Adam Savage
- Net worth $9 million
- Birthday July 15, 1967
- Status -
- Country United States
- Source(-s) of wealth Television Host, YouTube Personality
How much is Adam Savage Worth? Adam Savage Net Worth in 2026
Adam Savage’s net worth is estimated at $9 million as of November 2026. At 12 he folded tiny Tiffany shopping bags for about $6 an hour, and he reckons the job took seven hours, so $42. A speaking agency now lists him at $50,000 to $75,000 a talk, which is roughly 1,500 of those afternoons.
| Net worth | $9 million (rough estimate, range $5 million to $15 million) |
|---|---|
| Born | July 15, 1967, New York City (age 59) |
| Country | United States |
| Known for | MythBusters, Adam Savage’s Tested, Every Tool’s a Hammer |
| Main income sources | TV pay, speaking and stage shows, Tested, book |
How much is Adam Savage worth in 2026?
Our figure is $9 million, in a range of $5 million to $15 million. This one is a rough estimate: little of the money is documented. We found no published figure for what Discovery paid its hosts, and none for Tested’s revenue.
Public estimates disagree mostly over that missing salary. Figures of up to $250,000 an episode float around online with no source we could confirm. Across 282 episodes that would be $70.5 million before tax, by our math, which is hard to square with a total this size.
How Adam Savage built it
- Worked more than 25 jobs. He went from paper boy and theater rigger to effects work before TV.
- Joined Tested before MythBusters ended. He came on in 2012, four years before his TV job stopped in 2016.
- Kept the team small. He says seven people make a video a day for a channel with 7.3 million subscribers.
Learn the wealth mindset behind Adam Savage’s career in the Alux app.
Get the Alux appHow we got to $9 million
| Source | Our estimate | What it rests on |
|---|---|---|
| MythBusters pay, 2003 to 2016 | $11.3 million | The show ran 282 episodes. We found no disclosed pay. Assumption: $40,000 an episode, a modest number for a long-running cable hit with two hosts. |
| Other TV | $1.5 million | Unchained Reaction in 2012, then MythBusters Jr. and Savage Builds in 2019. Assumption: $1.5 million in total. |
| Speaking and stage shows | $5.6 million | SPEAKING.com lists his fee at $50,000 to $75,000. Assumption: 90 paid dates at the $62,500 midpoint, about six a year for 15 years. |
| Tested income since 2016 | $3 million | vidIQ models about $90,000 in ad earnings, window not stated, and shows about 25.8 million views in October 2026. Assumption: $300,000 a year to him for 10 years, since he says the team has seven people to pay. |
| Book and merchandise | $1 million | His 2019 book, plus the Savage Industries shop. Assumption, no sales are public. |
| Agents | minus $2.8 million | Assumption: 15 percent of the $18.4 million from TV and speaking. |
| Income tax | minus $7.8 million | Assumption: 40 percent of the $19.6 million left. |
| Living costs | minus $6.9 million | Assumption: $300,000 a year for 23 years, family and workshop included. |
| Investment returns | $2.9 million | Assumption: the $4.9 million left grew 60 percent, which is 4 percent a year after inflation for 12 years. |
| Stake in Tested | $1.1 million | He is described as a co-owner, with no percentage given. Assumption: half of a business worth two years of modeled ad money, $1.08 million a year. |
| Total | $9 million | The rows sum to $8.9 million, rounded. Nearly all of it is assumption, because nearly all of it is undisclosed. |
One speech equals three weeks of YouTube
Adam Savage’s Tested looks like the big money. It has 7.3 million subscribers and 1.92 billion views, and the team posts a video a day, some of them 80 minutes long. The ad sums are smaller than the audience suggests.
vidIQ says the window for its modeled $90,000 is unavailable, so we treat it as one month and set it against the 25.8 million views shown for October 2026. That works out to about $3.49 per 1,000 views. Set that against a single talk at the $62,500 midpoint and you need about 17.9 million views to match it. By our calculation, that is roughly three weeks of the whole channel’s traffic, before the channel pays anyone.
Tested also sells YouTube memberships at $2, $5 and $10 a month, along with merchandise and Savage’s own shop. None of those numbers are public, so they sit inside our assumptions.
A prop maker who got famous at 35
Before television, he built effects for a living. Stevens Institute of Technology says he spent over a decade at Industrial Light and Magic and worked on The Matrix films. He told CNBC in 2019 he has held more than 25 jobs, from paper boy to theater rigger. We give those years no row: they paid the bills and bought skills.
Tested started in 2010 with Will Smith and Norman Chan. Savage and Jamie Hyneman joined in 2012, and Hyneman left in early 2016 as MythBusters ended. That timing mattered. It handed Savage a working channel the year his TV job stopped, and the channel now carries his name.
Where the number goes next
The latest dated events we can confirm are appearances. Stevens announced in April 2026 that he would give its undergraduate commencement address on May 20, and Supanova booked him for Sydney and Perth in June 2026. No sums were given for either. The figure would move most on a sale of Tested, a new network series, or a disclosure of the original MythBusters contract, which could swing the biggest row in our ledger by millions.
Adam Savage net worth FAQ
How much did Adam Savage make from MythBusters?
We found no published figure. We assume $40,000 an episode across 282 episodes, or $11.3 million before commission and tax.
How much does Adam Savage charge for a speech?
SPEAKING.com lists $50,000 to $75,000. At the $62,500 midpoint, one talk equals about 17.9 million YouTube views at our calculated ad rate.
Does Adam Savage own Tested?
He is described as a co-owner and leads the platform as editor-in-chief. No percentage is public, so we assume half.
How much does Tested make on YouTube?
vidIQ models about $90,000 in ad earnings, and we treat that as monthly, or $1.08 million a year. Memberships, sponsors and merchandise would be extra.
How old is Adam Savage?
He is 59. He was born in New York City on July 15, 1967, and grew up in what is now Sleepy Hollow.
When did MythBusters end?
It ended in 2016 after 282 episodes. He came back to host the spin-off MythBusters Jr. in 2019.
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How we estimate net worth
Our estimates are based on public reporting, company valuations, and deal and earnings figures all compiled in an internal valuation model. They are approximate, and figures change over time as new information emerges.
Last updated: November 2026.