Rich Dudes│How Cable TV Firebrand Tucker Carlson’s Net Worth reached $30M

America's fiercest political commentator and media mogul Tucker Carlson is no stranger to controversy. With his electrifying presence on Fox News, best-selling literary works, and hot right-wing takes, Carlson has amassed a staggering $30 million fortune while forging an unshakable place in the tapestry of American conservatism.

We look inside Tucker Carlson’s net worth, how he made his money, and how he shapes his investment strategies across multiple industries.

Tucker Carlson net worth at a glance

Tucker’s media career began in the 1990s as a writer for The Weekly Standard and other publications before joining CNN as a commentator from 2000 to 2005.

At CNN, he co-hosted the news debate program Crossfire from 2001 to 2005. From 2005 to 2008, he hosted the nightly program Tucker on MSNBC before becoming a political analyst for Fox News in 2009. Carlson launched Tucker Carlson Tonight on Fox News in 2016 and hosted the political talk show until 2023.

In 2010, Carlson co-founded The Daily Caller, a right-wing news and opinion website. Despite controversies surrounding his remarks on race, immigration, and women, Carlson's show remained one of the most-watched cable news shows in the United States.

Throughout his career, Carlson has been criticized for his racist, sexist, and extremist views and for making allegedly false and misleading statements about the pandemic and the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2020.

Carlson was dismissed by Fox News and had his show canceled in April 2023, with no reason stated by the network.

The family story of Tucker McNear Carlson begins as the son of Richard Warner Carlson and Patricia Caroline Swanson, who was born in San Francisco. His paternal grandparents, Richard Boynton, and Dorothy Anderson, had his father at a young age and placed him in The Home for Little Wanderers orphanage.

After meeting his wife at St. George School in Middletown, Rhode Island, Tucker Carlson married Susan Andrews in 1991 and had four children together.

Tucker Carlson is a modern Renaissance man when it comes to making money. He has fingers in so many pies that it's hard to believe he can make time for nightly broadcasts. He makes a killing by investing in asset classes like real estate, media, startups, and book deals.

Carlson earns millions annually by expressing controversial opinions on Fox News and using his business acumen to invest in real estate and entrepreneurial ventures.

Media

Carlson's hosting gig on Fox News made him extremely popular with the right-wing crowd, catapulting him to becoming an influential political pundit.

Tucker’s popularity earned him an annual salary of $6 million when he first began at Fox. By the time he took over Bill O'Reilly's former prime time slot in 2021, he was earning $10 million per year. That same year, Carlson signed a deal with Fox News to host a weekly podcast and monthly specials called Tucker Carlson Originals.

Hosting the nightly talk show Tucker Carlson Tonight on Fox was reportedly earning him between $15 million to $20 million annually. That's a lot of money to spout controversial opinions—but we all have to make a living.

Real estate

Tucker Carlson and his wife Susan Andrews traded down from a $4 million home to a $2 million home in Washington D.C. in 2011 before selling it for $2.04 million in 2017. They bought a bigger house in the same neighborhood for $3.9 million that same year but sold it for the same price within a month of listing it in 2020.

However, Carlson's Florida property portfolio could net him a tidy sum if he ever chooses to sell. In early 2020, he paid $2.9 million for one house, and in mid-2022, he added a second house in the same location for $5.5 million—a combined value of $8.4 million.

Startups

American television host Carlson co-founded a right-wing news and opinion website called The Daily Caller in 2010 alongside his business partner Neil Patel. Carlson and Patel positioned it as a conservative version of The Huffington Post.

Tucker sold his 33% stake in 2020, netting him an undisclosed amount for his share of the media startup.

Books

One area where Carlson really excels is his intellectual side. Tucker published Politicians, Partisans, and Parasites: My Adventures in Cable News in 2003 with Warner Books and received favorable reviews from Publishers Weekly and The Washingtonian, both complimented the book’s humor.

In 2017, Tucker Carlson signed an eight-figure, two-book deal with Simon & Schuster's conservative imprint Threshold Editions, reportedly worth $15 million. 

He released his first book of the deal, titled Ship of Fools: How a Selfish Ruling Class is Bringing America to the Brink of Revolution, in October 2018. The book debuted at number one on The New York Times Best Seller list.

His second book of the Simon & Schuster deal, The Long Slide: Thirty Years in American Journalism, was released in August 2021, cementing his status as a best-selling author alongside his accolades in the broadcast news industry.

1. Diversity of thought cultivates growth

2. Success requires time

3. Be open minded