The Wall Street Journal: Cashiers, NC is Where America’s Billionaires Fly Under the Radar

By Farah Otero-Amad and E.B. Solomont

Published December 6, 2025

This tiny mountain enclave in the Blue Ridge Mountains has just 825 residents — and at least four of them are billionaires, including The Home Depot co-founder Ken Langone and Martha Ingram of Ingram Industries, which specializes in inland marine transportation, logistics, and book publishing.

E.B. Solomont, Reporter for The Wall Street Journal: I’m here in Cashiers, NC, which has one of the highest concentrations of wealth in the United States. Most of this wealth sits behind the gates of private golf communities where annual membership can run in the six figures and where you can’t join the club unless you own property.

Since 2020, real estate prices in Cashiers have more than doubled as people from the Southeast and beyond have bought up luxury homes and land.

And this summer, a house with a glass and steel facade sold for a new record — $11.11 million.

But some longtime residents are…protective of the quiet, small town character that gives homeowners relative anonymity.

Cashiers remains under the radar by design.

In a place built on privacy, wealth isn’t flaunted. It’s simply hidden in the hills.