Forbes Ranks America’s Top 10 Most Successful Immigrants in 2026, Check the Full Ranking

Immigrants have been an instrumental component in the development of the United States over the last 250 years. These foreign-born entrepreneurs and innovators continue to have a significant influence on America's ongoing success by building global technology companies and changing the face of media, finance and entertainment.

To celebrate America’s 250 years, Forbes has ranked this nation’s most successful living immigrants as part of the special Forbes 250 project. The goal of this ranking is to identify those individuals whose accomplishments have made a lasting contribution to American business, culture and society.

Below are the top 10 immigrants in 2026 that contributed the most to America’s culture and society.

America's Top 10 Most Successful Immigrants in 2026

According to Forbes' list of the Top 10 Most Successful Living Immigrants in America (2026), each has greatly contributed to business, technology, media and public life, therefore helping create the modern-day United States of America.

1. Arnold Schwarzenegger 

According to Forbes’ 2026 official tally of high multiple winners, Arnold Schwarzenegger has been a rare example of success across multiple industries as a newcomer from Austria with no connection to the United States. He has achieved great things as an award-winning and trained world-class bodybuilder, major motion picture actor, real estate investor, and fifth Governor of California. 

His achievements and influence collectively give both Arnold Schwarzenegger and his life experiences great significance in the context of his accomplishments in the entertainment industry, in business, and in government service as an expression of the American dream and among the most interesting and versatile immigrant success stories in United States history.

2. Elon Musk 

Elon Musk, who was born and raised in South Africa, has made an unprecedented impact on technology and industry with a lifetime of entrepreneurship, having started and led several companies including Tesla and SpaceX, all of which have changed the way we utilize the electric vehicle (EV) marketplace, positively impacted space travel, and transformed the field of artificial intelligence (AI).

Additionally, his enormous wealth, innovations and global influence position him among the most powerful entrepreneurs in shaping today's economy in the United States.

3. Sergey Brin 

Sergey Brin was born in Russia and co-founded Google. With Google, Sergey Brin changed how people access information on the internet and established one of the most valuable companies of all time.

In addition to revolutionizing the search engine industry, his technological development and advancements also facilitate other forms of technology and innovation today through Alphabet. Sergey Brin's legacy is one of technological disruption that has changed how people communicate around the world and how knowledge is exchanged globally.

4. Jensen Huang

Jensen Huang, a Taiwanese native, is the co-founder and CEO of Nvidia Corporation, a company he co-founded in 1993 to develop high-performance graphics processing units (GPUs) that are now widely used in PCs, video games consoles and smartphones. As head of Nvidia, he leads the ongoing AI revolution with the innovative hardware and computing systems that have transformed how people work, play and communicate. 

Under his leadership, Nvidia became the first company in history to achieve a market capitalization of over $1 trillion while creating a powerful global presence in gaming, data centers and AI. Jensen Huang’s commitment to innovation makes him one of the most respected and influential technology leaders in the world today.

5. Rupert Murdoch

Rupert Murdoch is an Australian-born media mogul and founder of News Corporation, which owns some of the biggest names in global media, including Fox, The Times, The Sun and The Wall Street Journal. With numerous newspapers, television networks and digital platforms under his control, Rupert Murdoch has been at the forefront of shaping the way the world receives information for decades.

His position among the world’s most influential people reflects his previous success and long-standing dominance in media, as well his unique ability to influence global public opinion.

Conclusion

The impact of immigrants on the success of the United States is evident in their ability to contribute to new ideas and industries as well as provide employment opportunities. The innovations of these individuals have had an enormous effect on the economy.