Modern Family ran for eleven seasons, and its adult cast spent a chunk of that run in a genuinely public salary fight, the kind most shows keep behind closed doors. The five non-O'Neill leads negotiated as a group, walked away from a table read in 2012 over pay, and came out the other side with a documented raise ladder that climbed from a reported $65,000 an episode to $500,000 by the finale. Sofia Vergara turned the same show into the biggest single paycheck in television, not through the show's salary alone but through an endorsement and licensing business built on top of it.
The figures below use the same approach as our other cast breakdowns: documented per-episode pay and outside deals in, representation fees and taxes out, spending at measured rates, and market returns on what remains. None of the ten cast members below has a full published profile yet, so every figure here is a modeled range built from reported salaries and career credits. No other outlet's net worth estimate is used as an input.
Modern Family cast net worth, ranked (2026)
| Cast member | Modeled net worth | What sets them apart |
|---|---|---|
| Sofia Vergara | $300M–$380M | Seven years as TV's highest-paid actress, endorsements, AGT, licensing |
| Ed O'Neill | $150M–$210M | A backend stake from day one plus decades of prior sitcom pay |
| Ty Burrell | $95M–$135M | Voice work plus a Utah restaurant business |
| Julie Bowen | $90M–$130M | Steady acting work and philanthropy since the show ended |
| Jesse Tyler Ferguson | $85M–$120M | Broadway and off-Broadway theater plus advocacy work |
| Eric Stonestreet | $85M–$120M | Continued TV and film roles since the show ended |
| Sarah Hyland | $12M–$18M | The highest-paid of the four young leads by the finale |
| Ariel Winter | $10M–$16M | A decade on the show plus voice and other TV work |
| Nolan Gould | $9M–$14M | A full run on the show from age 10 to 21 |
| Rico Rodriguez | $9M–$14M | A full run on the show from age 10 to 21 |
All ten figures are modeled ranges built from documented per-episode pay and career credits described below.
Curious how TV pay stacks up against the movies? See how the richest film actors compare.
Sofia Vergara: the endorsement empire on top of the show
Vergara's Modern Family salary rose from a reported $30,000 to $65,000 per episode in the early seasons to $500,000 by the finale, the same ladder her non-O'Neill co-stars climbed. What separates her is everything built alongside it. Forbes named her the world's highest-paid TV actress for seven consecutive years, with reported annual earnings around $40 million to $43 million, and Forbes has said more than half of that came from endorsement and licensing deals with CoverGirl, Pepsi, and Head & Shoulders rather than her acting salary. She has judged America's Got Talent since 2020 at a reported rate of at least $10 million a season, and in 2024 she starred in and executive produced Netflix's Griselda, an Emmy-nominated lead role with undisclosed pay. Our modeled range: $300 million to $380 million.
Ed O'Neill: the backend stake from day one
O'Neill came into Modern Family already a star from his eleven seasons on Married... with Children and commanded the cast's largest early paycheck, a reported $95,000 to $105,000 per episode in the show's first few seasons. He also traded some salary for a small backend profit stake when he joined in 2009, a deal his co-stars did not have. That stake has reportedly paid him close to $10 million a year in reruns since the show ended, on top of eventually matching his co-stars at $500,000 per episode. Our modeled range: $150 million to $210 million.
Ty Burrell: voice work and a restaurant business
Burrell moved his family to Salt Lake City after the show ended and built a life outside the industry, taking a voice role on Fox's animated Duncanville and opening a small group of restaurants in Utah. The restaurant business is a real, documented venture rather than a licensing deal, and it adds a second income lane most of his co-stars do not have. Our modeled range: $95 million to $135 million.
Julie Bowen, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, and Eric Stonestreet: steady work, no second act as big as Vergara's
The other three adult leads followed the same Modern Family pay ladder as Burrell and Vergara but built smaller businesses on top of it. Ferguson has spent much of the past decade on stage, including Shakespeare in the Park and off-Broadway runs, and has been an outspoken LGBTQ+ rights advocate. Stonestreet has kept working steadily in television and film. Bowen has split her time between acting roles and philanthropic work. None of the three has a documented outside venture on the scale of O'Neill's backend stake or Burrell's restaurants. Our modeled ranges: Bowen at $90 million to $130 million, Ferguson and Stonestreet each at $85 million to $120 million.
The young cast: real money, held to a much later start
Sarah Hyland, Ariel Winter, Nolan Gould, and Rico Rodriguez joined the show as children and started at a small fraction of the adult rate. By the final seasons, reports put their per-episode pay at roughly $125,000 to $130,000, with Hyland reportedly earning the most of the four. Because all four were minors for most of the show's run, California's Coogan Law required at least 15% of their earnings to be set aside in a blocked trust they could not access until adulthood, which slows how quickly a young actor's paycheck turns into spendable net worth. Our modeled ranges: Hyland at $12 million to $18 million, Winter at $10 million to $16 million, and Gould and Rodriguez each at $9 million to $14 million.
How we got these numbers
Income enters the model only from documented data points: reported per-episode salaries at each stage of the show's run, Forbes' reported annual earnings for Vergara, and outside deals like O'Neill's backend stake and Burrell's restaurant business. Representation fees come off the top, taxes apply at the effective rates for the years actually worked, spending follows measured household savings behavior by income bracket, and what remains compounds at market returns. No other outlet's net worth figure is used as an input at any step. The methodology page documents every rate, and the calculator lets you run the same machine on any career.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much did the Modern Family cast make per episode?
The five leads besides Ed O'Neill started at a reported $65,000 per episode in season three and, after a public renegotiation standoff in 2012, settled near $170,000 to $180,000 for season four with a small backend stake. Per-episode pay kept climbing through the show's run, reaching a reported $500,000 for the adult leads by the final seasons. Ed O'Neill started higher, around $95,000 to $105,000 per episode in the early seasons, and later matched the others at $500,000.
Who is the richest Modern Family cast member?
Sofia Vergara, by a wide margin. Forbes named her the world's highest-paid TV actress for seven consecutive years, with reported annual earnings above $40 million driven mostly by endorsement and licensing deals rather than her Modern Family salary alone. Our modeled range puts her at $300 million to $380 million, ahead of Ed O'Neill and the rest of the cast.
How much is Sofia Vergara worth?
Our modeled range is $300 million to $380 million, built from her Modern Family salary, more than half a decade atop Forbes' highest-paid actress list, endorsement deals with CoverGirl, Pepsi, and Head & Shoulders, a reported $10 million-plus per season judging America's Got Talent, and her own licensing ventures.
Do the Modern Family kids have money?
Yes, though far less than the adult leads. Sarah Hyland, Ariel Winter, Nolan Gould, and Rico Rodriguez started as child actors earning a fraction of the adult rate and reached a reported $125,000 to $130,000 per episode by the final season. California's Coogan Law required a portion of each of their earnings to be set aside in a blocked trust while they were minors. Our modeled ranges for the four land between $9 million and $18 million each.