Public reporting puts Rachel Maddow, Sean Hannity and Anderson Cooper among television news’s highest-paid personalities, but it does not support a verified, current ranking of exactly ten anchors. The available figures are media estimates from different dates, not salaries disclosed by the anchors or their employers.
What reported figures are available?
The figures below are the strongest reported estimates in the available coverage. They are not directly comparable: some are ranges, one changed between reports, and compensation may include work beyond a single television program.
| Person | Reported annual figure | Publication and context |
|---|---|---|
| Rachel Maddow | $30 million in one report; $25 million in a later report | The Ankler reported $30 million in February 2024 and described her salary as $25 million per year in December 2024. These are estimates at different points in time, not a confirmed current contract amount. February 2024 report; December 2024 report. |
| Sean Hannity | $25 million | The Ankler estimated his annual take-home pay in February 2024 and noted his radio work, so the figure should not be treated as television-only compensation. The Ankler, February 2024. |
| Anderson Cooper | $20–25 million | The Ankler’s February 2024 estimate noted his contribution to CBS’s 60 Minutes as well as his CNN role. It is not a confirmed current CNN salary or necessarily compensation for CNN alone. The Ankler, February 2024. |
| George Stephanopoulos, Robin Roberts, Gayle King and Savannah Guthrie | $10–18 million for the group | The Ankler reported this range for the four morning-show anchors as a group, based on agents and other industry insiders; it did not give a separate comparable figure for each person. The Ankler, February 2024. |
| Robin Roberts | $18 million | TheStreet separately reported this as an estimated annual salary. It is a media estimate, not an official disclosure. TheStreet. |
Why isn’t this a definitive top-ten ranking?
There is no consistent public dataset here that supplies ten individual salaries measured on the same basis and date. The cited reports do not establish a complete set of current contract values or a reliable way to break ties. Combining unrelated estimates into a numbered list would suggest a precision the evidence does not provide.
These amounts are attributed estimates rather than figures confirmed on the record by the anchors, their employers, a regulator or a court. The Ankler’s February and December 2024 coverage also illustrates why dates matter: its reported figure for Maddow differed between articles. Treat each amount as a snapshot of reporting, not a present-day guarantee.
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How the news business is changing compensation
Coverage of the industry describes pressure on high-cost contracts and shifting roles. In February 2025, the Associated Press reported that Lester Holt would step down from NBC Nightly News and take a full-time role at Dateline. The AP report documents a role change, not a salary figure.
The Ankler’s coverage has also described pay cuts, budget pressure and changing contracts. In February 2024, its Claire Atkinson attributed this view to an unnamed TV news insider familiar with salary negotiations: “The trend is to get rid of people with big salaries and replace them with people they can pay considerably less.” The Ankler, February 2024. The quotation is the insider’s industry perspective, not confirmation of any individual anchor’s pay.
Rank #2
How do these estimates compare with a typical news-anchor salary?
TheStreet cites a Bureau of Labor Statistics average U.S. news-anchor salary of $60,280 for 2024. That broad occupational average is useful context, but it is not a like-for-like comparison with estimates for nationally prominent personalities, whose pay may reflect different roles and additional work. TheStreet’s report provides both figures.
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