How Much Do Game Show Hosts Make?

TV's Most Popular Game Show Hosts Earn Big Bucks

Game show host Alex Trebek makes about $10 million per season
Alex Trebek. Amanda Edwards/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

The money game show contestants bring home in can be pretty mind-boggling, but the salaries game show hosts earn is pretty impressive in its own right. If you're looking for a lucrative career, becoming a game show host isn't a terrible choice—if you're fortunate enough to be cast on a show that's got staying power, or one that scores a huge hit in a prime-time slot, even for a short run.

Game show host salaries vary a great deal, and since the actual figures aren't made public, it's not possible to verify the amounts with 100 percent accuracy. Here are the reported salaries for a few of our favorite game show hosts, both past and present.

Game Show Host Salaries by the Numbers

Pat Sajak and Vanna White: It's likely no surprise that at $12 million per year, "Wheel of Fortune" emcee Pat Sajak is the highest paid game show host. Reports of his salary have remained steady at the $12 million figure, however, other sources report the income as closer to $15 million annually. According to Business Insider, Sajak makes more than Jimmy Fallon, Anderson Cooper, and Jimmy Kimmel. Vanna White's salary is trickier to confirm, but most sources estimate her yearly take for turning letters at somewhere between $4 and $10 million. (Compare these salaries to the $400,000 original "Wheel" host Chuck Woolery took home back in the day.)

Alex Trebek: Over at "Wheel's" sister show "Jeopardy!", host Alex Trebek isn't hurting financially. His annual salary is reported by multiple sources at a cool $10 million annually.

Bob Barker: It seems that Alex Trebek has something in common with another one of the genre's most beloved hosts, Bob Barker, who hosted "The Price is Right" for a whopping 35 years, from 1972 to 2007. In his heydey, Barker was also reportedly earning a $10-million-a-year salary.

Drew Carey: Funnyman Drew Carey, the current host of "The Price is Right" may have punchlines coming out the wazoo, but he's not very forthcoming about his annual salary. The generally accepted figure is about $9 million.

Steve Harvey: The revamped "Family Feud" is becoming increasingly popular, and even though host Steve Harvey has a lot of other irons in the entertainment fire, taking home $20,000 for every half-hour episode is anything but chump change. Meanwhile, back in the day, original "Feud" host Richard Dawson earned $500,000 per season.

Jeff Foxworthy: Back when "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?" was doing well in prime time, its comedian host commanded a hefty $150,000 per episode salary—no joke.

Howie Mandel: When "Deal or No Deal" went off the air at the end of its first prime-time run from 2005—2009, host Howie Mandel was raking in a reported $75,000 per episode. Flash-forward to the current incarnation that debuted in 2018 with Mandel as both executive producer as well as host and the figure is likely higher. Now, toss in the reported $70,000 he makes as a celebrity judge on "America's Got Talent" and Mandel winds up with an estimated net worth of over $40 million.