Here’s How Much Zohran Mamdani Is Worth

Forbes

Despite his own privileged path to power, or perhaps because of it, the son of a Columbia University professor and a movie director is campaigning as a socialist intent on redistributing New York’s wealth.  Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kylemullins/2025/06/24/heres-how-much-new-york-city-mayoral-candidate-zohran-mamdani-is-worth/  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00Here's how much New York City mayoral candidate Zoran Mamdani is worth.

00:04Mamdani was born in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, in 1991,

00:09the same year his Indian-American filmmaker mother, Mira Nair,

00:12released her second movie, Mississippi Masala, starring Denzel Washington.

00:17That was just three years after her debut feature film, Salaam Bombay,

00:21which depicted the lives of children living in the city's slums

00:24and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

00:29She is also known for Monsoon Wedding,

00:31which won the Golden Lion at the 2001 Venice Film Festival.

00:35The family moved to New York City when Mamdani was seven years old

00:38after his father, Mahmoud Mamdani, got a job teaching at Columbia University.

00:43The younger Mamdani attended Bank Street, a prestigious Manhattan private school,

00:48before graduating from the Bronx High School of Science,

00:51one of the city's best public schools.

00:53He then attended Bowdoin College, a private liberal arts school in Maine.

00:56After graduating in 2014, he worked on his mother's sets

01:00and took jobs working on several political campaigns and community organizing efforts,

01:05per a review of former resumes by the New York Times.

01:08He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2018.

01:12In 2020, Mamdani ran for a state assembly seat and won, beating a five-term incumbent.

01:18The job pays $142,000 annually.

01:22Today, he lives in a $2,250 a month rent-stabilized Astoria apartment

01:27and doesn't own a car, taking the subway to his debate appearances.

01:31A quarter of a century after moving to the U.S.,

01:35Mamdani's net worth today is still based in the East African country from which he emigrated.

01:40According to the financial disclosures he filed as a state assemblyman in 2023,

01:44he acquired four acres of land in Jinja,

01:47a region of Uganda bordering Lake Victoria that contains the source of the Nile River, in 2012.

01:52He lists the land's value as between $150,000 and $250,000.

01:59New York City disclosures don't require candidates to list cash accounts,

02:04so there's the possibility Mamdani's worth a bit more than the documents show.

02:09Another caveat, he married his wife, a Syrian-born artist,

02:13earlier this year after the disclosures were due,

02:15so any assets she has may not show up until next year's filings.

02:19And his social-media-savvy outsider campaign to become New York's next mayor

02:23has carried him to victory in the Democratic primary,

02:26where he defeated the frontrunner, former New York governor Andrew Cuomo,

02:30who had pitched himself as an experienced hand on the wheel in a turbulent time.

02:34Forbes estimates Mamdani to be worth around $200,000,

02:3750 times less than Cuomo, who we peg at $10 million.

02:42For full coverage, check out Kyle Kahn Mullins' piece on Forbes.com.

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