Elon Musk crossed a milestone no human has ever reached Friday.
Following SpaceX’s historic public debut, Musk’s net worth climbed to an estimated $1.1 trillion, making him the first trillionaire in history.
SpaceX began trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker SPCX after pricing its record-breaking IPO at $135 per share.
The stock opened around $150 and briefly climbed even higher, helping push the value of Musk’s SpaceX stake to hundreds of billions of dollars.
The company raised roughly $75 billion in what became the largest initial public offering ever, surpassing the previous record held by Saudi Aramco.
But while “trillionaire” certainly sounds impressive, it’s also a number so large it’s difficult to visualize. So just how much money is $1 trillion?
Here are thirteen ways to put it into perspective.
1. Every American Adult Could Get Nearly $4,800
The United States has roughly 210 million adults.
Split $1 trillion evenly among them and each adult would receive about $4,760.
Enough for a decent vacation, a used car, or a few months of groceries.
2. You Could Pay For More Than 11 Million Disneyland Vacations
The average family of four can easily spend around $9,000 on a week-long Disneyland vacation once tickets, airfare, hotels, food and souvenirs are included.
A trillion dollars could pay for more than 111 million Disney trips for families of four.
That’s enough to send nearly every household in America to Disneyland.
3. You Could Buy One Million Million-Dollar Homes
A trillion dollars would buy:
1,000,000 homes worth $1 million each.
For comparison, that’s more housing units than exist in many major American cities.
4. Every Public School Student Could Get Free Lunch For Years
America has roughly 50 million public school students.
At about $4 per school lunch for 180 school days, feeding one student for a year costs around $720.
A trillion dollars could provide:
Nearly 1.4 billion school years of lunches.
Or every public school student in America receiving free lunch for roughly 28 years.
5. You Could Pay Full College Tuition For Millions Of Students
The average four-year public university degree costs roughly $110,000 when tuition, housing and fees are included.
A trillion dollars could fully fund college for more than 9 million students.
That’s more than the population of New York City.
6. You Could Buy More Than 20 Million New Cars
At $50,000 per vehicle, a trillion dollars buys:
20 million brand-new cars.
That’s enough vehicles for every household in California.
7. You Could Hand Out $100 Bills For More Than 31 Years
A trillion dollars contains:
10 billion one-hundred-dollar bills.
If you handed one out every second, day and night, it would take more than 317 years to give them all away.
8. You Could Buy Every NFL Team Several Times Over
The average NFL franchise is worth around $6 billion.
A trillion dollars could purchase roughly 166 NFL teams.
The league only has 32.
9. You Could Purchase Entire Countries’ Annual Economic Output
A trillion dollars exceeds the annual economic production of many nations.
For example, it is larger than the yearly GDP of countries such as:
- New Zealand
- Slovakia
- Ecuador
- Croatia
- Luxembourg
Put another way, one person now possesses wealth greater than the entire annual economic output of dozens of countries.
10. You Could Buy Nearly Every House In Seattle
With Seattle’s median home value hovering around $900,000, a trillion dollars could purchase more than 1.1 million Seattle-area homes.
That’s far more homes than actually exist in the city.
11. You Could Buy Every Starbucks Drink Ever Ordered For Years
At an average of about $6 per drink, a trillion dollars could buy roughly 166 billion Starbucks beverages.
That’s enough for every person on Earth to have more than 20 drinks.
12. You Could Pay Every American’s Netflix Subscription For Years
At roughly $18 per month, a trillion dollars would cover more than 4.6 billion years of Netflix subscriptions.
Good luck finding something to watch.
13. You Could Buy More Than 15,000 Private Islands
Luxury private islands often sell for around $65 million.
A trillion dollars could buy over 15,000 of them.
At that point you’re less a billionaire and more a Bond villain.
The Number Is Almost Impossible To Grasp
Here’s the comparison that may be the most staggering:
One million seconds equals about 11.5 days.
One billion seconds equals about 31.7 years.
One trillion seconds equals about 31,700 years.
In other words, if you started counting one second at a time when woolly mammoths still walked parts of Earth, you still wouldn’t be finished counting to a trillion today.
That’s the scale of wealth Elon Musk has now entered.
Whether that number grows, shrinks, or inspires another billionaire to chase the milestone, one thing is certain:
Humanity has officially entered the age of the trillionaire.
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