Ever wonder how much news anchors get paid? Of course, there is a big difference between local news anchors and people like Anderson Cooper and Barbara Walters, who all of America watches daily. You can imagine how much Cooper and Walters get paid because the most popular news anchors always get paid quite a lot of money. It makes sense because they are basically spending their entire workday in front of a camera broadcasting to millions of people.
However, some news anchors become even more than just news anchors. They begin their careers reporting top news stories and interviewing stars, only to turn into celebrities themselves. While some do eventually become their own celebrities, others focus on their career and win prestigious awards for their journalism.
On our list are some of the most trusted (and not-so-trusted) popular names in news journalism. Among the most respected and accredited reporters in America, we found the ones who also maintained the highest salaries year to year. Could you guess what these popular news anchors make each year? Did your favorite make the list?
If you're interested in more content related to everything from celebrities to sports and news reporters, check out the related reads after this article!
$6 million
Ainsley Earhardt has an annual salary of $6 million and a combined total net worth of $32 million. Earhardt has served as a conservative TV anchor on many Fox programs over the years. She began working at Fox News in 2007 and is now a co-host on Fox & Friends.
According to an interview from 2017 with Business Insider, Earhardt began working for Fox despite "not knowing the first thing about politics" when she first joined. Since getting hired, she's become America's journalism "darling" while working on, as Business Insider puts it, "the most powerful TV show in America."
$7 million
Chris Wallace is one of the only reporters who can say they've worked at all four major news networks: CBS, NBC, ABC and Fox. He currently hosts Who's Talking to Chris Wallace?, which originally aired on CNN+ and later moved to CNN. It's estimated that his salary is around $7 million, with his net worth being around $25 million.
We can't imagine how Wallace survived the whiplash that comes with switching networks so often but he's managed to dominate every domain in order to escape from the shadow of his60 Minutes journalist father Mike Wallace. In 2018, the American public ranked Wallace the most trusted TV news anchor in the nation!
$15 million
Fox News journalist Laura Ingraham is well-known for her conservative views and strong media presence. She makes $15 million annually and has a net worth of $75 million. She currently hosts her own show on Fox called The Ingraham Angle and used to host the radio show The Laura Ingraham Show.
On top of her work with Fox, Ingraham is the editor-in-chief of the conservative website LifeZette. But before the 2000s, Ingraham was known for her work in the '80s as a Reagan-era speechwriter. In fact, Ingraham studied at the University of Virginia School of Law where she learned to write and speak with purpose.
~$1 million
While Dana Perino has been very private about her salary, we do know that her net worth is around $6 million. It's estimated that her yearly salary is $1 million. She now works as an anchor on Fox News, but before that position, Perino worked under George W. Bush as the second female White House Press Secretary after Dee Dee Myers. She also served as a member of the Broadcasting Board of Governors in 2010.
Perino had a brief stint working as Editorial Director for the Crown Publishing Group in 2011 but no longer holds the position. Instead, she's focusing on co-hosting for Fox News's talk show The Five alongside Greg Gutfeld, Jesse Watters, Jeanine Pirro, among other rotating members. In 2021, Perino left her position hosting The Daily Briefing to anchor another of Fox's segments America's Newsroom.
$85 million
Rush Limbaugh was best known for his conservative views and his radio show, The Rush Limbaugh Show, which ran from 1988 until his death in 2021. His annual salary reached huge heights at $85 million each year, and his net worth was about $600 million at the time of his death.
Limbaugh forged a space for himself in radio political commentary during the '90s as one of the first major conservative voices to become extremely popular. In fact, Forbes named him one of the highest-paid people in America after his salary was revealed in 2018. Plus, his show attracted nearly 16 million weekly listeners, according to Talkers Magazine, and made it the top radio show in the country.
$11 million
Known for her work on CBS Mornings and alongside Oprah Winfrey, Gayle King makes $11 million annually and has a net worth of $40 million. She has been an editor of O, The Oprah Magazine since 1999 and has had numerous appearances on OWN. She even has her own show, The Gayle King Show.
Before taking a position with CBS, King was a special correspondent for Good Morning America, yet she's made the most impact as a CBS reporter. From holding CBS accountable for abuse and harassment within the company to maintaining professionalism during interviews with notorious public figures, including R. Kelly, King deserves any recognition offered. In 2019, Time magazine named King one of the 100 Most Influential People of the year for her work.
$6 million
Tucker Carlson is another conservative news anchor known for his former work on Fox News. His net worth is around $30 million, and he made on average $6 million each year since taking over Bill O’Reilly’s time slot after O’Reilly was fired from Fox.
Carlson's books include Politicians, Partisans, and Parasites; Ship of Fools; and recently-published The Long Slide. According to Politico, Carlson is "perhaps the highest-profile proponent of 'Trumpism' and willing to criticize Trump if he strayed from it." Despite his critics, Tucker Carlson Tonight is the most-watched cable news show in the U.S. as of July 2021. In April of 2023, Carlson was let go from Fox News.
~$17 million
Maria Shriver was First Lady of California when she was married to Arnold Schwarzenegger — yes, we're talking about the actor. She is also a member of the Kennedy family, as well as an anchor and correspondent for NBC News. Her net worth is $200 million and her yearly salary ranges around $17 million.
As the recipient of the prestigious Peabody award and partially responsible for Emmy-winning coverage of the 1988 Summer Olympics, Shriver continues to grow her career in journalism as a "special" anchor and correspondent for NBC News. Apart from reporting, Shriver is passionate about Alzheimer's, which spurred her to create The Women's Alzheimer's Movement nonprofit and work as a producer on the award-winning The Alzheimer's Project.
$40 million
Sean Hannity is known for his TV and radio appearances on Fox News in Hannity and his talk radio show The Sean Hannity Show. He’s a conservative news anchor that makes over $40 million every year between TV and radio, and his combined total net worth is over $250 million.
Hannity is also the author of four best-selling and conservative-leaning books titled, Let Freedom Ring: Winning the War of Liberty over Liberalism; Deliver Us from Evil: Defeating Terrorism, Despotism, and Liberalism; Conservative Victory: Defeating Obama's Radical Agenda; and Live Free or Die.
$12 million
Walters retired in 2015, but over her time working as a journalist, she accumulated a total net worth of $170 million. With nearly a $12 million annual salary, Walters was one of the highest-paid news anchors in the history of the industry. She is one of the most well-known news anchors of all time and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. She passed away in December of 2022.
Her best-known work was on ABC's 20/20 yet was featured on countless TV programs since 1951, including Today, The View, and the ABC Evening News. Walters was a pioneer for women in journalism as she first gained popularity on The Today Show in the '60s, and her popularity led to her becoming co-host of the show. Plus, she was an incredible interviewer, having sat down with everyone from Barbra Streisand to Fidel Castro.
$3.8 million
As an anchor for the CBS Evening News and a correspondent for 60 minutes, O’Donnell makes $3.8 million each year (down from a high of $8 million) and has a net worth of $18 million. She has worked on many other different programs for CBS and was even the Chief White House Correspondent for the network from 2011 to 2012.
O'Donnell first worked as a staff writer for Roll Call at the beginning of her journalism career, which is a website that covers news and happenings on Capitol Hill. For NBC, she appeared on the Today Show, NBC Nightly, Dateline NBC, and two of Chris Matthews's segments. Now that she works at CBS, she became co-anchor on CBS This Morning in 2012 and then lead anchor and managing editor of CBS Evening News in 2019, becoming the third woman to become the program's weekday anchor.
$13 million
Jake Tapper transitioned from the Chief Washington Correspondent for ABC to lead anchor at CNN and makes $13 million annually. He has a total net worth of $78 million. As the lead anchor for CNN in Washington, Tapper hosts The Lead with Jake Tapper as well as the Sunday morning program State of the Union. His moderation of the Republican primary debate in 2015 ias the most-watched program ever for CNN. Aside from journalism, he is also an author and cartoonist.
As ABC's Senior White House Correspondent, Tapper received three Merriman Smith Memorial Awards and an Emmy for his coverage of former-President Barack Obama's inauguration. His exceptional journalism and the best-selling nonfiction book The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor won him the "Tex" McCrary Award for Excellence in Journalism from the Congressional Medal of Honor Society in 2016.
$2 million
Fox news anchor Harris Faulkner makes $2 million annually and has accumulated a net worth of $6 million. She is known for her work on the Fox Report, Outnumbered, and Outnumbered Overtime. She has won six Emmys during her reporting career. Now, she anchors her daytime show The Faulkner Focus and Outnumbered.
As the recipient of six Emmys, Faulkner is one of the most celebrated reporters in America. For instance, she won Best Anchor three years in a row during the early 2000s, then later received the prestigious Amelia Earhart Pioneering Lifetime Achievement award for her humanitarian focus. Faulker fought hard to be where she's at and will do anything to protect her reputation, including suing Hasbro over a Littlest Pet Shop toy hamster using her name and likeness.
$7 million
Unlike many of his partisan peers, Greg Gutfeld is a Libertarian host of several programs on Fox News. Gutfeld made a name for himself as one of the few Libertarian hosts with a strong platform. He makes $7 million each year and has a total net worth of $13 million. Currently, he hosts The Greg Gutfeld Show and co-hosts The Five.
Some people describe Gutfeld as a "humorist," but he really got his career started in the realm of publishing. From The American Spectator to Men's Health and The Huffington Post, Gutfeld used writing to his advantage, eventually landing a position on Fox's late-night talk show Red Eye. His current show Gutfeld! averages over 2 million viewers every night, which is more than Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, and Jimmy Kimmel's talk shows. Pretty impressive!
$800,000
Since 2007, Bream has worked at Fox News. She has a salary of $800,000 and a net worth of $4 million. She works out of DC, covering mainly what is happening in the Supreme Court. On top of that, she is the host of Fox News @ Night. She began hosting Fox News Sunday in 2022.
Bream truly is a jack-of-all-trades in many aspects of her life. She attended law school at Florida State then worked as Florida Attorney General. While studying for her undergraduate and law degrees, Bream competed in beauty pageants to pay for her education. In 1990, she won Miss Virginia and participated in Miss America 1991. In 1995, she won Miss Florida and won fourth place at the 1995 Miss USA pageant.
$10 million
Throughout her illustrious career at CNN, NBC, CBS and ABC, Katie Couric broke many records with her gigantic contracted salaries. After her coverage of 9/11, she was offered $19 million a year (adjusted for inflation). However, her current salary is $10 million, as part of her own media company. Her net worth is at a whopping $100 million.
From Today and the CBS Evening News to 60 Minutes and Jeopardy!, Couric never runs away from a challenge. On top of her countless reporting responsibilities, Couric also finds the time to manage her titular media company and write bestselling books like The Best Advice I Ever Got: Lessons from Extraordinary Lives. She was added to the Television Hall of Fame in 2004 — a well-deserved honor.
$2 million
Piers Morgan is an English journalist known for his long career in the media in the United Kingdom and around the world. He is strongly conservative in his views and has recently left Good Morning Britain. He has a net worth of around $20 million and makes $2 million each year.
While Morgan is based in the UK, he has a strong voice that rings around the world. More specifically, he stirs up plenty of controversy on social media platforms like Twitter. Morgan got away with plenty of hot takes during his time with the Daily Mirror and Good Morning Britain, yet was fired from both jobs.
$10-12 million
Although Ann Curry left NBC in 2015, she continues her career in journalism with her own media startup. It is unknown exactly what her current salary is, but she has accumulated a net worth of millions over her career while working with NBC’s hit shows Today and Dateline as well as with PBS for We'll Meet Again with Ann Curry.
The photojournalist has worked as a journalist for over three decades and reported from everywhere including Iraq, Syria, and the Congo. Her work typically focuses on documenting human suffering and natural disasters — which aren't particularly cheerful topics — she's solidified herself as a serious, hard-hitting journalist.
$15 million
George Stephanopoulos makes a staggering $15 million each year and has a combined net worth of $40 million. Stephanopoulos is the chief anchor at ABC News who's also known for his work on Good Morning America and This Week, as well as his political service under Bill Clinton.
Before joining the world of journalism, Stephanopoulos worked as a Democratic Party advisor to Bill Clinton and was the White House communications director in 1993. Needless to say, he has plenty of experience navigating, reporting on, and responding to large and damaging controversies if working for the Clinton administration reveals anything!
$18 million
Mostly known for her work on ABC’s Good Morning America, Robin Roberts’s net worth is over $45 million. She makes a salary of $18 million as an anchor for the ultra-popular daily morning show. She started her career as an ESPN sportscaster, holding the job for 15 consecutive years until she joined Good Morning America as co-anchor in 2005.
In 2015, Robers was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame for her exceptional coverage of the sport during her time reporting with ESPN. Other accomplishments include becoming the first woman of color and openly LGBTQ+ woman to host the game show Jeopardy! after the death of long-time host Alex Trebek in 2020.
$80,000
In January of 2020, Jim Lehrer died with a net worth of $48 million. He began his news career in the late ‘50s and anchored many programs along the way, including coverage of John F. Kennedy’s assassination while working in Dallas. His most notable job was with PBS — where he anchored the PBS NewsHour from 1975 to 2011 — where he earned upwards of $80,000.
Lehrer was a celebrated journalist, yes, but he also found success as a novelist, screenwriter, and playwright. During his career, he won thirteen various honors and awards, including the Peabody Award and two Primetime Emmys. Unfortunately, Lehrer passed away from a sudden heart attack in early 2020 at his home.
$200,000
Hallie Jackson is fairly new to news anchoring but she has plenty of experience working as a White House Correspondent for NBC News. Her annual salary is around $200,000 and she has a total net worth of $1 million. Jackson began her career at NBC in 2014 as the dedicated embedded reporter for Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign.
Currently, Jackson works as a Senior Washington correspondent for NBC, a news anchor for MSNBC and NBC News Now, and as a backup anchor for Today. Her alma mater John Hopkins University invited Jackson to speak at their 2020 graduation ceremony due to all of her achievements. Anthony Fauci was also present at the commencement ceremony.
$5 million
David Muir is the current news anchor for ABC World News Tonight and a co-anchor for 20/20 on ABC News. He makes $5 million annually and boasts a net worth of $20 million. He works on World News with David Muir on ABC, formerly known as World News Now.
Muir previously worked with Diane Sawyer as her substitute anchor on ABC's World News Tonight with Diane Sawyer and succeeded Sawyer's lead anchor position in 2014. This promotion allowed Muir to secure multiple Emmys and various other awards for his journalism. In fact, the Tyndall Report claims he was one of the most visible journalists in the U.S. from 2013 to 2014. No wonder he's making bank!
$20 million
Liberal news anchor Rachel Maddow makes $20 million annually for hosting her show The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC and has a net worth of $90 million. She began working on her very own show in 2008, after being a successful analyst for MSNBC on shows like Race for the White House. Maddow is the first openly lesbian anchor to host a major news program in the U.S.
A Stanford and Oxford graduate in public policy and political science, Maddow is passionate about politics. When she won the Interfaith Alliance's Faith and Freedom Award, Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy praised Maddow's work, saying, "Rachel's passionate coverage of the intersection of religion and politics exhibits a strong personal intellect coupled with constitutional sensitivity to the proper boundaries between religion and government."
$10 million
Lester Holt — known for his work with NBC and Dateline — makes $10 million annually. He has a net worth of more than $35 million and is a household name across the nation. After the demotion of co-worker Brian Williams in 2018 for false reporting, Holt secured the lead anchor position of NBC Nightly News.
Holt became the first African-American solo anchor of a weekday network nightly newscast when he was promoted to the spot on NBC Nightly News. Along with his weekday reporting, Holt was praised by The Washington Post for his work moderating the first 2016 Presidential debate and fact-checking fabrications. In 2018, Americans declared Holt the most trusted news anchor in the nation.
$5 million
At 80 years old, Tom Brokaw was an active journalist for NBC from 1960 to 2021. Even though he abandoned the position of co-host of NBC Nightly News in 2004 where he made $11 million annually (adjusted for inflation), he continued to make $5 million annually from NBC for broadcasting occasional special reports.
Brokaw has a net worth of $85 million and is the only person to have hosted all three of NBC’s most popular programs: The Today Show, NBC Nightly News, and Meet the Press. He held the position of anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News for 22 years, but he isn't only a journalist. In 1998, Brokaw published his first historical book titled The Greatest Generation. Plus, in 2014, then-President Barack Obama awarded Brokaw the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
$22 million
Diane Sawyer made $22 million when she was an anchor for ABC World News, amassing an estimated net worth of over $80 million. She is known for her coverage on Good Morning America on ABC, 60 Minutes on CBS, 20/20, and CBS Morning. Sawyer was the first female correspondent to work on 60 Minutes.
While Sawyer is best known for her live journalism for ABC and CBS, she wasn't always involved in television reporting as her day job. During Richard Nixon's presidency, Sawyer served as a member of his White House staff and collaborated with his team for memoirs after his notorious resignation from office. While she has pulled away from the spotlight a bit, she still serves as a special contributor for ABC news.
$1 million
As the current moderator of Meet the Press on NBC, Chuck Todd has a salary of over $1 million and a net worth of an estimated $48 million! He primarily focuses on politics and once served as NBC’s White House Correspondent like many others in the field. Todd occasionally appears on NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt.
On top of his duties with Meet the Press, Todd hosts MSNBC's MTP Dail, is the Political Director for NBC News, and used to host The Daily Rundown. In 2014, Todd published his first and only book titled The Stranger: Barack Obama in the White House, which received modest success.
$3 million
Craig Melvin has an annual salary of $3 million with a combined total net worth of $6 million. He has anchored and co-anchored many shows on MSNBC and NBC, but currently, he is working as a permanent co-host on Today Third Hour after a year working as a news anchor on NBC's Today.
Melvin boosted his journalism career as a daytime anchor for MSNBC, where he covered everything from Republican and Democratic national conventions to the 2012 Sandy Hook shootings and the 2015 Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympics. This jack-of-all-trades quickly lose through the ranks of NBC, starting as a weekday reporter in February 2018, rising to weekday anchor in September, and securing a permanent host job in October.
$6 million
Former CNN journalist Chris Cuomo made an annual salary of $6 million with the network and has a net worth of $12 million. He mostly worked as the presenter for Cuomo Prime Time, although in the past, he worked on ABC News as the chief law and justice correspondent, co-anchor of 20/20, rotating anchor of New Day, and lead anchor for Good Morning America.
Cuomo's family is filled with political aficionados from his father Mario Cuomo — a former Governor of New York — to his notorious brother Andrew — Governor of NY from 2011 to 2021. Andrew made headlines for assault allegations made against him. Unfortunately for Chris, his brother's failures dragged Chris down with him, costing Chris his job with CNN for advising his brother on how to navigate the situation.
$6 million
Although Brian Williams makes much less per year — bringing in about $6 million annually — than big-name journalist Lester Holt, Williams's net worth is much higher at $50 million. Williams is the chief anchor of MSNBC and the host of MSNBC’s hit segment The 11th Hour with Brian Williams.
Williams started his journalism career with NBC back in 1993 as a reporter for the Nightly News and was promoted to anchor and managing editor in 2004. Despite a few slip-ups and demotions resulting from his false coverage of events during the Iraq War in 2003, he continued to succeed in the political coverage. Williams retired from MSNBC and journalism in December 2021 after 28 years with the network.
$4 Million
Lemon has a whopping net worth of $12 million, which is only partially thanks to his reported $4 million salary. He started with CNN in 2006, but it wouldn't end how he thought. In 2023, he ended up getting the axe from the network.
After being terminated, he abruptly tweeted, "After 17 years at CNN, I would have thought that someone in management would have had the decency to tell me directly." A reason hasn't been released, but most people are guessing it's due to his controversial comments.
$750,000
Andra Mitchell has worked as a news anchor since the '60s, recently securing the 2019 Lifetime Achievement Emmy for her exceptional work in the industry. She's worked various jobs at NBC but currently anchors Andrea Mitchell Reporting, which airs on MSNBC. She makes $750,000 annually and has a net worth of $5 million.
On top of daily weekday reporting for Andrea Mitchell Reports, Mitchell holds the prestigious position as NBC's News Chief of Foreign Affairs & Chief Washington Correspondent. Not only did she report on the 2008 presidential election for the NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, Today, and MSNBC, she often appears as a guest on other shows like Meet the Press and The Rachel Maddow Show.
$1 million
John Dickerson has worked for Time magazine, Slate magazine and now works at CBS. He was also a White House Correspondent for Time magazine for four years. He also formerly served as an anchor for CBS This Morning and makes an annual salary of $1 million with a net worth of $4 million. Currently, he hosts CBS News Prime Time with John Dickerson.
In addition to his reporting for CBS, Dickerson hosts 60 minutes and News' Election specials after leaving the co-host position for CBS This Morning alongside Norah O'Donnell and Gayle King. But that's not all that he has to offer. Before taking on his current positions, Dickerson hosted Face the Nation, was the political director of CBS News, the network's chief Washington correspondent, and a Slate magazine political columnist.
$15 million
As the host of his very own show, Anderson Cooper 360 on CNN, Anderson Cooper makes $15 million dollars each year and has a very large net worth of over $310 million. That's incredible! Previously, he worked on ABC’s World News Now, CNN’s American Morning, and CBS News’s 60 Minutes, which also helped him rack up a fortune.
Cooper's popularity exploded after covering Hurricane Katrina, and he received a National Order of Honour and Merit from Haiti for his coverage of the disastrous 2010 earthquake in Haiti. Notably, Cooper announced that he is gay in 2012, and The New York Times declared him "the most prominent openly gay journalist on American television." Coming out led him to become the first openly LGBTQ+ person to moderate a presidential debate in 2016.
Author Darby Tanner Last Updated: August 13, 2024
