Beyond the Numbers: Ranking the Super-Rich

Sept. 21, 2006 — -- Sure, you've banked a billion dollars and now you're on the Forbes list of richest Americans. It's great that you're rich, but what kind of rich are you?

The world's most famous capitalist magazine has been on newsstands since 1917, and the editors have been compiling the rich list for 24 years.

Every year an editor and reporters spend about six months compiling the vaunted list and have to come up with some interesting way to slice and dice the top roster of American wealth.

Just plastering the richest at the top and the poorest -- if you can call them that -- at the bottom would be, well, boring.

This year Forbes associate editor Matt Miller donned his thinking cap and came up with 13 categories that allowed all 400 members of the super-rich club to be presented in a comprehensible way. They're organized according to the industries in which they made their fortunes.

"It's more interesting to the reader to divvy them up this way," Miller said. "People like to compare to their competitors -- their peers."

For example, the moneyed class from science, medicine and insurance all live in a paper neighborhood called Healers & Dealers. The traditional manufacturing moguls all hang out in the Bricks & Mortar section of the 'zine.

Forbes 400 Categories -- 2006:

• Bricks & Mortar -- Manufacturing
• Cash Kings -- Investments
• Courtesy Callers -- Service
• First Ladies -- Women
• Headliners -- Media
• Healers & Dealers -- Science/Medicine
• Heavy Hawkers -- Retail
• Land Lords -- Real Estate
• Petro Princes -- Energy/Oil
• Sharp Suitors -- Fashion
• Taste Makers -- Food
• Team Players -- Recreation/Sports
• Technocrats -- Technology

The annual cross-tabbing of the rich list reveals much more than what was on the editor's mind. You can spot economic trends in there.

"Every year, there are fewer and fewer manufacturing guys on the list," Miller said. "That category has been in there since the beginning of the list, but as the American manufacturing sector has waned, we've seen its numbers dwindle."