Jim Walton is the third child of Wal-Mart co-founder Sam Walton (d. 1992) and Helen Walton (d. 2007) with siblings Rob Walton, Alice Walton, and John Walton (d. 2005). After graduating from Bentonville High School in 1965 where he was president of his junior class, played football at all-state level and also learned to fly a plane, Walton received a bachelor's degree in Business Administration (BA) Marketing from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas in 1971, where he was also a member of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. In 1972, he joined Wal-Mart and was involved in its real estate dealings. After serving for four years he moved to the family owned Walton Enterprises as president in 1975.

On September 28, 2005, Walton replaced his deceased brother, John, on the Wal-Mart Board of Directors. He is currently on the Strategic Planning and Finance committees. He is also CEO of his family owned Arvest Bank and chairman of newspaper firm Community Publishers Inc. (CPI) owned by Jim Walton himself but founded by his father Sam Walton after acquiring the local newspaper the Benton County Daily Record, both operating in Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. He has pledged about $2 billion to the Walton Family Foundation along with his siblings from 2008 to 2013.

He and his wife Lynne McNabb Walton have four children: Alice A. Proietti (b. November 1979), Steuart L. Walton (b. April 1981), Thomas L. Walton (b. September 1983), and James M. Walton (b. August 1987). The family resides in Bentonville, Arkansas.
He is currently ranked at #10 on the 2014 Forbes list of billionaires with a net worth of $34.7 billion that has increased by $3 billion. On the 2013 Forbes 400 list of the richest people in America he is ranked at #7.