Chloe Atkinson
With just weeks
to go before Donald Trump waltzes back into the White House, America has an
additional problem on its hands. 
The homelessness
rate has surged, rising by 18% in 2024 compared to last year.
According to the
Department of Housing and Urban Development’s annual assessment report, more
than 770,000 people were experiencing homelessness on a single night in
January. Nearly 150,000 children experienced homelessness on a single night in
2024, a whopping 33% increase from 2023.
The number of
homeless older Americans also rose, with more than 140,000 people over the age
of 55 going unhoused in the U.S. this year. Nearly half of these older
Americans reported living in places not meant for humans.
“No American
should face homelessness, and the Biden-Harris Administration is committed to
ensuring every family has access to the affordable, safe and quality housing
they deserve,” HUD Agency Head Adrianne Todman said in a statement.
But the question
remains: Why did 2024 see a surge in homelessness?
According to
some experts, there are several factors that contributed to this increase, such
as rising housing costs, surging immigration, and the end of many COVID-19
relief programs.
According to a
Pew Charitable Trusts study, rising rental prices are directly linked to an
increase in homelessness in the United States.
In other words,
while homelessness often has several contributing factors, including substance
abuse, mental health, weather, social safety net strength, poverty, or economic
conditions, none are as impactful as the role of high housing costs.
According to the
reports’ authors, “There are still places in the U.S. where levels of
homelessness are low, either because those places have low-cost housing readily
available—such as Mississippi, where homelessness is 10 times lower than
California—or because they have rapidly added housing and made a concerted
effort to reduce the ranks of residents without homes. In Houston, the rate of
homelessness is 19 times lower than it is in San Francisco, even though
Houston’s population has grown more than San Francisco’s in the past decade.
Looking at these markets helps to show how population growth generally does not
explain growth in homelessness, except in instances where there is not a
sufficient increase in the housing supply.”
Interestingly,
and perhaps recognizing the direct link between housing and homelessness,
Enterprise Community Partners (Enterprise) recently announced a $65 million
grant from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, billionaire Jeff Bezos’s ex-wife, to
assist in providing affordable housing for the homeless.
Like Enterprise,
the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) has conducted research into
this important issue and reached the same conclusion, suggesting that
policymakers can solve homelessness by scaling up proven solutions: rental
assistance and supportive services.
In CBPP’s view,
evidence shows that “we can solve homelessness if we address its primary
driver: the gap between incomes and rent. Rental assistance, which closes that
gap, has been proven highly effective at both rehousing people experiencing
homelessness and preventing future homelessness.”
Part of the
problem with the numbers we see is that cities receiving HUD assistance must
report once annually and they do this in the winter when more people seek
shelter.
What this means
is that if the census were taken in the summer months, we would see vastly
greater numbers as more people are willing to spend time on the streets in
warmer weather.
Thankfully, the
Biden administration made some progress, reducing homelessness not only among
the general population, but among veterans as well.
The number of
homeless veterans decreased nearly 12% during Biden’s term from 2023 to 2024,
going from 35,000 to 32,800, a drop of about 7.5%, according to data released
by HUD. This fall, the department announced veteran homelessness was at its
lowest level ever since tracking began in 2009.
But with Trump
coming into office, these numbers are bound to jump back up and we are likely
to witness an even greater rise in homelessness in the next four years.
Kellan
Jansen
Nobody
ever said life was fair. If it was, everyone might earn close to the same
amount of money. But the wealthiest billionaires earn more cash in an hour than
many people will see in their entire lives. Here’s how much top billionaires
earn hourly thanks to the outsized impact they have on the economy.
Breaking
Down the Math
When
calculating how much billionaires earn hourly, assume they work 40 hours a week
— or around 2,080 hours annually. That’s probably not entirely accurate, but
it’s a reasonable estimate.
Next,
you can look at how much a billionaire’s net worth has increased over the past
12 months. Divide that figure by the 2,080 hours they worked in the year and
you have the best estimate possible for the amount they earned on an hourly
basis.
Jeff
Bezos
Jeff
Bezos created Amazon, turning it into a trillion-dollar company before
retiring. His net worth is around $203 billion, according to Bloomberg, which
is up $26.4 billion over the last 12 months.
Using
the math from the previous section, that means he earned about $1.27 million
per hour last year. Not bad considering the average American brings in around
$1.7 million in lifetime earnings. Plus, Bezos is technically retired from his
role at Amazon now. So he may have earned that amount without even working 40
hours a week.
Mark
Zuckerberg
As
the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg is one of the most recognizable
billionaires on the planet. His net worth is around $154 billion — up $26.1
billion over the last 12 months, as cited by Bloomberg. That means he earned
about $1.25 million per hour last year — close to what Bezos made.
Bill
Gates
Bill
Gates didn’t do quite as well as his tech peers Zuckerberg and Bezos last year.
According to Bloomberg, his net worth increased by $9.28 billion over the last
12 months, which comes out to around $44.6 million per hour.
Warren
Buffet
Next
up is the Oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffet. His net worth increased by $12.9
billion over the last 12 months, according to Bloomberg — good for roughly $62
million hourly.
Buffet
is a bit of a unique addition to the list. Many of his peers built their wealth
by starting technology companies or assuming prominent roles in massive ones at
an early stage. Buffet didn’t. He built his fortune by consistently making
genius-level investment decisions throughout his over 50 years in the market.
His savvy has helped him outperform the S&P 500 market index over time.
Elon
Musk
Elon
Musk actually saw his net worth decline over the past 12 months, unlike many of
his counterparts on this list. It dipped by a cool $27.5 billion, as Bloomberg
cited, meaning he lost around $1.3 million for every hour he worked.
Don’t
feel too bad for Musk, though. His net worth of around $202 billion still
leaves him as the third-wealthiest man in the world. Plus, he was earning
around $333.33 million per day in early 2022.
Larry
Ellison
Larry
Ellison created Oracle, one of the most valuable companies in the world and a
major player in the growth of Silicon Valley. His net worth grew by $8.75
billion over the last year, according to Bloomberg — meaning he earned about
$42 million each hour he worked.
Steve
Balmer
Steve
Balmer was the CEO of Microsoft from 2000 to 2014 and owns the NBA’s Los
Angeles Clippers today. During his time as CEO, Ballmer amassed a 4% ownership
stake in the company, which is worth billions today, as reported by Techopedia.
This helped Ballmer reach a net worth of around $139 billion, Bloomberg cited.
That figure increased by $8.67 billion over the last 12 months, good for around
$41.6 million per hour.
Bernard
Arnault
Bernard
Arnault is currently the richest man in the world with a net worth of around
$217 billion, according to Bloomberg. He made his wealth by creating some of
the most popular luxury brands on the planet, including Louis Vuitton,
Hennessey and Moet. Over the last 12 months, Arnault’s fortune increased by
about $9.28 billion — good for around $44.6 million per hour. Suffice it to
say, he can more than afford his own products.
Sergey
Brin
Next
on the list is Sergey Brin, one of the co-founders of Google. His net worth of
$132 billion increased by $8.75 billion over the last 12 months, as cited by
Bloomberg. Given that, you can assume he earned around $42 million each hour he
worked.
Jensen
Huang
A
relatively new entrant to the billionaire club, Jensen Huang had the best year
of any name on this list. The founder of NVIDIA increased his net worth by
around $33.3 billion over the last months, according to Bloomberg. That’s
around $1.6 million he made every hour.
Huang’s
fortune has grown as the AI boom has taken off. NVIDIA has become a
trillion-dollar company under his watch and the darling of this burgeoning
industry.
How
These Figures Compare to the Average Person
Comparing
these figures to the average salary can feel depressing. But it’s a great way
to put into perspective just how much wealthier these top billionaires are than
other people.
The
average U.S. worker earns only around $34.69 per hour, according to Indeed. If
you earn that much, you’d have to work for 46,122 hours — around 22 years —
just to equal what NVIDIA’s Jensen Huang made per hour last year.
The
disparity is even more impressive if you look at average income on a global
basis. The latest data shows that the average worker on planet Earth earns
around $8,700 annually. They would need to work nearly 184 years to reach
what Huang earns every hour.
What
Does This Look Like For You?
The
richest people on the planet earn enough in an hour for the average person to
retire comfortably. But don’t let that dissuade you from pursuing your
financial goals. You may never reach the hourly earnings of Bezos or
Zuckerberg, but you can put yourself in a better financial position tomorrow
than you are today.
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