Boston Scientific, a medical device manufacturer, alongside Peter Nicholas. Boston Scientific focuses on developing more accessible medical technologies, and its products include pacemakers, defibrillators, and stents.

Residence: Shelburne

Net worth: $38.5 billion

Age: 84

Source of wealth: As the granddaughter of Mars Incorporated founder Frank C. Mars, Jacqueline owns an estimated one-third of the legendary candy, food, and pet-care company responsible for treats like Snickers, Juicy Fruit, and Milky Way. (Her brother owns another third and is the richest person in Wyoming, per Forbes.) She served on the board of directors until 2016, having spent nearly 20 years with the company.

Residence: The Plains

Net worth: $128 billion

Age: 68

Source of wealth: Bill Gates is best known as the cofounder of the software company Microsoft. However, he also has an impressive investment portfolio, including companies like Carbon Engineering, EarthNow, Deere & Co., and Republic Services. As of March 2020, Gates owns about 1.3% of Microsoft, which is worth trillions.

Residence: Medina

Net worth: $900 million

Age: 60

Source of wealth: During Smith's time as CEO and then executive chairman of the finance and business software company Intuit, the company's revenue almost doubled, Forbes reported. The success came after Intuit revamped its desktop software into a digital cloud-based platform. Now the president of Marshall University, he also chairs Nordstrom's board of directors and sits on the boards of Amazon and SurveyMonkey.

Residence: Huntington

Net worth: $25.2 billion

Age: 84

Source of wealth: Menard Jr. founded Menards, the third-largest home-improvement chain in the US behind Home Depot and Lowe's. With over 300 locations across 15 Midwestern states, the company earned $13.4 billion in 2023.

Residence: Eau Claire

Net worth: $38.5 billion

Age: 88

Source of wealth: Mars — whose sister is Jacqueline Mars, Virginia's richest person — is another heir of the Mars family fortune amassed from candy products such as Snickers, Mars Bars, and M&M's, as well as Pedigree pet food and Uncle Ben's rice. He owns a third of the $45 billion business.

Residence: Jackson