Greater London has been named the region with the highest percentage similarity to those who make lots of money

London has been named the region with the highest likelihood of fame, as residents hold an 81.4% similarity to the average star as highlighted by Forbes’ 30 Under 30 lists.

The new interactive study, Self-Made Celebs, was conducted to compile the ideal entrepreneur’s profile – based on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 lists over the last five years – and judge which of the world’s youngest high-earning celebs best fit the bill.

Looking at the background of those featured in the Hollywood & Entertainment, Music, Social Media and Sports categories across Forbes’ 30 Under 30 lists from 2017 onwards reveals the ideal star is a white male aged 24-30, who was born in December.

Analysing demographic data in each region reveals it’s London that has the highest percentage similarity at 81.4% – suggesting it has the highest likelihood of making it big – while it’s the North East that has the lowest score at 22.6%.

London’s high chance of success is largely due to it’s gender split and age brackets, as the region’s male-female ratio is a near identical match to the Forbes lists at 91%, while the age breakdown bears a 91.4% similarity to Forbes’ distribution.

Regions ranked from most to least likely to achieve fame

London (81.4%)
South East (68.5%)
North West (60.6%)
West Midlands (50.5%)
Yorkshire and the Humber (46.9%)
East of England (45%)
South West (43.4%)
East Midlands (39.9%)
North East (22.6%)

Meanwhile, the North East differs from Forbes’ list due to births reported in the region, as the data shows just an 18% match to the ideal profile – compared to London’s 69.2% score.

These scores could change over time, as the Forbes analysis revealed that there was an almost equal 50/50 split between the two genders, while the most recent 2021 list featured more women than men for the first time with a 54% to 46% ratio.

Other key findings included that the majority of those featured over the last five years were born in Los Angeles (17%), resided in California (40%), held American nationality (79%), and were aged between 24-30 years of age (55%).

And although there were smaller margins, the majority of those featured were white (38%), while black (31%), hispanic (18%) and asian (5%) ethnicities featured far less.

Interestingly – despite the constant emphasis placed on university education – the study also found that 58% of those featured on the list were not educated to degree level.

Other metrics analysed in the study included birth month and star sign, which revealed most entrepreneurs were Tauruses, while the most often-featured birth month was December.

Peter Bennett Head of Brand Marketing at PlayOJO comments on the study, saying “Although it’s clear that the world’s highest-earning celebrities have put in a lot of hard work to reach their high levels of success, it is intriguing to see what the average star looks like according to Forbes lists, and how regional demographic data in the UK compares.

“Looking at the similarities between young celebrities – such as Billie Eilish, Harry Styles and Ariana Granda – and the ideal star profile does raise questions about what factors increase the likelihood of making it big, and whether the average person ever has a fair shot at fame.

“With Forbes lists proving more progressive on year on year, it will be interesting to see whether long-term trends will shift in the same direction, such as a higher proportion of women being featured, a wider spread of locations, and an even ethnicity distribution.”