Skateboarding has to be one of the worst ways to make money.
It takes years and years to get good at, and as far as professional sports salaries go, skateboarding is pretty far down the list. If I had to guess, I’d say professional skateboarders make just below hocky players, but somewhere above ping pong players.
Now this isn’t necessarily a bad thing because I don’t think anyone really skates for the money, or should skate for the money.
With that said, I do think a lot of kids grow up thinking pro skaters are all super rich, but other than a few outliers, that really isn’t the case.
Today we’re going to be going over the richest professional skateboarders.
Ryan Sheckler (16 Million Dollars)
To start off we have Ryan Sheckler with a net worth of 16 million dollars.
Ryan Sheckler’s sponsors have included Red Bull, Panasonic, Volcom Clothing, Oakley Eyewear and Plan B Skateboards, which is a pretty solid line up of sponsors. Also, there was a time when Ryan Sheckler was winning every single contest, so I’m sure just from skating he’s made a decent amount of money.
Outside of skateboarding, Ryan Sheckler has had character roles in MVP 2: Most Vertical Primate, Grind, Street Dreams and Tooth Fairy. He has also portrayed himself in movies and on television in What’s New, Scooby-Doo?, Dishdogz, and True Jackson VP.
A few years ago Ryan Sheckler made a video showing his 2.5 million dollar house with a ferrari and a mercedes out front, so 16 million does seems pretty accurate, and if anything it might be on the low end.
Chad Muska
Next on the list is Chad Muska, who also has a net worth of 16 million dollars.
As far as sponsors go, Chad Muska has ridden for now-defunct companies such as TSA Clothing, Diakka Watches, and Ghetto Child Wheels. Some of his other past sponsors include Toy Machine, Maple, Etnies, Shorty’s Skateboards and Fury skateboard trucks.
Aside from riding for companies, Muska has also started a ton of his own companies including Supra, which was eventually bought out by K Swiss.
Chad Muska was also in a few of the Tony Hawk games, which I’m sure also paid him pretty well. Andrew Reynolds once said he got a 100,000 check from just one of the games, so I can only imagine what Muska made.
Now some of the younger skaters might not know a lot about Muska, but in the late 90’s and early 2000’s he was one of the top pros, so I could easily see him sitting on a decent net worth. 16 million is a little higher than what I would’ve guessed, but given the companies he’s owned, I’m sure he’s doing alright.
Steve Rocco
Next up is Steve Rocco, who is an American businessman and skateboarder with a net worth of $20 million dollars.
Steve Rocco is most well known for co-founding World Industries with Rodney Mullen, and the company grew to become one of the largest and most influential skateboard companies around the world. Rocco later sold the company and retired.
It might not seem like it today, but saying World Industries used to be one of the largest skate companies isn’t an understatement at all. In the 90’s World Industries was one of the top brands, and even today I’d be willing to bet they make more money selling tech decks than a lot of companies do selling actual boards.
So the next time you’re sitting at your job thinking about how much it sucks, just know that there’s someone out there who retired off of selling tech decks, and his name’s Steve Rocco.
Jokes aside Steve Rocco did do a lot for skateboarding. He helped street skateboarding become popular in the 1990s, and used ads that directly related to skateboarders. Rocco also co-founded the companies Blind, Plan B, 101, and Duffs.
Judging just by the number of companies he started, it’s not exactly a surprise that he’s one of the richest skateboarders.
Stefan Janoski
Next on the list is Stefan Janoski. Stefan Janoski is an American professional skateboarder, writer, artist, and musician who has a net worth of $20 million dollars.
He is well known for his signature Nike SB shoe model, the Nike Zoom Stefan Janoski, which has to be one of the best selling skate shoes of all time. Maybe even one of the best selling shoes of all time.
The ironic part is that Nike originally resisted his shoe ideas but he would not compromise what he had in mind for his first pro shoe. His stubborness ended up paying over, because the Janoski ended up being a great shoe.
Even if you don’t like janoski’s, it lead to a lot of even better shoes with a similar style. The original Stefan Janoski’s sold so well that Nike remade it into just about every style, color, and fabric you can imagine. At one point there was even a rumor going around that he sold his name to Nike for 4 million dollars, which I don’t even think is possible.
Aside from just shoes, Stefan Janoski also has a full line up of sponsors. He skates for Official Crown of Laurel, Venture Trucks, Mob Grip, Bones Bearings, Glassy, and Habitat skateboards.
For someone who’s supposed to be worth 20 million, he doesn’t really show off and buy houses and cars like most people would expect. He is a club member of the SoHo House in Malibu which is around 3 grand per year, but other than that it seems like he keeps things pretty modest.
Bam Margera
Next up is Bam Margera. Bam Margera is a professional skateboarder, actor, producer, and somewhat of a stunt man who has a net worth of $20 million.
Bam Margera is best known in popular culture as a cast member of the MTV reality stunt show “Jackass” and his own spin-offs “Viva La Bam” and “Bam’s Unholy Union.
At various times, Bam was also sponsored by Speed Metal bearings, Adio Footwear, Electric Sunglasses, Volcom, Landspeed Wheels, Destroyer Trucks, Destructo Trucks and Fairman’s Skateshop. Even though at one point he wasn’t on Element anymore, a couple of years ago Element dropped a video part of him, so I think he still skates for them too.
Bam did a full interview on the 9 club where he gets into some of the details of how much he was making during his show. He mentioned making 1 million dollars off of just one of the CKY videos, selling 40,000 boards per month (which if you don’t know, pros usually get about $2 per board they sell), and accidentally burning down his $200,000 mega ramp, and then paying a firefighter 2,000 to not charge him with arson.
He also talks about how he has 2 houses in the same town, and over the years he’s had a ton of nice cars, so 20 million seems pretty accurate.
Rodney Mullen
Next is Rodney Mullen, with a net worth of 30 million dollars.
Rodney Mullen is a professional skateboarder who has a net worth of $30 million. Rodney Mullen is widely considered one of the most influential skaters in the history of skateboarding. Mullen is also considered the greatest street skater, he has invented several of his own moves like: the flat ground ollie, the kick flip (originally called the “magic flip”) in 1983, the heel flip, the impossible and a long list of other original tricks.
Over the years Rodney Mullen has been sponsored by Powell Peralta, Plan B, and Enjoi. He cofounded Almost skateboards, and he also cofounded World Industries with Steve Rocco. Since they later sold World Industries for 29 million, he basically became a multimillionaire overnight, and one of the richest skateboarders.
Rodney Mullen has also made appearances in a lot of movies, video games, and has even done a decent amount of public speaking.
For a guy that’s worth 30 million, he doesn’t really show it off, but then again, if you’ve ever watched an interview with him, he doesn’t really seem like the kind of person who would.
Rob Dyrdek
Next on the list is Rob Dyrdek. Rob Dyrdek is a former professional skateboarder, actor, producer, and entrepreneur who has a net worth of $50 million.
He is best known for his MTV shows Rob & Big, Rob Dyrdek’s Fantasy Factory, and Ridiculousness. Rob Dydek definitely made a lot of money skateboarding, but he’s made way more on tv and in business.
When he was still pro, he was sponsored by alien workshop, silver trucks, dc, and monster. Even though he had a solid list of sponsors and those energy drink companies pay pretty well, he still made way more money outside of skateboarding.
According to reports, Rob Dyrdek was making 60,000 per episode on Rob & Big, 100,000 per episode on Fantasy Factory, and 140,000 per episode on Ridiculousness. Now I know he’s gotten a lot of hate from skateboarders for doing reality TV, but imagine making 140,000 per episode. Where I live, you could get a pretty nice house for that.
Aside from skateboarding and tv, he also consistently builds and sells business’, and currently owns around 20 holding companies.
Some of these net worths seem a bit exaggerated, but I think Rob Dyrdek’s might be even more than what this website estimates. He lives in a 6 million dollar house on Muholland drive, over the years he’s had a ton of nice cars including a 69 Camaro, a Porsche, and a Ferrari, so I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he was worth more.
Tony Hawk
Next up is Tony Hawk. Tony Hawk is a professional skateboarder and entrepreneur who has a net worth of $140 million dollars.
Tony Hawk is by far the most well known and highest earning professional skateboarder out there. Outside of earning tens of millions of dollars during his career from endorsements, tournament prizes, appearance fees and more, he’s made a fortune just off of the Tony Hawk Pro Skater video games.
Even as a teenager, Tony Hawk was earning well over $100,000 per year between prizes and sponsorships. When he was still in school he was making significantly more than his teachers, and he even bought his family a house when he was a senior in high school.
Surprisingly he doesn’t really spend his money on anything outlandish. He does have a pretty nice house with a backyard skatepark, but even that isn’t what you would expect out of someone who’s worth 140 million.
Who is the richest pro skater?
Most skateboarders really don’t make that much money, but there are a few outliers who get some pretty high payout. When it comes down to it though, all of these are just estimates and speculation, and there’s no way to tell for sure who the richest pro skaters really are.