Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar's Net Worth Comes From More Than Their Former Reality TV Reign
Updated June 6 2023, 11:57 a.m. ET
The Duggar family — led by Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar — probably won’t be able to add any more TLC money to their net worth any time soon, if ever again. After 11 seasons, the network canceled Counting On in 2020. This came after the flagship series 19 Kids and Counting was also canceled amid multiple scandals involving eldest son Josh Duggar.
And now that the Prime Video docuseries Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets sheds more light on the inner workings of the once powerful reality TV family, we doubt we'll see Jim Bob and Michelle on TV again. That being said, it's hard not to wonder about the couple's combined net worth.
What is Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar's net worth?
The family is worth $3.5 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth, which includes their earnings from Counting On and previous TLC series 19 Kids and Counting, along with Jim Bob’s income from his commercial properties and real estate career.
But after Josh Duggar’s arrest, most of the Duggar family's reality TV careers were halted, seemingly indefinitely.
Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar
Reality TV Stars, Public Speakers, Authors
Net worth: $3.5 million
Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar are former reality TV stars from 19 Kids and Counting and Counting On. They've also done public speaking engagements, written books, and Jim Bob once held the position of Arkansas state representative. The family also owns and operates real estate properties and car dealerships in Arkansas.
Birthdate: July 18, 1965 (Jim Bob); Sept. 13, 1966 (Michelle)
Birthplace: Springdale, Ark. (Jim Bob); Tontitown, Ark. (Michelle)
Children: 19 (Josh, John-David, Jana, Jill, Jessa, Jinger, Joseph, Josiah, Joy-Anna, Jedediah, Jeremiah, Jason, James, Justin, Jackson, Johannah, Jennifer, Jordyn, and Josie)
Education: Shiloh Christian School (Jim Bob); Springdale High School (Michelle)
TLC canceled 19 Kids and Counting in 2015 amid allegations that Josh Duggar, Jim Bob and Michelle’s eldest son, had molested five teenage girls when he was a teenager. And in June 2021, the channel axed Counting On — a show about Josh’s siblings — two months after he was arrested on child sexual abuse material charges, to which he pleaded not guilty.
He was later found guilty of possessing and receiving child sexual abuse materials and sentenced to about 12 and-a-half years in federal prison.
Jim Bob Duggar was accused of withholding 'Counting On' earnings.
In the Shiny Happy People docuseries, Jill Duggar and her husband, Derick Dillard, accuse Jim Bob of essentially tricking Jill into signing TLC contracts and then withholding her earnings from the series that she starred in. Jill also alleges that she saw no income from 19 Kids and Counting once she turned 18.
According to Jill in the docuseries, Jim Bob eventually agreed to pay her and Derick one lump sum that amounted to $10 per hour for their time on Counting On, including the difficult birth of her first child. She alleges that in 2014, the day before she married Derick, Jim Bob presented her with just the signature page of a long TLC contract and asked her to sign it, which she did.
"It was just at the end of the kitchen table," Jill explains in Shiny Happy People. "I didn't know what it was for."
She later found out that she'd signed a contract agreeing to film for another five years.
And, while numbers haven't been confirmed by the Duggar family or TLC, it is estimated that the family earned around $18 million for their years on television, none of which Jill received, except for the eventual lump sum, according to her.
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