These Kansas and Missouri billionaires are some of the richest in the country for 2025
Kansas and Missouri have seven of the 400 richest Americans, according to a September 2025 report by financial publication Forbes.
With residences from Springfield to Wichita, these individuals appeared on the annual Forbes 400 ranking.
The seven individuals are worth a total of $122 billion, more than $9 billion more than last year. The total is greater than the combined 2024-2025 state budgets of Kansas and Missouri ($76.3 billion).
The 400 richest Americans are worth a total of $6.6 trillion, greater than the gross domestic products of India and Russia combined, according to most recent World Bank data.
An individual with a net worth of a billion dollars has over 5,000 times the wealth of the median American household — $192,000 net worth, according to the most recent data from the Federal Reserve.
Here are the seven richest people living in Kansas and Missouri, as of Sept. 1, 2025.
Charles Koch and family
- Net worth: $73.8 billion
- Age: 89
- Residence: Wichita
- Rank: 17th richest in the U.S.
Charles Koch’s father started Koch Industries, where Charles has been chairman for more than 50 years. The company, now known as Koch, Inc., is involved in gas pipelines, chemicals and manufacturing, among other industries. Charles, along with his late brother, David, has given significant money to conservative organizations.
David Steward
- Net worth: $12.4 billion
- Age: 74
- Residence: St. Louis
- Rank: 98th richest in the U.S.
In 1990, David Steward co-founded World Wide Technology alongside Jim Kavanaugh. The University of Central Missouri graduate’s IT company has customers including Verizon, Citi and the federal government.
Pauline MacMillan Keinath
- Net worth: $8.5 billion
- Age: 91
- Residence: St. Louis
- Rank: 158 richest in the U.S.
The great-grandfather of Pauline MacMillan Keinath founded Cargill, one of the largest food companies in the world. She is one of 12 billionaire heirs to Cargill.
John Morris
- Net worth: $7.9 billion
- Age: 77
- Residence: Springfield
- Rank: 176 richest in the U.S.
In 1972, John Morris started what became the outdoor retailer Bass Pro Shops. He bought rival Cabela’s in 2017, doubling the size of the company. He opened a concert arena in Missouri in 2022 that started regularly having shows in 2024.
Jim Kavanaugh
- Net worth: $7.7 billion
- Age: 62
- Residence: St. Louis
- Rank: 187 richest in the U.S.
Jim Kavanaugh, a St. Louis University graduate, founded World Wide Technology with David Steward. The former pro soccer player works as the company’s CEO.
Min Kao and family
- Net worth: $7.5 billion
- Age: 76
- Residence: Leawood
- Rank: 192 richest in the U.S.
Min Kao co-founded GPS company Garmin in 1989, which is based in Olathe. Kao was born in Taiwan and has made major donations to engineering departments at University of Kansas and Kansas State.
Rodger Riney and family
- Net worth: $4.2 billion
- Age: 79
- Residence: St. Louis
- Rank: 352 richest in the U.S.
Rodger Riney co-founded now-defunct stockbroker Scottrade in 1980. The business was headquartered in St. Louis until it was bought in 2017 by TD Ameritrade.
This story was originally published October 8, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
