We did the math to calculate exactly how much money billionaires and celebrities like Jeff Bezos and Kylie Jenner make an hour

Jeff Bezos
Jeff Bezos earns more than $4 million an hour. David Ryder/Getty Images

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  • Some of America's richest people make more money in one hour than others would ever see in their lifetime.
  • We calculated how much 16 of the richest billionaires and celebrities make an hour, and the results were illuminating.
  • Jeff Bezos makes more than $4 million an hour, and Kylie Jenner earns the median US salary in roughly 2 1/2 hours.
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When it comes to money, some people are just in a league of their own.

From business executives and tech moguls to celebrities and athletes, we took a look at the earnings for 16 of the richest people in America and broke down how much they make in an hour. The results were illuminating, to say the least.

To calculate their hourly rate, we used the best available annual earnings and net worth for each person based on Forbes estimations. For the billionaires on the list, we found the difference between their 2017 and 2018 net worths (as provided by the Forbes' 2017 and 2018 richest people in the world lists, published every March) to determine their annual earnings.

For music, movie, and media celebrities, earnings were taken from the Forbes' 2018 Highest-Paid Celebrities list, which were provided based on compensation from June 2017 to June 2018.

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We then divided all annual earnings by 8,760, the number of hours in a year, to calculate how much each person earned an hour.

how much money billionaires make in hour chart
Shayanne Gal/Business Insider

Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and Alice Walton all make more than $1 million an hour, thanks to their multibillion annual earnings. Bezos rakes in the most, earning a whopping $4,474,885 an hour. That's roughly 157 times the median annual worker pay at Amazon of $28,466.

The remaining six on the list earn six figures an hour, from Warren Buffett earning $958,904 an hour to the former Hewlett Packard CEO Meg Whitman bringing in $102,739 an hour. Google's Larry Page sits in the middle of our list, making a nice $924,657 an hour.

how much money celebrities make in hour chart
Shayanne Gal/Business Insider

Of all the celebrities on the list, George Clooney earns the most, making $27,283 every 60 minutes. That's no surprise considering he's the highest-paid actor on Forbes' 2018 Highest-Paid Celebrities list.

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Kylie Jenner, the youngest person on Forbes' America's Richest Self-Made Women list, isn't far behind Clooney, with hourly earnings of $19,006. That means Jenner makes the median US salary of $45,552, according to data by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in just 2.38 hours.

Ellen DeGeneres, LeBron James, Taylor Swift, and Beyoncé are the only people on the list to earn four figures an hour — but that's still way more than most people make in one month. The first three earn $9,000 to $10,000 an hour, with Beyoncé coming in last with hourly earnings of $6,849.

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