Rick Riordan
- Net worth $70 million
- Birthday June 5, 1964
- Status -
- Country United States
- Source(-s) of wealth Author
How much is Rick Riordan Worth? Rick Riordan Net Worth in 2026
Rick Riordan’s net worth is estimated at $70 million as of November 2026. In the year to June 2018 he sold 2.1 million books in the US and was estimated to have earned $10.5 million, which works out to $5 a book. That’s more than a royalty on one book can plausibly pay, and the gap is where most of the story sits.
| Net worth | $70 million (our estimate, range $45 million to $105 million) |
|---|---|
| Estimated annual income | About $8 million before tax (our assumption for recent years) |
| Born | June 5, 1964, San Antonio, Texas (age 62) |
| Country | United States |
| Known for | Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Heroes of Olympus, the Disney+ series |
| Main income sources | Book royalties, foreign editions, film and television rights, producing and writing fees |
How much is Rick Riordan worth in 2026?
We put him at about $70 million, counting his household as one. Six years of his income are public through Forbes estimates of author earnings. Every other year is our assumption, and we say which. No royalty statement is public.
Public estimates run lower and higher than ours, mostly because some stop counting years ago and others treat pre-tax earnings as money kept.
How Rick Riordan built it
- Taught school for eight years. He taught English and social studies at Presidio Hill School in San Francisco before writing full time.
- Came back for the second adaptation. He wasn't involved in the Fox films, then co-created and executive produced the Disney+ series.
- Widened the world with co-authors. The 2026 Camp Half-Blood series pairs him with four authors, starting with The Wild Zone.
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Get the Alux appHow we got to $70 million
| Source | Our estimate | What it rests on |
|---|---|---|
| Six years with published earnings, after tax and fees | $34 million | Forbes estimates of $13 million (2012), $14 million (2013), $10 million (2014), $9.5 million (2016), $11 million (2017) and $10.5 million (2018). That is $68 million. We assume he keeps half after tax, agents and costs. |
| 2005 to 2011, after tax and fees | $17.5 million | Our assumption: $5 million a year for 7 years, or $35 million, halved. The Lightning Thief came out in 2005 and sold more than 1.2 million copies, and the first Fox film followed in 2010. |
| 2015 and 2019 to 2026, after tax and fees | $37 million | Our assumption: $10 million for 2015, which sits between two listed years, plus $8 million a year for 8 years. That is $74 million, halved. Books slow down, then a streaming series arrives. |
| Spending | Minus $17.7 million | Our assumption: 20 percent of the $88.5 million kept above. |
| Total | $70.8 million, rounded to $70 million | More than half of the gross here is assumed, so read this as a rough estimate. No investment gains are counted. |
The $5 book
By our calculation, $10.5 million divided by 2.1 million US books is $5.00 per book. US print royalties can’t explain that on their own, so foreign editions, audio, e-books and rights must be carrying a large share of the income, even in a year with no TV show on air.
The lifetime sum points the same way. Our assumed gross of $177 million, set against the more than 150 million Percy Jackson copies the Associated Press reported in May 2026, is about $1.18 per copy, screen money included. That flatters the number a little, since the income covers all his books and the copies only one series. Another count put the series above 180 million copies by January 2022, which would cut that to $0.98. Either way, the per-copy figure is a modest one, and the 2018 number shows how uneven that money is by territory and format.
Eight years in a classroom, then Disney twice
He taught English and social studies for eight years at Presidio Hill School in San Francisco. The first book sold to Miramax Books in 2004 for enough that he could stop, though the price has never been reported.
The odd part of his career is the screen rights. Fox bought them and made two films between 2010 and 2013 without him. Disney then acquired them with Fox in 2019, and the second try has him as co-creator, executive producer and co-writer, with his wife Rebecca also an executive producer. Season 2 premiered on December 10, 2025. Disney doesn’t disclose what it pays him for any of this, so we can’t give it a row of its own and it sits inside the $8 million assumption.
What 2026 added
Random House Children’s Books announced a four-book Camp Half-Blood series on May 12, 2026, written with Annabelle Oh, Kyle Lukoff, Jade Adia and Pablo Cartaya. The first book, The Wild Zone, was due September 29. He’s sharing those pages with co-authors, so the split matters and isn’t public.
The next thing that could move the figure is season 3, set to premiere on November 20, 2026. A new season could lift the backlist, though we can’t show by how much. If his recent years ran closer to the $10 million to $14 million of the 2010s than to our $8 million, the top of our range is the better guess.
Rick Riordan net worth FAQ
How much did Rick Riordan make from Percy Jackson?
Forbes estimates across six listed years add up to $68 million before tax. Our lifetime gross, including assumed years, is about $177 million.
How much does Rick Riordan earn a year?
His highest published year is $14 million, in 2013. We assume about $8 million a year since 2019, before tax. That is an assumption.
How many books has Rick Riordan sold?
The Associated Press said more than 150 million Percy Jackson copies in May 2026. Another published count says more than 180 million by January 2022.
Does Rick Riordan get paid for the Disney+ show?
He is co-creator, executive producer and a co-writer on the series. His pay isn’t public, so we include it in our yearly assumption.
How old is Rick Riordan?
He was born on June 5, 1964, in San Antonio, Texas, and is 62.
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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.
Photo: Rhododendrites / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped