Just how rich is the family behind Walmart?

The Walton family, which controls the $400 billion-plus retail empire Walmart, is no doubt rich. But just how wealthy the family members are was recently highlighted by an American economist.

According to Sylvia Allegretto at the University of California, the descendants of Sam and James Walton, who founded family business Walmart, have the same net worth as the combined wealth held by the bottom 30% of American earners. In other words, the least wealthy Americans.

To put that in perspective – it is around $93 billion (€70.27 billion). Not very surprising, considering the Walton clan, which includes Christy, Jim, Alice and Rob, are ranked 6th, 9th, 10th and 11th on Forbes’ list of the 100 richest Americans. Family members Ann, Nancy and John, although not on the Forbes list, also hold sizeable fortunes.

So how did Allegretto reach her conclusion? She reportedly compared the Federal Reserve’s 2007 data on the net worth of all Americans with the combined wealth of the Walton family – the Waltons were worth around $70 billion three years ago.

The rise in wealth has likely been helped by the growth of the family business. Walmart’s revenues rose to $410 billion in fiscal 2011, up from $405 billion the year before.