Inside Kevin Costner’s Yellowstone Salary: What He Made Per Episode and His True Net Worth
Kevin Costner’s reign as Yellowstone’s hard-bitten patriarch John Dutton didn’t just redefine the modern Western—it minted a TV juggernaut and a payday reportedly topping $1 million per episode by the time he rode off.
Kevin Costner has been cashing movie-star checks for decades, but Yellowstone turned him into a TV salary benchmark and then some. Let’s break down what he actually made on the show, how that fits into the bigger picture of his bank account, and why his fortune has dipped lately despite the Dutton bump.
The Yellowstone paycheck
Costner signed on to Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone in 2018 as ranch boss John Dutton and, right out of the gate, he was the show’s top earner. Industry reports put his starting rate at about $500,000 per episode, and as the series exploded into a ratings machine, his quote went way up. By Season 5, he was reportedly pulling in around $1.3 million per episode, which put him among the highest-paid actors on television, period.
His exit became one of those inside-baseball Hollywood stories that turned messy fast. The public version goes like this: after four powerhouse seasons, he chose not to return in full for Season 5. From there, the reporting splintered. Some outlets even claimed John Dutton was killed off in the Season 5 premiere. Either way you slice the rumor mill, the Costner era on Yellowstone is over, and he left with a per-episode number north of a million.
The fortune beyond the ranch
Yellowstone is just one slice of the pie. The Oscar winner’s career as an actor-director-producer plus some savvy side ventures has him sitting on an estimated net worth of about $200 million, according to the usual finance trackers. He’s diversified beyond screens too: he co-founded Autio, an audio travel app built around location-based storytelling, and he owns a hefty real-estate portfolio in Carpinteria, California that’s been pegged at roughly $100 million.
Why the number went down
Here’s the twist: that $200 million estimate is actually lower than the roughly $250 million figure floated in 2024. Two big reasons are cited. First, his very public split from Christine Baumgartner, after which he agreed to pay $63,209 per month in child support. Second, Horizon: An American Saga, his passion project Western epic that struggled commercially out of the gate. Costner put about $38 million of his own money into it and still sounds determined to see the multi-part plan through.
"I've had a lot of movies that way, that have stood the test of time," he said, and he’s made it clear he wants to keep going on part three.
Costner by the numbers
- Yellowstone start year: 2018
- Initial Yellowstone salary: about $500,000 per episode
- Later Yellowstone salary: about $1.3 million per episode by Season 5
- Estimated current net worth: around $200 million
- Prior estimate: about $250 million in 2024
- Child support after 2023 divorce filing: $63,209 per month
- Personal investment in Horizon: An American Saga: about $38 million
- Real estate in Carpinteria, CA: roughly $100 million
- Notable business venture: Autio, a travel audio storytelling app
Bottom line: Yellowstone paid Costner like the TV A-lister he is, but real life and a risky, self-financed Western epic have tugged his net worth down from last year’s peak. Classic Costner move, honestly - bet big on a story he believes in and play the long game.
Yellowstone is currently streaming on Peacock.