Françoise Bettencourt Meyers, the 70-year-old granddaughter of L'Oréal founder Eugène Schueller, is the richest woman in the world, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Bettencourt Meyers is worth around $100 billion, mostly due to her stake in L'Oreal, the world's biggest cosmetics maker with sales of about $44 billion in 2023. She's the first woman to reach such a sizeable net worth.
Though her wealth has fallen $658 million year-to-date, she's still in the 14th spot on the Bloomberg list.
Here's a look at her life and wealth.
Françoise Bettencourt Meyers, 70, is the granddaughter of L'Oreal founder Eugène Schueller.
Françoise Bettencourt Meyers, far right, with her parents, Liliane Bettencourt and André Bettencourt.
Pierre Vauthey/Getty Images
Schueller, a pharmacist, founded the company that was to become L'Oreal in 1909.
His daughter and Bettencourt Meyers' mother, Liliane, inherited Schueller's fortune and control of the company upon his death in 1957.
Along with her husband, André Bettencourt, a French politician, the Bettencourts were well known in France for their glamorous parties.
But Bettencourt Meyers was less interested in the socialite lifestyle of her parents, preferring to stay in and play the piano or read, Vanity Fair reported.
Bettencourt Meyers had a fraught relationship with her mother.
Liliane Bettencourt and her daughter Françoise Bettencourt Meyers.
Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images
Their mother-daughter relationship was strained ever since Bettencourt Meyers was a teenager.
"Françoise was heavy and slow," Bettencourt once said, per Vanity Fair. "Always one lap behind me."
Bettencourt also called Françoise "a cold child" in an interview with a French newspaper, per The New York Times.
As an adult, Bettencourt Meyers chose to focus on her career as an author.
Bettencourt Meyers has written books on mythology and the Bible.
ALAIN JOCARD/AFP via Getty Images
The heiress has written books on topics ranging from Greek mythology to Judaism and Catholicism.
Her most recent book, a Biblical commentary entitled "Regard sur la Bible," was published in 2008, according to its Amazon page.
Bettencourt Meyers also sits on L'Oréal's board and chairs the family's holding company.
Bettencourt Meyers has sat on L'Oréal's board for decades and more recently became vice chair.
Getty Images
Bettencourt Meyers has a 35% stake in L'Oréal. She has been a director since 1997 and vice chair of the board since 2020, according to the company.
Her relationship with her mother came to a tipping point when Bettencourt Meyers initiated a decade-long family feud over her inheritance.
A photographer named François-Marie Banier was the subject of a disagreement between Bettencourt Meyers and her mother.
Getty Images
In the lawsuit, Bettencourt Meyers alleged that photographer François-Marie Banier used his friendship with Liliane Bettencourt to manipulate the elderly heiress into giving him some 1.3 billion euros ($1.4 billion) of cash, art, and life insurance policies, The New York Times reported in 2009.
Bettencourt, who was diagnosed with dementia, disputed her daughter's assertion, and said she freely shared her assets with Banier.
In a 2008 letter to Banier, Bettencourt described their relationship to him, writing: "With you, I am like a mother, a lover, all the feelings pass through me. It makes me tremble," according to Vanity Fair.
Bettencourt Meyers told a French news magazine in 2009 that Mr. Banier's "objective is clear: break away my mother from our family to profit from her. I will not let it happen."
The case went to trial in 2015. Bainer was convicted of "abus de faiblesse," or "abuse of weakness."
He was sentenced to two and half years in prison and told to pay Bettencourt 158 million euros in damages.
The jail sentence and payment were later reversed in an appeal.
In 2023, Netflix released a three-part documentary titled "The Billionaire, The Butler, and The Boyfriend" about the family drama.
The pair weren't on speaking terms after Bettencourt Meyers filed the criminal complaint in 2009.
Liliane Bettencourt and Françoise Bettencourt-Meyers.
Thibault Camus/AP
"I don't see my daughter anymore and I don't wish to," Bettencourt said in a 2008 interview, according to Vanity Fair. "For me, my daughter has become something inert."
A lawyer involved in the case told Vanity Fair: "The mother massacred the daughter, then the daughter massacred the mother."
The lawsuit also drudged up long-forgotten family secrets, including speculation that Bettencourt Meyer's father André and her grandfather were Nazi sympathizers.
André Bettencourt and Françoise Bettencourt-Meyers in 1988.
James Andanson/Getty Images
Bettencourt Meyers' grandfather, Eugène Schueller, had publicly commended Adolf Hitler's "dynamism" in the early years of Nazi Germany and was investigated as a Nazi collaborator after World War II ended.
Schueller was also a member of a secret society that plotted to overthrow France's republican government in the 1930s. The group, which was linked to multiple murders and bombings, was bankrolled by Schueller, who hosted its meetings at L'Oréal's headquarters.
André Bettencourt, Bettencourt Meyers' father, wrote anti-Semitic diatribes for the pro-German press during the war, according to Time, though he switched his allegiances and joined the Resistance. He was later decorated for his military service during World War II and went on to serve in the French government.
Even though she was on the winning side of the lawsuit, Bettencourt Meyers was later investigated for allegations of bribing a witness.
Bettencourt Meyers denied allegations of bribing a witness.
Antoine Gyori/Getty Images
The investigation stemmed from a criminal complaint filed by Banier in 2015, according to Vanity Fair. At the time, Bettencourt Meyers said the payment she made to the witness was part severance payment and part personal loan, not a bribe for the testimony.
That suit and Bettencourt Meyers' countersuit against Banier were resolved in a secret plea deal in 2016, Vanity Fair reported.
Bettencourt Meyers inherited tens of billions of dollars when her mother died in 2017, and valuable assets like this mansion in the suburbs of Paris …
Liliane Bettencourt died in 2017 at the age of 94.
Samir Tolba/AFP/Getty Images
The house is located in Neuilly-sur-Seine, a wealthy suburb west of Paris. Neuilly-sur-Seine is known in France as "power suburb, a place not only of wealth but influence," according to The Independent. Over the years, it's been home to actors like Christian Clavier, Thierry Lhermitte, and Gerard Jugnot, and politician Marine Le Pen.
The Art Deco mansion and is where Bettencourt spent her final days, Time reported.
… and this mansion overlooking France's Brittany coast.
Bettencourt Meyers inherited multiple properties when her mother died.
Getty Images
The mansion was one of Bettencourt's childhood homes, The New York Times reported.
Bettencourt Meyers lived in this nearby home.
Bettencourt Meyers' home in Neuilly-sur-Seine.
Boris Horvat/AFP/Getty Images
French police searched this home in 2010 as a part of the investigations surrounding the Bettencourt affair, Bloomberg reported at the time.
Bettencourt Meyers lived there with her husband Jean-Pierre Meyers.
Jean-Victor Meyers, Nicolas Meyers, Francoise Bettencourt Meyers and her husband Jean-Pierre Meyers in 2019.
Bertrand Rindoff Petroff/Getty Images for Fondation L'Oreal
Jean-Pierre Meyers is CEO of the Bettencourt Meyers family's holding company, Téthys.
The couple has two adult sons, Jean-Victor and Nicolas, both of whom are on L'Oreal's board of directors along with Bettencourt Meyers.
In 2023, Bettencourt Meyers became the first woman to reach a $100 billion fortune.
Bettencourt Meyers broke a record for women's wealth in 2023.
Francois Guillot/AFP/Getty Images
Bettencourt Meyers is worth around $100 billion, Bloomberg estimates, making her the world's wealthiest woman and the 14th richest person.
She's been the world's richest woman for five of the last six years, according to Forbes.
She and her family control about a third of L'Oréal, which owns mass-market brands like Maybelline, Essie, Garnier, and, of course, L'Oréal, as well as high-end beauty companies like Urban Decay, Lancôme, and Kiehl's. L'Oréal also licenses the beauty divisions of luxury fashion houses including Yves Saint Laurent and Valentino.
Bettencourt Meyers has dedicated some of her billions to philanthropy.
Françoise Bettencourt Meyers is the granddaughter of L'Oréal founder Eugène Schueller.
Bettencourt Meyers is also the president of the Bettencourt Schueller Foundation, the charity she and her parents founded in 1987. It issues grants to support research in the life sciences and arts projects, according to its website.
In 2023, it gave 68.6 million euros, or roughly $74 million, in grants.
The billionaire slammed the company's demonstration of its new AI model called GPT-4o "made me cringe."
OpenAI debuted the new model on Monday, demonstrating its improved voice and vision capabilities.
The model functions as a digital assistant and allows users to communicate with the bot verbally and visually. The new and improved bot quickly sparked parallels to the 2013 movie "Her" — in which Scarlett Johannson voices the artificially intelligent love interest of Joaquin Phoenix.
Musk left comments on several posts mocking the new update, including some that suggested OpenAI had turned ChatGPT into an AI girlfriend.
The billionaire has been engaged in an ongoing spat with OpenAI, a company he helped to create.
Musk, one of OpenAI's original founders, left in 2018 and has since been critical of its various releases. He criticized the company for creating ChatGPT with what he saw as a left-leaning bias and called some responses "concerning."
He's also issued a high-profile lawsuit against OpenAI, accusing it of abandoning its founding principles amid a multibillion-dollar partnership with Microsoft.
Musk has also launched a rival AI company, xAI, and an AI-powered chatbot to compete with ChatGPT.
Amid the posts mocking OpenAI's latest release, the Tesla CEO also took the time to comment on a post about his own AI chatbot — claiming Grok was getting a "major upgrade" in the near future.
Representatives for OpenAI and Musk did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider, made outside normal working hours.
The White House has announced it will impose tariffs on $18 billion worth of Chinese goods.
The new measures target Chinese EVs, with tariffs rising from 25% to 100%.
It comes as fears grow that a wave of cheap Chinese EVs could upend the US market.
Joe Biden has hiked tariffs on Chinese electric cars as he looks to protect the US auto industry from a wave of cheap Chinese EVs.
The White House announced early Tuesday that it was imposing tariffs on $18 billion worth of Chinese goods, including a 100% tax on Chinese-made electric cars.
The tariffs also target lithium batteries, solar cells, and semiconductors, and are likely to inflame tensions between the two economic superpowers further.
The rise in tariffs on Chinese EVs — from 25% to 100% — will likely be a relief for the US auto industry, which has become increasingly nervous about the prospect of competing with electric vehicles sold by Chinese companies at far cheaper prices.
A military parade at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea.
STR via Getty Images
Russia is believed to be using North Korean missiles and shells in its invasion of Ukraine.
North Korean shells are often defective and blow up before being fired, reports claim.
South Korean intelligence said Monday it suspects the weapons may date from the 1970s.
Russia is using North Korean artillery shells in its invasion of Ukraine that may have been made in the 1970s, South Korean media reported.
South Korean intelligence, the National Intelligence Service (NIS), told news agency Yonhap that it's reviewing reports that North Korea has supplied its ally Russia with weapons made five decades ago.
"The NIS is analyzing the relevant circumstance in detail and also continues to track overall military cooperation between North Korea and Russia," the spy agency said.
Russia and Ukraine are firing tens of thousands of shells a day in what has become a grinding attritional campaign.
Russia is boosting the number of shells it is capable of producing domestically to keep up with demand, but in the meantime, it has turned to ally North Korea for help.
According to a report by the US Congress earlier in May, North Korea provided "10,000 shipping containers of ammunition or related materials (potentially containing more than 3 million rounds of artillery ammunition) to Russia since October 2023."
But Ukrainian officials in December said the North Korean shells are often defective and have blown up before being fired, damaging Russian artillery and mortars and even killing troops.
The NIS, Yonhap reported, also said that it is monitoring the illicit shipment of missile parts to North Korea amid concerns it's using them to build new weapons.
Wailea Beach on the island of Maui in Hawaii on July 28, 2022.
Gado/Getty Images
A family is suing Hawaiian tourism authorities and a resort in Maui after a man died snorkeling.
They allege negligence and a failure to warn about the risks of snorkeling.
The family argues his death was caused by ROPE, not accidental drowning, as the autopsy stated.
A Michigan woman and her adult children are suing a Maui resort and Hawaiian tourism bodies after her husband's death, claiming they failed to warn him of the potential risks of snorkeling.
According to the lawsuit, the family is seeking an unspecified amount of damages and a trial by jury.
Patricia and Ray Johnson arrived at the Fairmont Kea Lani in Maui on February 23, 2022, marking the couple's sixth visit to Hawaii.
Two days later, Ray, 64, and other vacationers snorkeled around Wailea Beach, situated in front of the hotel resort. While walking on a trail adjacent to the beach, Patricia told USA TODAY that she saw other snorkelers helping her husband.
She told the news outlet that she rushed to the beach, where "things deteriorated quickly," and despite calling 911, medical professionals were unable to revive her husband.
Although the autopsy attributed Ray Johnson's death to accidental drowning, Patricia Johnson and her family contest this.
In the lawsuit, which was reviewed by Business Insider, the Johnson family argues that ROPE — Rapid Onset Pulmonary Edema —likely led to Ray Johnson's passing.
ROPE is a sudden-onset condition characterized by the accumulation of fluid in the lungs' air sacs, which can make breathing difficult, according to the Mayo Clinic.
A July 2010 Snorkel Safety Study, conducted in collaboration with the Hawaii State Department of Health and the Hawaii Tourism Authority, distinguishes drowning by ROPE from drowning by aspirating water.
It said ROPE does not necessarily need "submersion in or inhalation of liquid" and often looks different from drowning by aspiration.
The study said drowning by ROPE often involves shortness of breath, confusion, and unconsciousness, with an absence of a visible struggle.
Patricia Johnson told ABC 7 Eyewitness News that Ray had kept his head above water before appearing disorientated.
"It didn't make sense. When I got the autopsy report, it said drowning. I watched Ray come in," Patricia Johnson told KITV. "When you are drowning, you are not talking to the people around you."
According to the lawsuit, Ray Johnson eventually lost consciousness before reaching the shore.
The lawsuit cites the Snorkel Safety Study and accuses the defendants — the Fairmont Kea Lani, the Hawaiian Tourism Authority, and the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau — of negligence for failing to adequately warn tourists about the risks of ROPE when snorkeling.
The lawsuit said the defendants have "essentially ignored the Study, its conclusions about the risks to tourist safety, and especially its recommended warnings."
The study noted that several factors can contribute to ROPE, including snorkel resistance and underlying heart and lung diseases.
While acknowledging Ray's history of cardiac issues, the lawsuit said that he had not been advised by a doctor to refrain from physical activity.
The lawsuit also said that Ray wasn't aware that he should wait a few days after flying to snorkel: "Had he received the warnings crafted by the Study authors, he would have heeded them."
While the Snorkel Safety Study acknowledged the plausibility of air travel as a contributing factor to ROPE, it noted that it remains only a hypothesis.
The Johnson family's attorney, Jay Stuemke, told Business Insider by email that: "Since the tourism industry refuses to do the right thing and warn incoming tourists of these hazards, it is incumbent upon us to do so."
He added: "If even one life is saved by this message, then Ray Johnson will not have died in vain."
Speaking to USA TODAY, Patricia Johnson said she hoped the lawsuit would lead to more warnings. "I truly believe my husband would still be here if we'd been warned," she said.
The Fairmont Kea Lani and Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau did not immediately respond to requests for comment, while the Hawaiian Tourism Authority declined to comment on litigation.
OpenAI CTO Mira Murati thanked Nvidia boss Jensen Huang as the company revealed its latest AI model.
It's a sign of just how important Nvidia is to the AI arms race.
Tech giants are stockpiling the company's H100 chips, and its profits are booming as a result.
OpenAI unveiled its latest model Monday — and the company gave a shoutout to AI's kingmaker.
OpenAI CTO Mira Murati thanked Jensen Huang, the CEO of Nvidia, for providing the microchips that allowed the AI startup to demo its brand-new GPT-4o model.
"Thanks to Jensen and the Nvidia team, for bringing us the most advanced GPUs to make this demo possible today," said Murati during OpenAI's "Spring Update" livestream.
It's yet another demonstration of just how important Nvidia is to the AI arms race. The company's H100 GPUs, which can sell for upwards of $40,000 apiece, are used by AI companies to train and run their models.
This demand has made Nvidia one of the world's most valuable companies.
Goldman Sachs described Huang as the "godfather of AI" before the company's fourth-quarter earnings, which saw Nvidia rake in $22.1 billion in revenue during the quarter, up 265% from the previous year.
Nvidia's stranglehold over the AI industry is unlikely to change anytime soon. The company unveiled its new "Blackwell" AI chip in March, which Huang said was twice as fast as the H100 and would enable advanced AI features such as turning speech into 3D video.
One person who could challenge Nvidia's dominant position in the GPU market is Sam Altman. The OpenAI CEO is reportedly trying to raise up to $7 trillion for a venture that would boost the world's AI chip supply amid a global shortage.
Huang has expressed skepticism over the reported plans, joking in comments at a summit in Dubai that $7 trillion could buy "apparently all the GPUs."
Nvidia did not immediately respond to a request for comment made outside normal working hours.
Americans with a college degree say they'd need a six-figure salary to consider switching jobs.
FG Trade/Getty Images
College-educated Americans say they'd need at least a $100,000 salary, on average, to change jobs.
But higher-paying jobs are getting harder to find.
Hiring has slowed for some white-collar workers in higher-paying sectors.
A $100,000-a-year salary used to be something most Americans dreamed about. But nowadays, some workers have no interest in a job if it doesn't pay six figures.
In the New York Fed's Survey of Consumer Expectations, a nationally representative survey of roughly 1,300 US households, respondents provide their reservation wage — the lowest annual wage they'd be willing to accept for a new job.
As of the most recent March data, the average reservation wage for Americans with a college degree rose to a survey-high of $99,081, up from $97,270 in March 2023 and $81,758 in March 2020.
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Experts say the sharp rise in the reservation wage in recent years could be due in part to high worker satisfaction at their current jobs, enhanced worker bargaining power, and the desire to keep up with the rising costs of food, housing, cars, childcare, and other expenses. But there's a problem for Americans who are looking for a six-figure income: Jobs that pay this well aren't super common — and they may be getting even harder to come by.
The median weekly earnings for full-time workers aged 25 and older with a Bachelor's degree is $1,493, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That's about $78,000 over the course of a year —quite a ways from $100,000. And, on average, job hunters overall are getting offered $73,668 when they receive new full-time offers, per the NY Fed data — further showcasing the disparity between what some Americans want out of jobs, and how much they're actually making.
Additionally, there's evidence that the job market for high-wage roles has cooled.
A Vanguard report published in March found that the hiring rate has held steady for workers who earn less than $55,000 a year, but has fallen for workers in the top third of earners — who make over $96,000 — to its lowest level since 2014. It means that not as many Americans are landing new jobs that pay in the six-figure range.
What's more, overall job growth slowed in April, and the sectors that added the most jobs were generally lower-paying, including retail trade, wholesale trade, transportation and warehousing, and healthcare and social assistance. Higher-paying sectors, including manufacturing, construction, and professional and business services, saw slower job growth — each of these sectors has fewer job openings than they did a year or two ago.
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When job openings were at record highs in 2022, more Americans were able to switch jobs to get higher pay. But the job market isn't quite as accommodating today, among the reasons the job-switching rate has fallen — and the Great Resignation has turned into the Big Stay.
To be sure, it's not just college-educated Americans who have raised their pay expectations.
The average reservation wage for people without a degree was $68,390, up from $59,683 in March 2023 and $48,778 in March 2020. The average reservation wage among all respondents was $81,822, up from $75,811 and $61,377 in March 2020.
While lower-income workers have generally seen strong wage growth in recent years relative to higher earners — and may face a more favorable job market — job openings and wage growth have declined across most sectors over the last year.
Where to find a $100,000-a-year job
If you're on the hunt for a $100,000 salary, certain career paths could be more promising.
An analysis published last fall by the job-listing site Ladders found that the 10 most popular job titles that paid more than $100,000 included software engineer, licensed clinical social worker, systems engineer, and project manager.
If one is curious about how well a certain job pays, the Bureau of Labor Statistics provides the average annual wages of over 1,000 different job titles. With an average annual wage of nearly $450,000, pediatric surgeons come out on top.
Lastly, some college majors could put one on a better path to a six-figure income. A New York Fed analysis found that college graduates who majored in one of 14 areas of study had a median mid-career wage of at least $100,000 a year. One area of study accounted for nine of the 14 spots: engineering.
More Americans are becoming ALICEs — asset-limited, income-constrained, and employed. They live above the federal poverty line, but struggle to afford basic necessities.
Douglas Sacha/Getty Images, Tara Moore/Getty Images, Yevgen Romanenko/Getty Images, We Are/Getty Images, Abanti Chowdhury/BI
DINKs are known for having disposable income, but some childfree adults are also struggling.
In fact, many childfree adults are ALICEs — asset-limited, income-constrained, and employed.
Without dependents, many low-income workers have a harder time accessing tax credits and government assistance.
America's DINKs— dual-income couples with no children — are known for having disposable income and spending their paychecks on major investments, luxury vacations, and early retirement.
These households have previously told Business Insider that they can spend extra money on their lifestyle because they don't have any child-related costs. By definition, DINKs aren't necessarily rich, but they do have a reputation for living a life of freedom and excess cash.
A growing number of child–free adults, however, are falling through the cracks of the US economy. Many low-income childfree adults fall into the ALICE category — people who are asset-limited, income-constrained, and employed. Twenty-nine percent of US households make too much to qualify for government assistance but not enough to comfortably afford daily life. And ALICEs who aren't parents face unique challenges: it is especially difficult to qualify for financial help or tax credits without young children, even if you need the help.
Poor, non-elderly adults who are not raising children and don't qualify for disability benefits made up nearly 106 million people in 2017, according to a Census analysis. What's more, they have a higher risk of experiencing homelessness and long-term poverty, per the Brookings report.
Low-income adults without children face barriers to government assistance
Low-income, childfree adults have a higher likelihood of falling into poverty, and often stay in poverty long-term because they can't access assistance,wrote Robert Greenstein, the author of the Brookings report.
"The safety net for these non-elderly childless adults is so limited, those non-elderly adults who are poor tend to be poorer than others living in poverty," wrote Greenstein, who is also a visiting fellow of economic studies for the Brookings Institution, which is affiliated with The Hamilton Project, an economic policy initiative.
The report found that half of the Americans living in "deep poverty" — those with incomes that are at or below 50% of the poverty line, which is $7,290 annually for one person — are childfree adults not receiving disability benefits.
Greenstein wrotethat this population is at a disadvantage when applying for government support, especially as it comes to tax credits and housing assistance, even if their household income is low.
For example, they don't qualify for the child tax credit, which allows families with dependents to receive thousands of dollars in tax breaks each year. The Earned Income Tax Credit— which offers refundable tax credits for low- and moderate-income workers — is also very limited for childfree employees, who receive fewer than 4% of the EITC's overall benefits, according to the Brookings report.
Greenstein also wrote that over 7 million low-income adults who are between the ages of 18 to 61 and don't live with minors pay more than 50% of their income on rent — making them severely rent-burdened. The majority of these adults don't receive any state or federal rental assistance.
Additionally, parents can more easily access SNAP food benefits than childfree adults because they are exempt from having to work a required amount of hours each week to receive assistance.
Many Social Security and Medicare programs also primarily offer assistance to older adults, excluding adults under 62.
Although strengthening the US financial safety net for this population is complex, Greenstein offered a few solutions. He suggested expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit to benefit more adults without children, along with removing the extra qualifications childfree adults must meet to access SNAP benefits.
An expansion of Medicaid through the Affordable Care Act would also allow more adults to get the healthcare they need — even if they don't qualify for disability benefits or Social Security, Greenstein said.
Are you making an income above the poverty line but still struggling to afford daily life? Have you faced challenges qualifying for government assistance because you don't have children? Reach out to this reporter at allisonkelly@insider.com.
March data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows the state has a record-high number of people in the labor force and a record-high number of jobs.
Starting in June 2023, the unemployment rate in Texas has consistently been 3.9%, and the rate has been close to or at the national unemployment rate during 2024 so far. Plus, the state added over 80,000 jobs in the first three months of the year.
Amid a robust job market and with around 15.2 million people in the Texas labor force, Business Insider decided to look at what pay opportunities look like in the state based on recently published data.
Around two dozen jobs in Texas pay an average of over $175,000, including architectural and engineering managers, podiatrists, ophthalmologists, and athletes and other sports competitors.
That's based on average annual wage data from the May 2023 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics estimates published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. BI focused on jobs that had data available for Texas from that release. While pediatric surgeon is a high-paying job in the state, we didn't include it in our ranking below because it didn't have a specific estimate stated.
Below are the highest-paying jobs in Texas along with their average annual wages and employment estimates in the state.
26. Postsecondary health specialties teachers
Nastasic/Getty Images
Average annual wage: $176,430
Employment estimate: 25,650
25. Lawyers
Maskot/Getty Images
Average annual wage: $177,890
Employment estimate: 45,950
24. Commercial pilots
Maravic/Getty Images
Average annual wage: $180,660
Employment estimate: 6,360
23. Architectural and engineering managers
South_agency/Getty Images
Average annual wage: $185,320
Employment estimate: 18,540
22. Podiatrists
pedro arquero/Getty Images
Average annual wage: $201,210
Employment estimate: 260
21. Psychiatrists
Fiordaliso/Getty Images
Average annual wage: $205,270
Employment estimate: 1,040
20. Family medicine physicians
Jose Luis Pelaez Inc/Getty Images
Average annual wage: $214,720
Employment estimate: 5,920
19. Nurse anesthetists
SDI Productions/Getty Images
Average annual wage: $216,280
Employment estimate: 5,390
18. Dentists
SeventyFour/Getty Images
Average annual wage: $220,000
Employment estimate: 10,910
17. General internal medicine physicians
Halfpoint/Getty Images
Average annual wage: $224,640
Employment estimate: 2,690
16. Pediatricians
Drazen Zigic/Getty Images
Average annual wage: $225,220
Employment estimate: 2,530
15. Airline pilots, copilots, and flight engineers
Arlington, Virginia, retirees have the highest retirement income nationwide.
Nate Hovee
Residents of Arlington, VA have the nation's highest retirement incomes, per a SmartAsset analysis of Census data.
The average retirement income in large cities is $52,723, lower than the median US household income.
One in five older Americans claim they have no retirement savings, according to AARP.
Residents of some cities in Virginia, Massachusetts, and Texas have the nation's highest retirement income and Social Security benefits.
Arlington, Virginia, ranked highest in retirement income, followed by Cambridge, Massachusetts, and The Woodlands, Texas, according to a SmartAsset analysis of the Census Bureau's 2022 1-year American Community Survey. Three of the top eight large cities with the highest incomes were in the Washington, DC, area.
The analysis calculated that the average retirement income in large cities for which Census data was available totals $52,723, much lower than the median US household income of $74,580. Nationwide, many older Americans are worried they won't be able to retire comfortably, while younger Americans fear they're not saving enough.
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According to AARP, one in five older Americans said they have no retirement savings, while over half think they won't have enough money for a comfortable retirement.
Some "peak boomers," or those set to reach 65 in the next few years, previously told Business Insider they won't be able to retire for the foreseeable future, even those with master's degrees and long careers.
In its ranking of 345 cities, SmartAsset determined that Arlington residents aged 65 or over have an average total retirement income of $90,140, divided into $24,296 in Social Security income and $65,844 in income from pension plans, annuities, IRA plans, or 401(k)s.
The neighboring city of Alexandria ranked fifth with an average of $77,952 — $51,409 from retirement accounts and $23,632 from Social Security. Washington, DC, was slightly lower at $75,088 on average.
The DC area's high retirement incomes stem mainly from higher pension and IRA incomes instead of Social Security payments, which are lower than many other cities in the top 20.
The second-highest city, over $10,000 a year less than Arlington, is Cambridge, whose average retiree makes $79,563 a year. This breaks down into $51,344 in retirement account income and $28,219 in Social Security income.
Berkeley, Highlands Ranch in Colorado, and Naperville in Illinois are other cities with total retirement incomes above $75,000.
Though not in the top 10 overall, Ann Arbor ranked highest for Social Security income at $30,428, followed closely by Carmel, Indiana, at $30,069. The top 10 for Social Security income included many Southern cities including Goodyear in Arizona, as well as Allen and Sugar Land in Texas.
Meanwhile, residents of 14 cities in SmartAsset's study depend on Social Security for over half their retirement income, including Lewisville, Texas, at 54.4%. Other cities in this demographic include Spring Hill, Florida, and South Bend, Indiana.