The Everywhere Millionaire
Who Is Really Rich in America and How They Got There
Owen Zidar and Eric Zwick · Henry Holt · September 2026
This book combines statistics and stories on ordinary Americans who have gotten extraordinarily wealthy running private businesses.
A New Yorker Best Book of 2026; an Amazon and Next Big Idea Club pick for September 2026.
Praise
“A Whitmanian portrait of capitalism.” “Brilliant…Vivid…. Zidar and Zwick discovered what comes close to being a new class in America.”
“The Everywhere Millionaire tells a new story about America’s rich and provides deep insight into the US economy.”
“Through a painstaking examination of tax records and a series of entertaining anecdotal portraits, Zidar and Zwick present a very different profile of the 21st-century American capitalist.”
“This book will be of great interest to those who think the rich have it rigged…. The book will appeal even more to those who hope to join their ranks.”
“This book is a revelation!… A vitally important book that will change what we think and which has a shot at changing what we do.”
“A brilliant and deep analysis of what really matters in modern America—who is rich and why.”
“Zidar and Zwick show that the American Dream isn’t dead but rewards those who work hard, build skills deliberately, and recognize opportunity where others don’t.”
“The Everywhere Millionaire is the best portrait of what’s really going on at the top end of the American economy.”
“An eye-opening new book by two economists who have spent more than a decade researching the wealthiest Americans.”
Selected coverage
Essays and excerpts
- Don’t Fear the Inheritocracy, The Economist, By Invitation
- Americans Don’t Understand Who’s Rich, The Atlantic
- The American Dream Is Alive. And It’s Minting Millionaires, The Wall Street Journal
- Inside the Lives of the Main Street Millionaires, Chicago Booth Review
Reviews
- The Wealthiest—and Stealthiest—Class in America, The New Yorker
- American Capitalism Is Run by Millionaires, Not Billionaires, The Economist, Schumpeter
- The Everywhere Millionaire — Why the Rich in America Aren’t Who You Think, Financial Times
- Publishers Weekly
- Kirkus Reviews
- American Capitalism Isn’t Just Billionaires, Jacobin
- Millionaires Are Who You Think They Are, National Review
- Book Reviews: ‘The Everywhere Millionaire’ and ‘The Vanishing Family’, The Week
News and features
- The Rich People Democrats Aren’t Talking About, The New York Times
- The Gap Between the Rich and the Very, Very Rich Is Getting Wider, The Wall Street Journal
- The Biggest Source of Inequality That No One Talks About, The Atlantic
- The Real Rich People Powering the American Economy, Barron’s
- Did All the Bay Area’s Wealthy People Come Up in Tech? Not Even Close, San Francisco Chronicle
- The Powerful Millionaires Hiding in Plain Sight, NPR Planet Money
- How America’s “Stealthy Wealthy” Came to Rival the Billionaire Oligarchs, NPR Planet Money
- America Has More Millionaires Than You Think. Here’s How Most of Them Got Rich., CBS News
- Forget Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos: The ‘Everywhere Millionaires’ Created the Blueprint for Regular People to Get Rich in America, MarketWatch
- The American Dream Isn’t What You Think It Is, Fortune
- Donald Trump Doesn’t Just Love Billionaires, He Loves Multimillionaires Too, The Guardian
- This Economist Studied Millions of Business Owners. He Uncovered the Surprising Way Everyday Americans Actually Get Wealthy, Inc.
Newsletters
- The 1% Next Door, Scott Galloway, No Mercy / No Malice
- Melting Down Watches. Everywhere Millionaires, Adam Tooze, Chartbook
- Money Stuff, Matt Levine, Bloomberg
- The Truth About Rich People in America, Matthew Yglesias, Slow Boring
TV, radio, and podcasts
- Who Are the ‘Stealthy Wealthy’ and How Do They Make Their Money?, CNN, Smerconish
- How Ordinary Businesses Build Massive Wealth, Fox News, The Brian Kilmeade Show
- One Nation with Brian Kilmeade, Fox News
- Forget Billionaires — America Runs on Millionaires, Bloomberg Businessweek
- There’s a Mind-Boggling Number of Rich People in America, Odd Lots podcast, Bloomberg
- At the Money: The Data Behind America’s Wealthy, Barry Ritholtz, Bloomberg
- How Boring Businesses Create Billionaires, Bloomberg Wall Street Week
- Understanding the “Stealthy Wealthy”, Marketplace Morning Report
- The Overlooked Businesses Making Americans Rich, Megan McArdle, Washington Post podcast
- Who Actually Gets Rich in America? It’s Not Who You Think, Erin Talks Money
- Wealthy People Are Hiding in Plain Sight, Rational Reminder
Book talks, fall 2026
- Sept 16Labyrinth Books, Princeton, NJ · in conversation with Alan Blinder; co-sponsored by the Princeton Public Library and Princeton Economics
- Sept 28Princeton University · co-sponsored by the Griswold Center
- Sept 30University of Chicago / Hyde Park Labs, Chicago, IL
- Oct 8Center for American Progress, Washington, DC
- Oct 8Books & Cocktails at Princeton SPIA’s DC Center, Washington, DC · in conversation with Jerusalem Demsas of The Argument
- Oct 9American Enterprise Institute, Washington, DC · in conversation with Greg Ip of The Wall Street Journal
- Oct 15Duke University, Durham, NC · Johnson Lecture on economic policy; fireside chat with Richard Rubin
- Oct 16Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH · Political Economy Project
- Oct 19Yale Law School, New Haven, CT
- Oct 21Harvard Kennedy School, Cambridge, MA · fireside chat with Jason Furman
- Oct 30University of Chicago ETA Conference, Chicago, IL
- Nov 2MIT, Cambridge, MA
- Nov 3Harvard Stone Program in Wealth Distribution, Inequality, and Social Policy, Cambridge, MA
- Nov 10UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA · Stone/Burch lecture
- Nov 13National Tax Association Annual Conference, Pittsburgh, PA · plenary
- Nov 16Wharton, Philadelphia, PA
- Nov 17Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA
- Dec 1UCLA, Los Angeles, CA
- Dec 3Berkeley Haas, Berkeley, CA
Media inquiries
Clarissa Long, Henry Holt · clarissa.long@hholt.com