When you think of a religious or a spiritual leader, your mind might wander about as to who that may be or what that even means. A monk? a TV preacher? Gandhi? Whoever it may be, it is definitely not the ones you will first think about when evoking the notion of religious leaders.
Indeed, spiritual leaders can be very different in the way they live, how much money they earn, and their vision of the world. Take a look at these insanely rich religious leaders below — and may your mind forever be changed!
Mark Driscoll - Net Worth: $2.5 million
While non-practicing Catholic Mark Driscoll attended college, a young woman named Grace gifted him with a “nice bible,” thanks to which he paved his path back to Catholicism.
His newfound appreciation for Catholicism led Driscoll to found the Mars Hill Church in Seattle, WA as well as The Trinity Church in Scottsdale, AZ. In addition, Driscoll has made appearances in a few American shows including, Fox & Friends, Loveline with Dr. Drew, and ABC’s Nightline.
Paula White-Cain - Net Worth: $8 million
Finally... A woman coming in at the 18th place. Paula White-Cain, multi-millionaire and current pastor of non-denominational megachurch New Destiny Christian Center in Orlando, FL., didn’t always have it easy while she was growing up. She overcame the death of her father, as well as multiple kinds of abuse to get to where she is today.
Her father’s passing when she was a young girl sent White-Cain into a tailspin, however she thanks the Bible for helping her turn her life around.
Eddie Long - Net Worth: $5 million
Late Bishop Eddie L. Long is known as the flamboyant pastor of megachurch New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Georgia, AL. However, the numerous disturbing allegations amongst many of his congregants didn’t stop him from living a lavish lifestyle.
He stayed true to the saying, “practice what you preach,” as he was best known for “prosperity gospel,” which more or less states that the faithful will be rewarded with wealth. Long notably traveled via private jet, drove a Bentley, and lived in a $1.4 million house.
John Hagee - Net Worth: $5 million
It’s a family affair at the Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, TX. John Hagee is the founder and current senior pastor at the church along with help from his son, Matt.
Both John and Matt’s wives, Diana and Kendal respectively, lead the women’s ministries at the church. Outside of the church, John founded and currently sits as a chairman for Christians United for Israel. Those critical of Hagee’s views say he “traffics in conspiracy-minded eschatology.”
Louis Farrakhan - Net Worth: $3 million
From the moment Louis Farrakhan heard Nation of Islam (NOI) leader Elijah Muhammad speak in 1955, he knew the route he wanted to take. However, this wasn’t always his clear career path, as he started in the music industry performing various cabaret numbers and was a part of different symphony groups in Boston, MA.
Following his stint in music, Farrakhan followed in Muhammed’s footsteps by becoming the leader of the NOI in 1977, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Pope Benedict XVI - Net Worth: $2.5 million
While the treasures of the Catholic church do not belong to any one man, this particular church leader didn’t come into office empty-handed. The late Pope Benedict XVI, former leader of more than a billion Catholics, had, according to several sources, an estimated net worth of $2.5 million.
Pope Benedict XVI was elected in 2005 and stayed in office until 2013, when in he made the unorthodox decision to resign instead of keeping the positing for life like most of his predecessors. After his resignation, he continues to receive a $3,300 monthly pension, and in 2020 he became the oldest Pope in history at the age of 93. He passed away on December 31st, 2022.
Charles Stanely - Net Worth: $1.5 million
Originally from Dry Fork, Virginia, religious leader and New York Times Best-Selling author, Charles Stanely, is best known for founding In Touch Ministries in 1977, an American Evangelical Ministry. Stanley settled on the name “In Touch” after a phrase he came across in his copy of The Living Bible.
Charles Stanely was inducted into the National Religious Broadcasters Hall of Fame. In addition, he’s authored more than 60 books.
R.C Sproul - Net Worth: $2 million
R.C. Sproul is the Founder of Ligonier Ministries, as well as an established theological author. Sproul’s church gained popularity through his use of online and social resources to obtain new followers. His wave of internet success led him to begin “The Reformation Network,” an online radio station.
He is also one of the pastors who founded the Saint Andrew’s Chapel in Florida, as well as the first president of the Reformation Bible College. Unlike some names on this list, Sproul is revered by his clergy and is also very well-respected outside of the church.
Al Sharpton - Net Worth: $500,000
Notoriously known for his outspoken personality, Reverend Al Sharpton has become arguably the United States’ most influential civil rights leader. In 1991, Sharpton founded New-York based non-profit organization, National Action Network (NAN). Today, NAN has more than 45 chapters across the U.S.
Sharpton delivered his first sermon at the young age of four at Brooklyn’s Washington Temple Church of God & Christ. Five years later, he received his license to be a Pentecostal Minister at the same Brooklyn church where he gave his original sermon.
Clifton Davis - Net Worth: $3 million
Clifton Davis wrote the Jackson 5’s 1971 hit “Never Can Say Goodbye,” and was involved with numerous broadway musicals. He also hosted the Stellar Awards Gospel Music Show, all prior to him becoming the minister of an interdenominational ministry.
Davis’ musical background likely helped launch his career as a minister of a Baptist Church. TV host, minister, and songwriter... to say that Davis is a jack of all trades would be an understatement!
Sri Chinmoy - Net Worth: $2 million
Sri Chinmoy, a Bangladeshi-born spiritual guru may have died in 2017, however, he still maintains a strong amount of followers among his students. Hit up San Diego based Jyot-Bihanga for a tasty vegan meal and a dose of spirituality, as the restaurant is run by one of Chinmoy’s disciples.
Beyond Chinmoy’s religious teachings, his interests included both marathon running and weightlifting. His love for marathons led to the creation of the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team in 1977. Although he expressed a passion for weightlifting, Professor of Kinesiology, Todd Terry, proclaimed Chinmoy often exaggerated about how much weight he was able to lift.
Billy Graham - Net Worth: $25 million
According to Billy Graham’s website, he’s supposedly preached to “more live audiences than anyone else in history.” He better take this up with #20 on this list, Reinhard Bonnke, as Bonnke claims a similar statistic in the Evangelical world.
Graham grew up on a dairy farm and came from humble beginnings (his humbleness has clearly gone out the door - according to the above statement). His religious path began at the young age of 15 when he made a commitment to serve the Lord through Mordecai Ham’s ministry.
Kenneth Copeland - Net Worth: $300 million
Kenneth Copeland is the third televangelist to land on this list and by far the most successful, with a whopping net worth of $300 million. He can thank his viewers for that, as the goal of a televangelist is to garner donations through TV.
According to his website, Kenneth and his wife Gloria have been preaching for nearly 52 years, with most of those years dedicated to their TV show, "Believer’s Voice of Victory". However, they also spread the good word through radio shows, podcasts, their magazine, and Believers’ Conventions.
Walter Mercado - Net Worth: $5 million
Marked as more of a spiritual leader, Puerto-Rico native Walter Mercado’s horoscope rundowns had every household glued to your television. According to Remezcla, an online source for the Latinx community, Walter Mercado has had an interesting, yet positive impact on them.
Mercado embraced his gender non-conforming identity and often wore flashy outfits that fitted his eccentric personality, claiming, “Latinidad tends to follow gender norms (i.e. why young girls are expected to learn to cook, while their brothers are not).”
Rick Warren - Net Worth: $25 million
Pastor Rick Warren played an integral role in founding both California-based Saddleback Church and online website Pastors.com. According to Warren’s bio, Saddleback garners 30,000 weekly attendees across 19 locations; stateside and international.
Warren’s other endeavor, Pastors.com, is a training website for pastors and church leaders. Warren offers a free newsletter to his subscribers called the Ministry Toolbox, which is a part of this training effort. Last but not least, he is a best-selling author of numerous Christian books, including "The Purpose Driven Church".
N.T. Wright - Net Worth: $2.5 million
Former Bishop of Durham, Nicholas Thomas Wright is arguably the most notable bible scholar in the United Kingdom. Now an Anglican minister and Theologian, Wright has an estimated net worth of $2.5 million stemming from a career that began more than 40 years ago.
Wright has written more than 70 books on theology, including "Paul and the Faithfulness of God", which is his most popular opus. N.T. Wright is a right-winger with traditional values, most notably opposing same-sex marriage and the LGBTQ community.
T.D Jakes - Net Worth: $18 million
Bishop T.D. Jakes leads the Dallas-based Potter’s House Church, which he founded in 1996. The church underwent a $45 million renovation that was achieved in 2000. In 2010, Jakes expanded it to four campuses, including Dallas, Fort Worth, North Dallas, and Denver, CO.
In addition to being a filmmaker, Jakes, as well as his daughter, are both accomplished authors; He often encourages his 30,000 members to purchase both of their books.
Jack Van Impe - Net Worth: $2.5 million
Have you ever woken up at 4 a.m. with the TV blaring bible verses in your ear? Well, if you have, you’re probably familiar with “The Walking Bible,” also known as Jack Van Impe. He is best known for his bible preaching show, “Jack Van Impe Ministries Show.”
Van Impe strongly believes in the rapture and that the end of the world will be brought upon by a dark political leader and a false prophecy. Nevertheless, Van Impe has been quite successful in his endeavors. His International Foundation rakes in around $12 million per year with him bringing in nearly $150,000 for his work.
Juanita Bynum - Net Worth: $10 million
In addition to being an author, “Prophetess” Juanita Bynum is a preacher, and a gospel singer; not many on this list can claim to have this number of strings to their bow. Bynum released an album named "Piece of My Passion" in 2007, and The New York Times gave her the title of "the most prominent black female television evangelist in the country".
Most recently, Bynum was spotted in the news for canceling a preaching assignment because the pastor who was holding the conference entered her hotel room without being invited beforehand.
George Foreman - Net Worth: $300 million
Most people probably know George Foreman as “that guy who sells grills.” Well, that isn’t untrue. However, he’s had a pretty successful career outside of that. Foreman had a hard upbringing before becoming a millionaire; he was a bully and didn't like to go to school (but who did?).
Foreman decided to channel his attitude into something a bit more... appropriate one might say. He became a world-champion boxer, winning the gold medal in 1968. Foreman had a sort of religious experience in his dressing room which led him to become a born-again Christian. He eventually became ordained in 1978.
Tony Campolo - Net Worth: $4 million
Baptist minister, Tony Campolo hit his career peak when he became President Bill Clinton’s spiritual advisor during his presidency from 1993 to 2001. He has a degree in both sociology and theology, a Ph.D. from Temple University and is the founder of the Evangelical Association for the Promotion of Education.
In opposition to others on this list, Campolo holds more liberal views on issues such as same-sex marriage. We can all thank his wife for that :)
Reinhard Bonnke - Net Worth: $4 million
Reinhard Bonnke, the founder of Christ for all Nations, claims to have preached to more people than any other Evangelical pastor in the world. With such claims, controversy is bound to follow. In 1991, rumors spread that Bonnke was to travel and attempt to combat an Islamic region of Nigeria with his sermons. After many, warranted riots, Bonnke was not allowed to return to Nigeria until the early 2000s.
Aside from his controversial and outlandish claims, Bonnke was recently featured in HBO’s, “A Question of Miracles,” which investigates the connection between brain chemistry and faith healing.
Joseph Prince - Net Worth: $5 million
Joseph Prince, of Joseph Prince Ministries, teaches the good word through his best-selling books and broadcast gospel, which is said to reach millions across the country.
Prince (no, not the artist formerly known as Prince) is a founding member of the New Creation Church and has worked hard to gain respect and rank through the years. He started as an “elder” and associate pastor, eventually becoming a senior pastor in 1990. According to his bio, 1990 is when the church started to grow in popularity.
Noel Jones - Net Worth: $5 million
Born in a Spanish town in Jamaica with six brothers and sisters, current Pentecostal bishop Noel Jones eventually relocated to Syracuse, NY in 1965, with a few of his family members.
At the age of 19, Jones left Syracuse and ventured off to study and eventually earn a degree in theology from Aenon Bible College. He earned his first pastorate at Bethel Temple of Longview in Texas when he was only 26 years old.
Kirk Cameron - Net Worth: $20 million
Kirk Cameron wasn’t raised as a churchgoer and was first identified as an American actor. He acted in several movies and series, including Saving Christmas, Mercy Rule, and Fireproof.
However, while sitting in his sports car, pondering the first Gospel message he ever heard, he decided to change his career path. Cameron is better known for his work as an actor on "Growing Pains" and was even nominated for two Golden Globes for that role.
Joyce Meyer - Net Worth: $8 million
Who knew someone could receive so many honorary degrees? However, Joyce Meyer managed to receive three: an honorary Ph.D. from Life Christian University, a doctorate degree from Oral Roberts University, and a final honorary degree from Grand Canyon University.
Meyer’s faith stems from a trauma-filled life. She experienced abuse at a young age from her father and faced many obstacles with a dismissive mother. In addition, Meyer’s first marriage ended disastrously. Similar to #30 on this list, Al Sharpton, her career in religious teaching has been more of a gradual one.
Ernest Angley - Net Worth: $15 million
Internationally known televangelist Ernest Angley is the pastor and founder of the Grace Cathedral; with locations in both Cuyahoga Falls and Akron, OH. However, like many individuals that choose the religious path, controversy followed him throughout his career.
An unknown source provided a recorded conversation of Angley admitting to his assistant minister that he had had numerous encounters with an employee at the Grace Cathedral. In addition, it was said that Angley had an unfortunate history of abusing staff.
Benny Hinn - Net Worth: $60 million
Televangelist Benny Hinn was born in Israel and moved to Canada in 1968. According to his bio, he decided to commit his life’s work to religion in 1972, following a vision he had of people falling into an inferno (sounds lovely!),
He is most famous for his regular "Miracle Crusades". Similar to other televangelists on this list, Hinn is the author of various books, TV programs, and also a website full of resources. Interested in worship? He’s got an app for that!
Joel Osteen - Net Worth: $100 million
Arguably the most famous on this list, Joel Osteen is the current pastor at Lakewood Church. Many have questioned his $100 million salary, asking if a pastor should be making this much money. However, he did give up his annual $200k salary from Lakewood church, relying instead on the royalties of his books.
Osteen came under attack when he did not initially open Lakewood Church to aid hurricane victims in Houston, TX. However, it seems as though Osteen is doing just fine; he currently resides in a mansion that's worth well over $10 million.
Supreme Master Ching Hai - Net Worth: Uncertain (must be nice)
Ching Hai is the owner of the international vegan restaurant chain Loving Hut. But, however tasty her food may be, it doesn’t change the fact that she is a cult leader. Ching Hai created the Quan Yin Method - a “pseudo-religious philosophy.”
According to cult expert Margaret Singer, the Quan Yin Method “appears to be one of the most well-organized and fastest-growing cults in the United States and the world.”
Up next, discover the salaries of the most famous TV anchors...
Find out the Salaries of the World's Most Famous TV Anchors
The art of peddling news is still very much alive and TV reporters are the cream of the crop. Always smart, always sharp. It’s glamorous, hobnobbing with the elite, attending all the great events. Surely it’s a dream job?
But real reporting is hard work. For every film star interviewed, there’s an undercover investigation going on. For every royal wedding covered, there’s a scared reporter wearing camouflage in a live feed from a war zone. Their hours are long and often unsociable. They do endless hours of research for every minute of a triumphant scoop. And it shows in their paychecks - Take a look.
Tomi Lahren - $200k
Tomi started out on TheBlaze as a political commentator. She had her own show, Tomi. Her views were conservative, and she would often voice harsh comments on liberal politics. We knew her for the three-minute segment at the end of the show, Final Thoughts. There, she would give a round-up of her opinions on several current matters. Many of these videos went viral on social media, and she shot to fame, earning attention from all quarters.
Her stint on TheBlaze was cut off in March 2007. They suspended her after a guest appearance on The View. Why? She aired her belief that women should have access to abortion. But it was far from the end for Tomi. She went on to work at Great American Alliance, and she made regular contributions to Fox News.
Anderson Cooper - $11m
Yes, you read that right. Anderson takes home eleven million bucks for his contributions to journalism. He is a primary anchor on CNN and one of the most eminent faces of US TV. He has had his own daytime TV talk show. Now the paycheck makes sense.
When Anderson became a journalist, he had no qualifications in the field. He had studied political science at Yale and completed an internship at the CIA. It seemed fated from a young age that he was destined for impressive things, but not in the direction first assumed. He started small, joining a modest news agency as a fact-checker. His big break didn’t come until he set off for Myanmar. There, he interviewed students fighting the Burmese government, made a segment himself from the footage, and sold it to Channel One. And the rest is history.
Katy Tur - $500k
Katy’s resume is long and distinguished. She has worked for KTLA, News 12 Brooklyn, HD News/Cablevision, Fox 5 New York, The Weather Channel, and NBC. From weather girl to multi-award-winning journalist, Katy is a force to be reckoned with. She’s chased storms. She’s chased politicians. Her talents are far-ranging. In 2009, she earned her first award, the AP Best Spot News Award. A crane was collapsing on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, and Katy was there to cover the story as only she can. In 2017, she was awarded a Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism.
She joined NBC at their New York local station, but it wasn’t long before her talents came to the attention of the right people. She worked in the national headquarters of the network, reporting for various MBC News platforms. Today, Early Today, Meet The Press, and NBC Nightly News have all benefitted from her expertise.
Victoria Osteen - Net Worth: $100 million
Just edging out her husband (Joel) at #4, Victoria Osteen grew up with religious parents that were always involved in the ministry. According to her bio, her mother was a Sunday school teacher and her father was a deacon.
Victoria eventually married Joel and joined him and his father on trips around the world with the intention to preach the good word. She currently serves as co-pastor with her husband Joel at their Lakewood Church. Outside of her religious activities, Victoria is the author of books for both kids and adults.
Giada de Laurentiis - Minimum $3m
After studying at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, Giada wanted to be a pastry chef. Alas, fate does not always bend to our whims. She worked as a chef in various restaurants before starting in food styling. Based in Los Angeles, she wasn’t doing too bad. Her resume included places such as Wolfgang Puck’s Spago and she was working for Food & Wine magazine when her big break came. In 2002, the Food Network approached her with an idea for a show.
Today, Giada is an empress of food. She has been inducted into the Culinary Hall of Fame. She’s won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lifestyle Host, among other awards. She contributes to NBC, appearing as a guest host on Today for the network. But the Food Network is her home. They’ve given her series after series. It started with Everyday Italian, and they kept coming. Giada On The Beach. Giada’s Weekend Getaways. Giada In Paradise. Giada In Italy. Giada Entertains. Winner Cake All. In her most recent show, Giada has kicked back and relaxed a little with Giada At Home. And so she should. With an empire that includes several cookbooks and even restaurants to run, Giada has quite enough on her plate!
Erin Burnett - $3m
Erin didn’t find journalism. Journalism found her. She was working in the financial industry, far from any spotlights, when she received an offer she couldn’t refuse. Working at Goldman Sachs, she was a financial analyst when the call came. CNN asked her to join the network as a writer and booker for their economic news program, Moneyline.
It soon got serious for Erin as she gained roles as an anchor for a few different shows. She switched networks, joining CNBC at Squawk on the Street and Street Signs. She even joined the cast of The Celebrity Apprentice. Then it was back to CNN, where her career literally took off. In Erin Burnett OutFront, Erin got to travel across the globe filming documentaries. She’s hosted live shows from Afghanistan, Mali, Rwanda, Israel, and the UAE. It’s a far cry from an analyst’s desk in a back office!
Ainsley Earhardt - $400k
It started at a young age for Ainsley. She was still working towards her degree at USC when she landed her first job in journalism. The local CBS station in Columbia, South Carolina, hired her to work as a reporter. She was at that station, WLTX-News 19, from 2000 to 2004, anchoring the morning and noon news reports.
It wasn’t until 2007 that she made the move that would garner her national exposure. Taking herself up to New York, she joined Fox News Channel. There, she has co-hosted programs including America’s News Headquarters, Fox and Friends Weekend, and Fox’s All-American New Year’s Eve. Ainsley is a multi-talented storyteller. She has been a panelist on The Live Desk, presents her own segment, Ainsley Across America, on Hannity, and she even writes books!
Wendy Williams - $15m
Wendy Williams may be worth a fortune, but she has worked hard for it. Not content with mere journalism, she is a fierce businesswoman. Fashion and jewelry are her things, with lines in both, including wigs. And just to back that up, she’s written seven books.
It’s her fiery personality that gives her the edge, in business, in readability, and on the air. Wendy started out in radio, where she was inducted into The National Radio Hall of Fame in 2009. It was her outspoken clashes with celebrities that first drew our attention. It garnered her a TV reality show, The Wendy Williams Experience. From there it was inevitable that she would get her own talk show, The Wendy Williams Show.
Rachel Maddow - $7m
Rachel is a trailblazer in Primetime news, as the first openly lesbian anchor in the US. And now we’ve got that (frankly irrelevant to her ability to report the news) fact out of the way, let’s look at why she’s earned every penny of her seven million. First, she trained for it. Rachel has not one, but two university degrees, one from Stanford and the other from Oxford.
It has been a hard fight for Rachel to get to where she is now; one of the most trusted faces on TV news. Radio was her first gig, as a host for WRNX. Her views are liberal, and so are her appearances as a panelist on TV. After being a political commentator on MSNBC’s Tucker and political analyst on Race For The Whitehouse, she landed her first hosting role, as a substitute on Countdown With Keith Olbermann. This led to her own show, The Rachel Maddow Show. Not only that, but she is also co-anchor for the network’s special events. Not bad!
Brian Williams -$10m
Look up ‘anchor’ in the dictionary and you’ll find Brian’s name. In his distinguished career, he has been the face of many a news program. And he doesn't just report the news. He has been the managing editor, no less, as well as the anchor of his own show. Not even accusations of misrepresentation of events (for coverage of the Iraq War) can keep Brian from our TV screens.
Williams has been in broadcasting since 1981. His journey has gone from Kansas, through Washington, DC, Philadelphia, and on to New York City. He joined NBC at the national Weekend Nightly News as the chief White House correspondent. Then came The News With Brian Williams, then The Nightly News. Whilst he was there, the program won a Peabody Award, the George Polk Award, and the DuPont-Columbia University Award. Now, he’s with NSNBC on The 11th Hour With Brian Williams.
Robin Meade - $750k
The multi-talented Robin Meade is not afraid to try new things. She wanted to be in the public eye and laid the foundations for her achievements in college. Her majors were in radio/television production, programming, and performance at Malone and Ashland Universities. She first concentrated on performance. Robin became Miss Ohio and went on to finish as a semi-finalist in the Miss America pageant. This gave her the break needed to get into broadcasting, working with a number of stations before settling at HLN.
Robin has moderated on Ask Oprah’s All-Stars. She has won a regional Emmy Award. At the moment, she is the lead anchor for Morning Express With Robin Meade. And she hasn’t stopped at journalism. She is a country music artist with two albums under her belt. Want a bit of whatever powers Robin’s remarkable success? She’s sharing! Buy her book, Morning Sunshine!: How To Radiate Confidence And Feel It Too.
Jimmy Fallon - $16m
Everyone knows Jimmy! He’s been gracing our screens, both small and big, for years. Although he started college studying computer science, it had been his dream since childhood to star on Saturday Night Live. He switched majors to communications, but his ambition pushed him on before he graduated and he left early to become a comedian.
Jimmy had a successful comedy career, including film appearances, but he never lost sight of that dream. After two auditions, he finally landed the part. The 24th season of Saturday Night Live saw Jimmy doing impressions and singing for the nation. He has written books and released albums, not to mention his movie career, but we love Jimmy best on TV. Since 2014, after a stint on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, he is now sitting behind the famous desk on The Tonight Show. Long may he stay there!
Kate Bolduan - $200k
If you’ve got what it takes, it’s a simple path to the top, and Kate has walked it with ease. First, a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from George Washington University. Then, general assignment reporter for WTVD-TV in North Carolina. Follow that up with production assistant for NBC News and MSNBC. Throw in roles at Dateline NBC, NBC Nightly News, and House & Garden Magazine.
The next step took Kate to CNN, where she became a national correspondent for CNN Newsource in 2007. If it’s hard-hitting and historical, Kate’s covered it. The 2008 presidential election, OJ’s armed robbery case, NASA’s space shuttles’ retirement, to name a few. She’s gone on to work at The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer and New Day. Right now, she’s anchoring At This Hour with Kate Bolduan before she anchored State Of America with Kate Bolduan.
Lindsay Czarniak - $1m
Lindsay is a sporting specialist. Her first sporting job was as co-host of the George Michael Sports Machine with WRC-TV. But, that wasn’t her first reporting experience. She interned with WUSA in Washington, DC before becoming a production assistant for CNN. From behind the scenes to on-screen, her first reporting gig was with WAWS in Florida.
It soon got sporty for Lindsay. In 2006, she got the biggest sporting break there is as NBC Sports hired her to cover the Winter Olympics. After that, she was a natural choice to co-anchor NBC4’s sports segment. In 2011, Lindsay made the move to ESPN covering pre-season football. It wasn’t long before she was the 6 pm co-host of SportsCenter.
Then came the cars. Our Lindsay was the first woman to host ESPN’s coverage of the Indianapolis 500. Now, she’s a studio host for Fox Sports’ NASCAR coverage. Who said heels and wheels don’t mix?
Andrea Mitchell - $750k
Andrea has been in the business for over 40 years, which is impressive. Add to that the fact that she has been with the same network, NBC, for most of those years. That’s some staying power. Andrea started as she meant to go on. She became the news director of WXPN, the student radio station at the University of Pennsylvania, where she studied. Transitioning into the working world with ease, she joined KYW radio after graduation. She soon became their City Hall correspondent.
In 1976, Andrea worked for WTOP (now WUSA), but it wasn’t long before she made her fateful move to NBC in 1978. After general correspondent, she moved on to energy correspondent, and then on to Chief Congressional correspondent, all for NBC News. She now hosts her own show, Andrea Mitchell Reports, on top of her regular guest appearances on Hardball with Chris Matthews and The Rachel Maddow Show.
Molly Qerim - $100k
If you want a girl to watch the game with, you can’t do better than Molly Qerim. Nowadays she is the face of First Take, ESPN’s sports talk show. She took over as permanent host after proving her aptitude for acting as interim host in July 2015. Molly has been with ESPN since 2008 and has won an Emmy for her contributions to the network.
Football was her first love and her first job. She covered college football for CBS Sports Network, fitting that in round events such as National Signing Day, the NCAA Tournament, and the US Open. To top it off, Molly was also anchoring no less than five shows. She’s no stranger to the red carpet after reporting on various events including the Super Bowl. And... She’s equally at home on your mobile screens, conducting all sorts of celebrity interviews for ESPN.com and ESPN mobile.
Chris Cuomo - $2.5m
Chris knows his stuff. All his life he’s been around politics, with a father and brother as governors of New York. Yale-educated, he gained a Juris Doctor from Fordham and, to this day, remains a licensed attorney. As an investigative journalist, Chris has uncovered many a problem lurking under the surface of America’s society. His work has led to product recall and even policy change resulting in an industry cleanup. He’s appeared on all the big networks. CNBC. MSNBC. CNN. Fox News. ABC.
He’s been a correspondent on Fox Files, a political policy analyst on Fox News, a co-anchor of 20/20. In 2006, Chris joined Good Morning America, where he was the anchor and primary reporter on breaking news stories. After co-anchoring CNN’s New Day, Chris moved to the Primetime slot with his own show, Cuomo Primetime. He’s hosted spiritual shows, documentary series, and a radio show. Want to talk to the man himself? He takes questions on his website, Cuomo on the Case.
Don Lemon – $10 Million
CNN's renowned journalist Don Lemon is one journalist that is not afraid of touching delicate subjects and issues. Many say that he deserves every penny he gets.
Don is an amazing example of people, not only journalists, that stick to their values and ethics all the way, no matter the consequences. Since 2002, he was awarded a lot of awards for his work. He was also dubbed one of the Advocat's 50 Most Influential LGBTQ People.
Shepard Smith - $10m
He’s been in the business for over 30 years, starting out in TV reporting in Florida. He moved to Los Angeles as a correspondent for A Current Affair, but then he started his own affair with Fox. This was to last 23 years, during which he covered some of the most prestigious stories of the world. He announced his retirement in October 2019.
During his time at Fox, Shepard has hosted Fox News’ The Fox Report with Shepard Smith, Studio B, and Shepard Smith Reporting. He has worked hard through the years to bring us, in his own words, “truth to power without fear or favor, in context and with perspective.” It’s this attitude that has led him to tie second in the 2003 TV Guide poll as the most trusted news anchor on both cable news and network. His colleagues are keeping their fingers crossed that Shepard will resurface in news reporting sometime soon.
Hoda Kotb - $2m
Hoda grew up in Virginia, where she attended university to earn her degree in Broadcast Journalism. But it was back to her Egyptian roots that she went for her first paying job. In 1986, she was a news assistant in Cairo, Egypt, of CBS News. Since then, she has authored four books, judged on a reality show, survived cancer, and won a Daytime Emmy Award.
Once she had some anchoring experience under her belt, gained at WQAD-TV and ABC Moline, Hoda was an easy choice for NBC News. She started there as the national correspondent, also holding down roles as a contributing anchor and correspondent for Dateline NBC. She’s now one-half of the first all-female duo to co-host a segment of the Today Show.
Nancy Grace - $3m
Nancy intended to be an English professor when she left school but changed direction with the murder of her fiancé. She moved into prosecution, working for close to a decade in Atlanta, Georgia. She has always been controversial and has faced reprimands for prosecutorial misconduct. It’s this fire that first attracted the TV execs to her. Court TV approached her with an offer she couldn’t refuse.
Her career in broadcasting started with a legal commentary show alongside Johnnie Cochran. From there, Grace went on to host Trial Heat and then Closing Arguments. In 2005 she got her own show, Nancy Grace, on HLN, whilst at the same time hosting a courtroom reality show, Swift Justice With Nancy Grace. Nowadays she’s gone back to her roots of campaigning against injustice with a true-crime series on Oxygen TV, Injustice with Nancy Grace.
Erin Andrews - $1m
Erin is a fascinating mix of tomboy and girl power. Her father was a reporter for WFLA-TV, and winner of six Emmys. They would watch the game together, and she would spend her breaks at school talking sports with the boys. It’s no wonder that she grew up to be a sports presenter. On the flip side of the coin, Erin has danced for much of her childhood. She was on the Florida Gators Dazzlers dance team at college. After finishing third one year in Dancing With the Stars, she now hosts the show.
After Erin graduated, she joined Fox Sports Florida as a freelance reporter. She moved on to the Sunshine Network, and then to Turner South, where she added hosting to her resume. ESPN was her next stop, where she reported on a variety of sports. In 2012, Erin went to Fox Sports, where she is a field reporter for most of the big events. She uses her fame to the best effect by choosing endorsements and charity events to encourage women sports fans.
Billy Bush - $3m
It could be said that Billy Bush had a bit of a head start in the race for stardom. The nephew of one US President and the first cousin of another, he has been raised in the spotlight. However, he earned the roles he landed on TV. Upon naming him one of their 10 Men in 2005, Esquire described him as “a furious, inventive interviewer, unafraid of playing the fool in exchange for a true reaction.”
After the obligatory start in radio, Billy transitioned to TV, joining the team at Access Hollywood as East Coast correspondent. It wasn’t long before they promoted him to co-anchor. He has also been a co-host on NBC’s Today. He has dabbled in film, returned to radio, and hosted the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants. After the lewd chat from years before was aired, NBC pulled Billy from Today, but he is back on our screens this year anchoring Extra’s weekday broadcasts.
Savannah Guthrie - $1m
We know Savannah for her well-regarded interviews with high-profile figures. She’s been on TV since graduating for the first time in 1993 with a degree in journalism. Local TV in Arizona gave way to the national news when she joined WRC-TV, covering major stories such as the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon. Then, not content with one degree, Savannah went back to school.
She’s now got a Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center. She is a member of the DC and Arizona bars, scoring first place on the Arizona Bar Exam. Her legal work soon brought her back to TV as a national trial correspondent for Court TV. In 2007, she started corresponding for NBC News. She has since anchored the show, along with NBC Nightly News. Savannah is also Hoda Kotb’s co-host on the 9am hour of Today in their first all-female pairing.
Martha MacCallum - $8m
Award-winning journalist Martha studied political science at St. Lawrence University. But, before she started down that career path she took time out to study at the Circle In The Square Theater School. She founded the Miranda Theater Company in New York, then moved on to work as an associate in corporate relations. It wasn’t until 1991 that she found journalism.
She started as a business correspondent and anchor for the Wall Street Journal Report, World Market Outlook, and Business USA. Then she took the same role for WPXN-TV. Next up was NBC/CNBC as a contributor to some of their biggest news shows before landing a co-anchor role at Morning Call with Martha MacCallum and Ted David. In 2004, Martha joined Fox on its news channel, covering four presidential elections. She has hosted The Live Desk and America’s Newsroom. She now hosts The Story with Martha MacCallum.
Jon Stewart - $25m
Where’s the money made? In comedy, that’s where. Jon is our highest earner so far. There’s no way we can get much more than a movie trailer’s worth of information on Jon’s impressive career into this list. Here are some highlights. After graduating with a psychology major, Jon did some job-hopping. He tried out everything from puppeteer to contingency planner. He suffered from stage fright, so it took him quite a while to make the first step of his career: Joining the comedy club circuit.
From there, there was no stopping him. He got into writing for TV in 1989, followed by hosting. He got his own show on MTV before signing with Letterman’s production company, Worldwide Pants. Then came The Daily Show and 20 Primetime Emmy Awards, a Grammy Award, and two Peabody Awards. He’s a movie star, writer, producer, Academy Awards host, and now movie director. There is actually no end to his talents!
Sage Steele - $400k
If you can score points playing it, Sage knows all about it. Today she’s the co-host of ESPN’s SportsCenter. She travels across the nation, covering major sporting events for SportsCenter On The Road. Football, golf, baseball, Sage has them all covered. And it’s hardly a surprise when we look at to whom she’s related.
Gary Steele was the first African-American to play varsity football at West Point. Sage is his daughter. Her brother Chad is vice president of media relations for the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens. It was inevitable that Sage would tread in the family's footsteps. After graduating in 1995 with a Bachelor of Science in Sports Communication, she went straight into TV sports reporting. Several local gigs later, Sage joined ESPN in 2007.
David Muir - $20m
Simply put, America loves David. He’s been one of the most visible journalists in the country. World News Tonight with David Muir has become the most-watched newscast in the country. TV Week has called him one of the 12 to watch in TV news. And let’s not forget that People Magazine has named him one of the Sexiest Men Alive. Throw in a few Emmys and an Edward R. Murrow award or two, and what’s not to like?
As being sexy and professional, rumors started to swirl around about his private life. He was linked to Gio Benitez. They were seen several times on private events, but they both rejected the rumors. In 2016, Gio started a relationship with Tommy DiDario so the rumors about Muir died. So for all of you out there - Muir is still a happy single man.
Sam Champion - $2m
We don’t care if the weather is bad, as long as Sam is the one telling us about it. He has a BA in broadcast news from Eastern Kentucky University, and he’s put the skills he learned to good use. Apart from his TV career, Sam has spent years bringing charitable causes to our attention. He has been Grand Marshall, Chairman, and Master of Ceremonies for various money-raising events. He even shared his battle with cancer with us to raise awareness.
Sam started out in broadcasting as a meteorologist at WPDS-TV in Kentucky, then WJKS in Florida. In 1988, he started a 25-year stint at ABC. He started out on Eyewitness News, then joined Good Morning America in 2004. He has been prominent in covering environmental issues, including climate change and global warming. In 2013, he had a change of scenery, joining The Weather Channel as host and managing director. That affair is now over, and Sam is back where he belongs, anchoring with ABC once more.
Ginger Zee - $125k
What drove Ginger to meteorology? “I saw a waterspout on Lake Michigan when I was eight... I was mesmerized. I really thought it was the coolest thing I had ever seen.” Well, we are inclined to agree that waterspouts are pretty amazing. We don’t blame Ginger for studying meteorology with the single-minded aim of being on The Today Show before she hit 30. With a vocation burning in her since age eight, we’re not even surprised that she did just that. It can’t have been easy, especially as she has been diagnosed with narcolepsy since age 21!
Ginger was asked to guest on The Today Show in 2010, just squeezing it in before her 30th birthday. From there, her career at ABC blossomed, with Good Morning America Weekend, ABC World News Tonight, and Nightline. On Sam Champion’s departure, Ginger stepped in to fill his shoes and became ABC News’ Chief Meteorologist and weather editor. And the cherry on the top? She came third in Dancing With The Stars in 2016!
Cari Champion - $1m
Cari has two passions in life: Tennis and fighting for the underdog. The first drew her to journalism. “I wanted to give people a voice that didn’t have a voice... That’s why I love journalism.” After graduating from UCLA in 1998, Cari’s broadcasting career started out small. It took ten years of station-hopping for her to find her second passion and her new home.
Cari was covering tennis at the height of the Williams sisters’ fame. She had always loved the game, and the inspirational performances of Venus and Serena “...opened the door to tennis for so many different people.” Cari was quick to audition for the Tennis Channel’s news department, and in 2009 became a courtside reporter and anchor for the network.
Cari’s name soon became synonymous with sports reporting, and ESPN hired her in 2012. She hosted, moderated, wrote, and interviewed her way to the top, becoming a SportsCenter anchor in 2015.
Charissa Thompson - $500k
Armed with a BA in Law and Society, Charissa set out to work in broadcasting straight from school. It was all that she had ever wanted to do. And it didn’t take her long to land a national gig covering Major League Baseball. She joined Fox, reporting from the sidelines at the NFL. She’s covered college football and basketball and hosted various sports shows.
Aside from Fox, Charissa has done a lot of work for Yahoo! Sports. There, she’s covered everything from the Winter Olympics to the FIFA World Cup. At one point an ice-level reporter at the NHL, a reality sports TV host, and a co-host on Extra, Charissa has seen it all. She enjoyed a few years' hiatus from Fox to work with ESPN, where she hosted SportsNation and ESPN First Take. But it wasn’t long before she was back in Fox’s den, where she now reports for Fox Sports.
Tom Brokaw - $8m
Tom Brokaw - a legend in his own lifetime. He’s best known for his remarkable achievement of anchoring and editing NBC Nightly News for 22 years. He’s the only person to have hosted all three major NBC News programs. He was one of the ‘Big Three’ news anchors in the US for three decades. Nowadays, at nearly 80 years old, he is a special correspondent for the network.
And that’s just what made him famous. Off-screen, Tom is as awesome as he is in the studio. He has fought and beaten cancer. He’s published ten books. He has over 30 awards, including Peabody Awards, Emmys, and lifetime achievement awards. He’s been recognized for contributions to freedom of speech, overcoming adversity, and advancing the understanding of religion, race, and ethnicity. He has a French Legion of Honor for his support of WWII veterans. He has, and I kid you not, 30 honorary degrees. In his youth, he climbed mountains. When faced with allegations of sexual misconduct, no less than 68 colleagues signed a letter characterizing Tom as “a man of tremendous decency and integrity”.
Leslie Stahl - $1.8m
Leslie is remarkable in this list for how many jobs she hasn’t had. Unlike most of our intrepid reporters, Leslie found a home near the beginning of her career, and she lives there still. In 1972, she was one of the first women reporters hired by CBS. It may have been the burgeoning field of political correctness that bought her that job, but CBS has never regretted its decision. She immediately went to cover Watergate, giving the network the scoop on the story.
Since then, Leslie has gone on to become the CBS White House correspondent. She hosted Face The Nation for 8 years and 48 Hours Investigates for 2 years. She’s now a correspondent for 60 Minutes, and she’s published two books. It’s all a far cry from her first gig on Boston’s Channel 5!
Brooke Baldwin - $1.5m
Brooke hails from Atlanta, Georgia. Her journey to national fame has included college in North Carolina, undergraduate study in Mexico City, reporting and anchoring in Virginia, and reporting in Washington, DC. Since joining CNN in 2008, Brooke has been nominated for an Emmy and a Peabody Award. Her documentary To Catch A Serial Killer won a Silver World Medal.
Brooke joined The Rick List in 2008, taking Rick’s place when the network dropped him. She has covered two Presidential inaugurations, a space shuttle launch, the Eric Garner death protests, the 2015 Baltimore protests, and the Orlando nightclub shooting. Currently, she hosts CNN Newsroom with Brooke Baldwin.
Megyn Kelly - $15m
Legal eagle Megyn trained in law and practiced as a corporate defense attorney. It was still early in her career when her path took a slight turn and she got a job as a general assignment reporter. She conducted the live coverage of the confirmation hearing for US Supreme Court Justices. From there, Fox News gave her a segment, Kelly’s Court, during Weekend Live. She also appeared on a weekly segment on the network’s number one show, the O’Reilly Factor.
She’s been one of the 100 most influential people listed by Time, and it’s easy to see why. 2010 saw her hosting America Live. In 2013, she started a four-year stint hosting The Kelly File. This ran every night and was so popular that it occasionally overtook the O’Reilly Factor in the race for the number one spot. 2017 heralded a change of scenery for Megyn as she left Fox for NBC. From night owl to early bird, there she hosted Megyn Kelly Today, part of the Today show.
Lester Holt - $4.5m
Lester Holt secured his place in history when he became the first African-American solo anchor for a network nightly newscast. He achieved this when Brian Williams was demoted from the role on NBC Nightly News in 2015. Lester had already been anchoring the weekend edition of the program for eight years. He also anchors Dateline NBC.
Lester's first on-air job was as a disc jockey at a Country and Western station. In 1981, he started reporting for WCBS-TV. From New York City to Los Angeles to Chicago, Lester traveled the nation gaining experience. Then came his international period. For 14 years, he reported from hotspots across the globe, including Iraq, Northern Ireland, Somalia, El Salvador, and Haiti.
Jim Rome - $30m
Jim Rome is our first radio star featured on this list. Generally, radio is where our stars have started out before transitioning into TV. But Jim is a radioman at heart. Despite various successful TV jobs, he has never abandoned his first love. Nowadays, he has been named as one of the most influential talk radio personalities by Talkers Magazine.
Jim’s career was born with an internship at KTMS, Santa Barbara. It fledged with traffic-update reporting and part-time sports reporting. It took wing at XTRA Sports, who gave him his own show, the Jim Rome Show, now heard on over 200 stations across the US and Canada. On TV, Jim has hosted The FX Sports Show, Talk2 on ESPN2, and The Last Word on Fox Sports Net. On ESPN, he hosted Rome Is Burning, and on CBS, Rome.
Ann Curry - $5m
Born in Guam to an American father and a Japanese mother, Ann lived in Japan, then Oregon. She holds a bachelor of arts in journalism, and today she runs a multi-platform media start-up company. She is active in charitable works and has received three Emmys, a Gracie Award, and four Golden Mikes, among other awards. She sponsors a scholarship program at the University of Oregon, where she graduated.
Ann’s reports focused on human suffering. In this vein, she has covered wars and natural disasters across the world. She worked her way up through various stations and jobs to become a news anchor on Today in 1994. She first substituted, then anchored on the show for over ten years. During that time, Ann also anchored on Dateline NBC and NBC Nightly News. Beforehand she had anchored the NBC News At Sunrise. Since leaving NBC, Ann has turned to docuseries, producing her own six-part PBS series. She currently hosts TNT/TBS’ Chasing The Cure.
Kelly Ripa - $16m
Kelly wasn’t always in journalism. In fact, she spent twelve years starring in a soap opera! She has studied ballet since age three. She plays the piano. She was a cheerleader in high school and starred in school and local theatre productions before attending college. It was her performance in The Ugly Duckling during her senior year that got her discovered. After a few local TV gigs, Kelly made it onto Dancin’ On Air.
Here, she made a start on her ultimate goal, to be a newsreader. She would regularly do the cast news reports. But acting would yet take up a few years of her career. She followed her time on All My Children with a three-year stint on Hope & Faith. She did, however, manage to squeeze in some hosting work. In 2001, she was named as Kathie Lee Gifford’s replacement on Live!, where she still hosts today.
Maria Bartiromo - $6m
Maria started how she meant to go on. She studied journalism and economics at NYU whilst working as an intern at CNN. None of this working through a collection of local stations for Maria. Upon graduating, she went straight into CNN Business News as a producer and assignment editor. But she wanted to be in front of the cameras. After five years, she made her first report live from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. She was the first journalist to do so.
In her career, Maria has hosted Market Watch, Squawk Box, The Business of Innovation, Closing Bell, Market Wrap, and Business Center. She anchored and edited On The Money with Maria Bartiromo. She’s penned three books and writes a monthly column for USA Today. After 20 years with CNBC, Maria has now moved to Fox, where she hosts Mornings with Maria, Wall Street Week with Maria Bartiromo, and Sunday Morning Features with Maria Bartiromo.
Michael Strahan - $17m
It’s a common occurrence for retiring athletes to join their former sport’s commentary teams, but it takes talent to progress far into TV celebrity. Michael played with the New York Giants in the NFL for 15 years. In his final year before retirement, the Giants won the Super Bowl with him on the team.
His first foray into broadcasting was on the pregame show, Fox NFL Sunday, as a football analyst. He remains there still. He’s starred in various commercials, and he’s authored a motivational book. He’s tried a few different roles in journalism, including co-hosting Live! and Good Morning America. He won an Emmy at GMA and went on to co-host Strahan and Sara. Just for something different to do, Michael now hosts his favorite game show growing up, $100,000 Pyramid.
Samantha Steele Ponder - $5m
Samantha’s life has read like a modern-day woman’s fairy tale. She went to college in New York City, where she joined ESPN, eventually getting an internship with them. She then moved on to be a researcher assistant for the college football studio show on ABC-TV. Jobs started finding her at that point, and she transferred universities to take an opportunity offered at Liberty Flames. She was a sideline reporter for the Virginian sports television network until 2009.
Next, Samantha moved on to Fox, reporting from the sidelines for college basketball and football games. Then, in 2011, she joined ESPN on their Longhorn Network, leading to her current roles on College GameDay and ESPNU. Our reporting princess has found her NFL prince, marrying player Christian Ponder in 2012. She’s now living happily ever after hosting Sunday NFL Countdown.
Martha Raddatz - $2.5m
Martha was so eager to get to work that she couldn’t wait to finish studying at the University of Utah. So she didn’t bother, going straight into the working world before her graduation. She joined a local station before going to Boston to work at WCVB-TV as the chief correspondent. In 1993, she made a foray into radio, covering the Pentagon for National Public Radio for 5 years. In 1999, Martha was welcomed into the ABC network, with whom she is still working.
No career ladder climbing was necessary for Martha. She started out with ABC at the top. Her first role was as their State Department correspondent, followed by Senior National Security correspondent in 2003. This job took her to Iraq. It was Martha who got the worldwide scoop on the death of terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. After a quick stint as an author, penning a New York Times bestseller that got made into a mini-series, Martha moved over to become the chief White House correspondent. Then in 2008, she took her current position as Senior Foreign Affairs correspondent. She also reports for World News Tonight with David Muir and Nightline, among others.
Joe Buck - $3m
Multiple award winner Joe has sportscasting in his blood. Son of Jack Buck, an inductee of various Halls of Fame for his sportscasting work, Joe has followed in his father’s footsteps. He is now the proud winner of numerous Sports Emmys and three National Sportscaster of the Year awards. He also holds some network TV records: He is the youngest man ever to announce a regular slate of NFL games, and in 2018, he called the most games of any play-by-play announcer.
Every May, Joe hosts the Joe Buck Classic, a celebrity pro-am golf tournament that raises money for the St. Louis Children’s Hospital. He’s written a book, and he hosts Undeniable with Joe Buck on Audience Network. He’s a man of many talents, but his heart will always lie with his father’s, in play-by-play sportscasting. He will always pay tribute to his father when the World Series goes to a 7th game.
Amy Robach - $300k
From Michigan to Missouri to Georgia, Amy had traveled the country before getting into journalism! But she hadn’t quite seen enough, so she took her degree with high honors in broadcast journalism to Washington, DC. There, she took a job at WTTG before going national with MSNBC in 2003. Four years of anchoring plus substituting on Morning Joe and Countdown with Keith Olbermann led her to NBC proper. Amy became a co-anchor of Weekend Today before changing allegiance in 2012 to ABC News.
She was now a correspondent on Good Morning America, and it didn’t take her long to become the news anchor for the show. Amy no longer anchors GMA. She moved to join 20/20, where she is anchoring alongside David Muir, although she still covers major news on GMA. She also continues to be their breaking news anchor.
Dan Rather - $6m
Dan was one of the Big Three news anchors of the nation. In his long years covering the news, he has been at the forefront of many historical events, including the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War. He received his big break with CBS when luck had him nearly on the grassy knoll with Oswald when he pulled the trigger. Although he didn’t witness the actual event, his prompt arrival to report on-screen earned him the position of White House correspondent in 1964.
A Texan born and bred, Dan was most comfortable in the south, where he spent his career prior to his promotion. Criticized in the past for inadequate fact-checking and bias, Dan has nevertheless won us over. We’ve loved seeing him on our screens for over 50 years. In his later years, he’s proved that he’s not afraid of change. He set up his Facebook account in 2015 and regularly posts about whatever takes his fancy. After retiring from national TV news, Dan is now a regular contributor to various current event shows, has done a series of hour-long interviews, has a radio show, and hosts a weekly broadcast on YouTube!
Michelle Beadle - $600k
Italian-born Michelle once didn’t know what to do with her life. After studying law, her experiences working at the capitol in Austin put her off that career path. It took her three years of job-hopping, in Canada and the US, to settle on a new vocation. Her father helped her to get an internship for the San Antonio Spurs, where she had her first opportunity to do some reporting. Since then, she’s kept her talent sharp working for such diverse networks as Fine Living Network, the Travel Channel, Animal Planet, and the Discovery Channel.
Michelle hosted Fox Sports Net’s Big Game Hunters, then joined TNN to cover the Professional Bull Riders’ (PBR) Bud Light Cup Tour. She’s done stints on the YES Network and College Sports Television. She’s an accomplished host of both reality shows and red carpet events. She’s appeared on The Early Show, The Today Show, Extra, Access Hollywood, and Entertainment Tonight. Apart from a year with NBC in 2013, Michelle has been a regular host on ESPN since 2009.
Wolf Blitzer - $5m
German-born Wolf, whose surname translates to lightning, has got to be the most aptly named person to take up journalism. His parents were refugees from Auschwitz, and he speaks fluent Hebrew. He has a BA in history and an MA in International Studies. It’s no surprise, with that history, that Wolf quickly landed a job in Tel Aviv working for Reuters. For 17 years, he wrote for a few different newspapers, in English and Hebrew, most notably the Jerusalem Post.
In May 1990 Wolf made the move: To the US, to TV, to CNN. He has won several awards with his teams for coverage of everything from hurricanes to terrorist attacks. Peabodies, Emmys, the list goes on. First, he was a military affairs reporter. Next, the White House correspondent. Then came the shows with his name on, Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer and Wolf Blitzer Reports. Nowadays he hosts The Situation Room and is the network’s lead political editor.
Paula Faris - $600k
Paula’s degree is in broadcasting, with an emphasis on television production, and she started her career behind the cameras. She held several communications-based roles, basing herself in Ohio. At one point, she branched out into radio sales whilst waiting for a TV opportunity to present itself. The wait was worth it, and Paula sneaked in some reporting and anchoring at WKEF/WRGT whilst working as a production assistant.
That led to a weekend sports anchor gig at WCPO before joining ABC’s World News Now and America This Morning. After filling in on Good Morning America a few times, Paula’s ticket was finally called when she landed the weekend co-anchor job for the program. In 2015, she started co-hosting The View until 2018. Now, she is concentrating on her faith-based podcast series, Journeys of Faith, although she still gets a few reports in for GMA and other ABC platforms.
Mika Brzezinski - $2m
Mika is not afraid to tell it like it is - but only if she believes it’s important enough. Outspoken Mika is idealistic about what should be important in journalism. She doesn’t like to report on entertainment trivia when hard news is afoot, once trying to burn such a story’s script on air. If anyone can recognize an important political story, it’s Mika. She’s the daughter of a National Security Advisor, descendant of a Czech president, and sister to an Ambassador and a military expert.
After a few different roles, Mika started a career yoyoing between two networks. First, CBS and a correspondent and anchor role for Up to the Minute. She then hopped over to NSNBC on work on HomePage. There she earned the nickname ‘the Powerpuff Girls of Journalism’ with her co-anchors. Then, back to CBS as a desk correspondent and anchor. Now she’s back at MSNBC, co-hosting with her now-husband Joe Scarborough on Morning Joe.
Elisabeth Hasselbeck - $1m
Elisabeth is a survivor - literally! She first rose to fame as a contestant in the second season of Survivor; The Australian Outback. With had no plans to become a journalist, Elisabeth studied large-scale paintings and industrial design at college. She went to work for Puma as a designer whilst still at college in Boston. Then she finished fourth in the Survivor show, which was enough to get her noticed by TV execs.
They noticed her style, and offered her first a position as a judge on Miss Teen USA, and then as the host on The Look For Less, on Style Network. There, Elisabeth brought fashion to the masses finding gorgeous outfits for bargain prices. Her agent put her up for The View in 2003, where she co-hosted until 2013, winning an Emmy along the way. She moved to Fox to co-host Fox & Friends before retiring in 2015 to spend more time with her family.
Nancy O'Dell - $3m
She’s an entertainment reporter, a former beauty pageant star, and an avid scrapbooker. With that resume, it might surprise you to know that Nancy has changed the law with her reporting early in her career. Working as a crime reporter at WCBD-TV in South Carolina, Nancy’s reports earned her a Best Report of the Year Award. The subject was the leniency that the State Police habitually showed on DUI cases. The result? A State Law Enforcement Division investigation and more stringent directive put in place.
From Charleston to Miami to Las Vegas, Nancy crossed the nation before finding a home at the syndicated tabloid show A Current Affair. When that show ended in 1996, she went straight onto anchoring a brand new national program, Access Hollywood. She’s covered pageants, parades, and red carpet events, as well as contributing to Today and Dateline NBC. Most recently, she co-anchored Entertainment Tonight until 2019.
Chris Matthews - $5m
Chris is a true public servant, aiming his entire career at working towards bettering society. After his graduation, he served in the US Peace Corps in Swaziland. Then, he was an officer with the US Capitol Police. He’s worked for four Members of Congress. He’s even run for Congress himself and considered running for the Senate.
As far as media goes, Chris has had a prolific authoring career. He has penned no less than eight books, all best-sellers. For 15 years, he has worked in print at the San Francisco Examiner and the San Francisco Chronicle. In 1997, he took on TV. He got his own weeknight talk show, Hardball with Chris Matthews. In 2002, he became the moderator on The Chris Matthews Show, a political discussion roundhouse. Now, he focuses on Hardball, writing, and documentaries.
Barbara Walter - $12m
Barbara has not been seen publicly since 2016, but her legacy lives on. Barbara is now living her retirement in peace. This is the lady that first gave women a voice in journalism, opening doors across the years for the faces of today. She started working in the industry in 1951, but it wasn’t until the early 60s that she first appeared on air.
By 1974, Barbara was the co-host of NBC’s The Today Show, although she had been writing and reporting for them for some time. This made history - she was the first woman to co-host an American news program. She followed it up with another first for women, becoming the first female co-anchor on the evening news. Then came her years on 20/20 where she interviewed just about everybody that was anybody. Barbara went on to co-create, be executive producer of, and co-host The View.
Scott Pelley - $5m
Scott is a Texas man, born and bred. Raised in Lubbock, he then studied journalism there at college. He didn’t wait until graduating to start work, joining the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal as a copy boy at age 15. Although he never graduated from Texas Tech, nearly 50 years later they named him an Outstanding Alumnus. Pelley’s teams have, over the years, won a plethora of awards, including multiple Emmys and Peabodies.
In 1975, he became a broadcast journalist at KSEL-TV. He moved to Fort Worth with KXAS-TV, then to Dallas with WFAA-TV. Seven years later, after his reporting of war refugees caught CBS’s eye, they offered him a job. That was the start of his political, war, and terrorism reporting. He has been to many of the world’s war zones, earning praise for his dedication to honesty in his coverage. He was Chief White House correspondent for CBS News before joining 60 Minutes, for which he still works. In 2011, he started a stint as an anchor and managing editor of CBS Evening News, where he raised the viewing ratings until he left in 2017.
Christiane Amanpour - $2m
Often-controversial Christiane has a rich cultural heritage. Born in England and raised until age 11 in Iran, her father was a Persian Muslim and her mother a British Catholic. Fluent in both English and Persian, Christiane attended boarding school in England before going to college in the US. She was married to a Jewish American and now lives in London. It’s no wonder that she is Chief International Anchor for CNN.
Her career began at CNN 36 years ago, when she took the post of desk assistant. It didn’t take her long to get promoted to the field to cover the Iran-Iraq war. Since then, she has been reporting on wars, terrorism, sieges, and revolutions from across the globe. Sometimes criticized for bias, she is nonetheless recognized as one of the best in the business. She’s received award after award, including Peabodies and Polks, and is a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE). In 2010, Christiane left CNN for ABC News to anchor This Week. By 2011, she was back at CNN hosting the interview show Amanpour. As of 2018, she also hosts Amanpour & Company on PBS.
Al Roker - $8m
Al is America’s favorite weatherman. Born in 1954, he’s been predicting storms on-screen for 45 years. But it wasn’t what he planned to do when he grew up. At school, he was a member of the Cartooning & Illustration Club. He wanted to be a cartoonist. He fell into meteorology when still at university and never looked back. When Al does a job, he does it to the fullest. In 2014, he completed his first Rokerthon, a non-stop, record-breaking, 34-hour weather forecast to raise money for charity.
1978 saw Al join the NBC network, where he still brings us the weather today. Over the years, he has forecasted both in the studio and out-of-doors. He's interviewed, commentated, and hosted on Today, NBC News at Sunrise, The Al Roker Show, even on Food Network. He’s hosted and played on various game shows. And it doesn’t stop there. He’s done two more record-breaking Rokerthons, sung on Broadway, and co-written a series of murder mysteries!
Thomas Roberts - $1.5m
Thomas minored in journalism and majored in communication in Maryland, where he grew up. That’s where he had his first broadcasting job, reporting for a local cable station. But ambition is a powerful propellant, and soon enough Thomas had traveled across the nation in pursuit of the perfect story. Stops on his way to national news include California, Nebraska, Florida, Georgia, Washington, DC, Los Angeles, and New York City.
Thomas is outspoken in his support of equal rights and has won an Emmy with his then show, Live with Thomas Roberts, and its coverage of marriage equality. He has also hosted Out There with Thomas Roberts, which focused on LGBT equality issues. He missed out on being one of the 50 Sexiest Bachelors of People magazine by dint of being in a relationship. He’s been on CNN’s National News, Entertainment Tonight, The Insider, CBS News, Today, NBC News, and MSNBC. Nowadays he’s back in Atlanta, soon to start anchoring on WGCL-46.
Chuck Todd - $750k
Always a political animal, Chuck started out working on initiative campaigns in Florida. Then came national campaigns based in Washington, DC, culminating with his work on the 1992 presidential campaign of Senator Tom Harkin. All before he left college! Two years before he would leave George Washington University, Chuck was working for National Journal’s The Hotline. There, he was editor-in-chief and got his first taste of hosting on the web with Hotline TV.
That led to being a guest on Hardball with Chris Matthews, among other political shows, which garnered the attention of NBC. Chuck landed the job of political director on NBC News, a position he still holds today. He has appeared as a political analyst for a range of big shows. He blogged for MSNBC.com and did a Q&A session each week at Newsvine. Nowadays, he moderates NBC’s Meet The Press, hosts MTP Daily on MSNBC and is the political analyst for NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt and Today.
Tamron Hall - $1m
Tamron has had a keen interest in crime reporting ever since her sister’s murder. She had been the victim of domestic abuse before her death, and Tamron has suffered guilt for not doing something earlier. She is now a spokesperson against domestic violence. It was this experience that led her to host Investigation Discovery’s Deadline: Crime, and Guns on Campus: Tamron Hall Investigates. Not afraid of a challenge, Tamron has also appeared on Running Wild with Bear Grylls. Roast squirrel, anyone?
Over the years, Tamron has worked in Texas and Illinois as a consumer reporter, morning news host, and political reporter. In 2007, she made it on to national news with MSNBC and NBC News. She’s done various substitute anchoring work and co-hosted The Big Picture. She took on major US events hosting NewsNation with Tamron Hall. In 2014, she became the first African American to co-anchor Today. She has just launched her own talk show named Tamron Hall, which is syndicated across the nation.
Josh Elliott - $4m
Fuelled by ambition, Josh has never been afraid to aim for the stars. It’s a shame that he always seems to miss. At college, he planned to play water polo but ended up working at the university paper. He joined 20th Century Fox to work in comedy development, then physical production. He moved over to print, covering major events for Sports Illustrated. Josh then went to ESPN as a panelist for Around the Horn and Jim Rome Is Burning, a guest co-host for Cold Pizza, the host of Classic Now, and an anchor on SportsCenter.
He finally made it on to current affairs at ABC’s Good Morning America, where he became a news anchor. Then came a change of network to NBC with a hefty pay rise. But it came with a price. Josh was back to covering sports, prohibited from appearing on the news. In 2016, he switched networks to CBS. Back on the stories, he was anchoring their digital news service. Then it all fell apart as Josh announced prematurely that he would be returning to TV after an unofficial comment from an executive. He was fired a few days later and now has no permanent home in broadcasting.
Robin Roberts - $14m
Robin is an inspiration to us all, battling illness and meeting controversy head-on. She’s an award-winning journalist, an honorary Harlem Globetrotter, an LGBT icon, and a mentor for Disney’s #DreamBigPrincess campaign. With a sister already a TV anchor, Robin chose to study journalism at college, where she won a tennis scholarship. She was a basketball star with a 27.6 average.
Robin has survived cancer and myelodysplastic syndrome, earning a Peabody Award for “allowing her network to document and build a public service campaign around her battle with rare disease.” After a stint in radio and a few local TV news anchoring jobs, she joined ESPN. She worked there on SportsCenter for 15 years. In 1995, she started working for ABC News. There, she anchors Good Morning America, bringing it to the number one slot in the ratings.
Katie Couric - $15m
With a variety of posts across both TV and digital networks, Katie has done it all. America’s Sweetheart has dabbled in movie and TV series cameos, written two children’s books, and owns a media production company. She’s lost a sister and a husband to cancer and works tirelessly to promote cancer awareness. Katie worked first for the ABC News Bureau, then for CNN. It didn’t take her long to start collecting awards, including an Associated Press, an Emmy, and a Peabody.
She moved to NBC News in 1989 as Deputy Pentagon Correspondent and anchor substitute. There, she found a home at Today, starting out as a political correspondent and rising to co-anchor, a role she kept for 15 years. From there, Katie went to CBS, anchoring the CBS Evening News and contributing to 60 Minutes. She also hosted @katiecouric, an interview program on CBSNews.com. In 2011, she returned to ABC as a special correspondent and specials anchor for ABC News and 20/20. She hosted her own web show called Katie. Her last stint on-air was as Global Anchor on Yahoo! News.
George Stephanopoulus - $10m
George’s profile can be seen everywhere these days. He’s the chief anchor and political correspondent on ABC News, co-anchor on Good Morning America, and hosts This Week. He regularly anchors on ABC World News Tonight, and he’s on the 1 euro Greek postage stamp! His father wanted him to become a lawyer or a priest, and George has an MA in Theology from Oxford University. His real interest was politics, however, and after deciding against the priesthood, that’s where he headed.
George worked behind the scenes in politics as an advisor for the Democrats. He moved on to communications director, first for Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign, then for the White House. He capped off his political career by becoming Senior Advisor to the President before leaving in 1996 to become a journalist.
Giovani Benitez - $750k
Giovani is of Cuban descent. Born and raised in Miami, he is a fluent speaker of English and Spanish and holds a BA in Anthropology and Sociology from Florida International University. He was 22 when he graduated, but he hadn’t waited that long to get into the industry. He started his first broadcasting job at 17, working as an assistant at CBS4, WFOR Television.
In 2013 he joined ABC, appearing as a correspondent on a variety of news programs. He’s reported for World News Tonight, Good Morning America, 20/20, and Nightline. He’s currently on the Fusion Channel, a 24-hour English language cable news channel aimed at American Hispanics. There, he hosts Nightline on Fusion.
Terry Moran - $250k
Terry’s career in current events began before he graduated from college. He became the editor of Lawrence University’s newspaper, the Lawrentian. Always up for a challenge, he went straight on to participate in the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship scheme. He spent a year in Ireland on a completely self-devised project focusing on economic development and foreign capital investment. Over the years, he has won several prestigious awards and been described by peers as “a brilliant writer and gifted storyteller... [he] has the ability to see the story no one else sees...”
Terry’s first paid gig was at The New Republic magazine. He followed that up with a stint reporting and editing at the Legal Times. His entry into TV sent him further along the legal path as he started reporting for Court TV. He covered some major trials during that time. In 1997, he joined ABC News. Now senior national correspondent, he has also fulfilled roles as the primary correspondent at the US Supreme Court and chief White House correspondent. He co-anchored Nightline from 2005 to 2013.
Sean Hannity - $29m
If you want drama, Sean Hannity is your guy. Famously partisan, Sean has an opinion on everything. He started out in radio, where he still hosts his own talk show today. Nationally syndicated, The Sean Hannity Show has boasted over 13.5 million listeners per week. He also hosts a cable news show, Hannity, on Fox News. But it wasn’t always big bucks for him, although he’s always been full of big talk. He started out as a volunteer host on college radio.
Sean is famous for his outspoken views on sensitive subjects, and his advocacy of conspiracy theories. Right from the outset, he has been offending people, getting his first show canceled as a result. Nothing can keep Sean down, however, and he played on his infamy, advertising himself as “the most talked-about college radio host in America” to win his next gig. He’s written three books, won awards, and has been on Forbes Celebrity 100 list. Love him or hate him, everybody’s listening to what he has to say!
Natalie Morales - $1m
Named as one of the 50 Most Influential Latinas, Natalie is great at everything she puts her mind to. Born in Taiwan, raised in Brazil, Spain, and the US, she speaks three languages. When she entered into broadcasting, she took on every job, all at once! Her career’s first home was at News 12 - The Bronx, and she was a camera operator, producer, editor, and anchor. Graduating summa cum laude, she went into banking before answering journalism’s call.
She’s worked for WVIT-TV, WNBC, and Court TV, both in front of and behind the cameras. In 2002, she went to MNSBC as an anchor and correspondent. 2006 saw Natalie join the team at Today, first as a national correspondent, then as an anchor. Nowadays, she is the West Coast news anchor for the show, the host of Access Hollywood and Access Hollywood Live, and a correspondent on Dateline and NBC Nightly News.
Heidi Watney - $150k
If it’s physical and requires a body-hugging outfit, Heidi has taken part in it. She was a first runner-up in the Miss California USA pageant. At school, she was a diver, a hurdler, a gymnast, and a cheerleader! With a record like that, you might forgive her a low grade or two in the classroom, but Heidi was also a National Merit Scholar. Going to college on an academic scholarship, she graduated with honors. So what does an intelligent, hardworking sports fan do when they grow up?
Become a sportscaster, of course. Heidi joined ESPN Radio 1430 KFIG as a sports talk radio host, spending her weekends at KMPH-TV as a sports anchor. She landed a gig as an on-field reporter for the Boston Red Sox, which led to host positions on The Red Sox Report and The Ultimate Red Sox Show. In 2011, Time Warner Cable SportsNet hired her as a sideline reporter, and a year later, she moved on to MLB Network, where she now hosts Quick Pitch.
Bill O'Reilly - $20m
The problem with being a reporter is that you need people to trust you. Bill worked hard to gain that trust, and at the height of his career was described as “the biggest star in the 20-year history at Fox News.” Over the years, he has anchored news shows, reported from war zones, presented the weather, and created his own podcasts. He’s a multiple Emmy Award winner and has authored and co-authored a LOT of books. So why isn’t he on our TV screens today?
It’s simple. If you go on record saying things like, “When I see corruption, I try to expose it. When I see exploitation, I try to fight it,” you don’t want to have tapes of your less-than-savory off-air treatment of staff surface on the internet. You don’t want to have your daughter claim that you abused your wife. You don’t want high-profile newspapers unearthing six sexual harassment claims against you. You certainly don’t want them to publish that you bought off each of those claimants to keep it out of court. Showing those kinds of true colors breaks trust with the viewers and incidentally, gets you fired.
Elizabeth Vargas - $750k
Elizabeth is a fighter. The first evening news anchor of Puerto-Rican and Irish-American descent, she’s only the third woman to anchor a network evening newscast. And she uses her position to fight for the underdog’s rights across space and even time. Her efforts to de-stain the Bible’s Mary Magdalene are legendary. She’s won Emmys for her coverage of unfair treatment of women and those from ethnic minorities.
Elizabeth joined NBC in 1993 as a correspondent on Dateline and an anchor on Today. In 1996, she made the move to ABC, reading the news on Good Morning America. She went on to anchor Sunday’s World News Tonight and 20/20. In 2018, she left all that behind to become the lead investigative reporter and documentary anchor for A&E Networks. She works on their show A&E Investigates: Cults & Extreme Belief.
Meredith Vieira - $11m
Meredith is two things in life; a TV host and a woman with strong family values. Her career has been shaped by her commitment to her family, making her sometimes the subject of the headlines that she no longer reports on. She once described herself as “a reporter who didn’t want to report because it required a tremendous amount of travel.” She has turned down roles that would interfere with her mothering and even left 60 Minutes when they couldn’t accommodate part-time hours.
A journalist since leaving college, she had been a reporter, anchor, and investigative reporter at various local stations. Her national debut was at CBS News, where she was a correspondent for West 57th and 60 Minutes. She co-anchored CBS Morning News. In 1994 Meredith moved to ABC, where she was a correspondent on Turning Point and the host of Intimate Portrait. It was 1997 when she joined The View as moderator. Although she has added co-anchoring Today to her list of accomplishments, Meredith’s true love is game show hosting. She hosted Who Wants to Be a Millionaire for 11 seasons and now hosts 25 Words or Less from Fox Television Stations.
Kathie Lee Gifford - $2m
Who hasn’t heard of Kathie Lee? Not just your run-of-the-mill reporter, Kathie is successful in a multitude of different ways. You could devise a musical about her life, but you’d have to ask her to write it, script and lyrics. Oh, and then she could produce and direct it. Not forgetting starring as the lead. She’d do the same for you if you wanted to make a movie of it, and she’d be happy to do the voiceover if you made an animated version. Of course, it goes without saying that she could write you the book of the film. Last, but definitely not least, she’ll sort you out for a music album to go with it all. Kathie is nothing if not multi-talented.
Born in France to musical parents, Kathie debuted on American TV on Name That Tune. Later, she joined The Morning Show on WABC-TV. It was soon rebranded as Live! With Regis and Kathie Lee and went national. For 15 years, they entertained the nation, earning 8 Emmy Award nominations on the way. But Kathie wouldn’t get her first win of that prestigious award until she went to Today. She remained at the show, co-hosting the fourth hour, until 2019, when she left to pursue her career in movies.
Matt Lauer - $28m
One of the top earners on our list, Matt’s broadcasting work is known across the country. He’s been in the business for forty years, initially dropping out of college to take up a producing role in West Virginia. He was soon promoted to on-screen work. Apart from a brief stint on ABC, Matt stuck to local stations for over 20 years.
In 1992, he joined NBC, where he filled in as an anchor on The Today Show, Weekend Today, News at Sunrise, and NBC Nightly News. He likes a grand occasion and has regularly hosted Olympic opening ceremonies and Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. He’s interviewed some huge names, including Princes William and Harry. In 1994, he was named news anchor of The Today Show and was promoted to co-anchor of the program in 1997.
