Ree Drummond Net Worth

What is Ree Drummond's net worth?

Ree Drummond is an American blogger, author, food writer, photographer, television personality, and celebrity chef who has a net worth of $50 million. Through her husband's family, Ree is arguably much, much, much richer. Ree's husband, Ladd Drummond, comes from one of the largest landowning families in America. The Drummonds have been ranked as the 23rd largest landowners in the US. The Drummonds own more than 400,000 acres of land in the United States. More info on the Drummond land empire later in this article.

Ree Drummond is best known as the creator of The Pioneer Woman brand. Ree turned her daily life on an Oklahoma cattle ranch into a media empire of cookbooks, television shows, and retail ventures. Her down-to-earth recipes and storytelling made her one of the most recognizable food personalities in America. Her Food Network series "The Pioneer Woman" has aired for more than 25 seasons since its 2011 debut, cementing her status as one of television's most successful food personalities.

Early Life

Ann Marie "Ree" Smith was born on January 6, 1969, in Oklahoma. Her father, William "Bill" Smith, was an orthopedic surgeon, and her mother, Gerre Schwert Smith, was a homemaker. Ree grew up in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, a small oil town located about 50 miles north of Tulsa, alongside her siblings Doug, Mike, and Betsy.

She attended Bartlesville High School, graduating in 1987, before moving to Los Angeles to attend the University of Southern California. While at USC, she joined the Pi Beta Phi sorority and earned a bachelor's degree in gerontology in 1991. Ree originally planned to attend law school in Chicago, following her then-boyfriend to the city. Those plans changed dramatically after a chance meeting with cattle rancher Ladd Drummond one night in a bar near her hometown.

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The Pioneer Woman

Ree Drummond's rise to fame began in 2006, when she launched her blog, initially titled Confessions of a Pioneer Woman. She wrote about homeschooling, ranch life, and cooking, sharing recipes with step-by-step photos. The site quickly gained a devoted following, winning multiple awards, including "Weblog of the Year" at the 2010 Bloggies. Around the same time, she launched the recipe-sharing community TastyKitchen.com.

Her popularity as a blogger led to book deals. Ree's memoir, "From Black Heels to Tractor Wheels", chronicled her transition from Los Angeles city life to becoming a ranch wife in Oklahoma. It reached #2 on the New York Times Bestseller List and was briefly optioned for a film adaptation with Reese Witherspoon attached to star. She followed it with a string of bestselling cookbooks, including "The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food from My Frontier" and "The Pioneer Woman Cooks: A Year of Holidays", as well as children's books such as "Charlie and the Christmas Kitty" and "Charlie and the New Baby". Altogether, Ree has authored more than 15 books.

Her blog and writing drew mainstream recognition, with The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and BusinessWeek all profiling her. In 2009, Time magazine named Confessions of a Pioneer Woman one of the "25 Best Blogs in the World."

Ree's first television appearance came in 2010 on an episode of "Throwdown! with Bobby Flay", where she competed in a Thanksgiving cook-off at her Oklahoma ranch and won. A year later, she launched her own Food Network show, "The Pioneer Woman", which has remained a staple on the network since 2011.

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Business Ventures in Pawhuska

Ree and Ladd expanded their brand into downtown Pawhuska, Oklahoma, revitalizing the small town with several businesses. In 2016, they opened The Mercantile, a restaurant, bakery, and retail store housed in a renovated 100-year-old building. In 2018, they launched The Boarding House, a cowboy-themed bed and breakfast, followed by P-Town Pizza and Charlie's Sweet Shop, an ice cream parlor named after the family's beloved basset hound.

Fans can also tour The Lodge, the building on the Drummond ranch where Ree films her cooking show and photographs many of her recipes. Her website promotes Pawhuska tourism, highlighting attractions such as the Osage Nation Museum, the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, and the town's historic wooden suspension bridge. These ventures have turned Pawhuska into a destination for fans of The Pioneer Woman brand.

Personal Life

Ree met Ladd Drummond in the mid-1990s, just as she was planning to leave Oklahoma for law school in Chicago. The encounter changed the trajectory of her life. The couple married on September 21, 1996, and Ree has frequently referred to her husband as "the Marlboro Man" in her writing. During their wedding reception, Ladd famously slipped away to watch Arizona State University, his alma mater, upset Nebraska in a football game.

The couple honeymooned in Australia before settling on the Drummond family's working cattle ranch outside of Pawhuska. They have four children:

• Alex (born 1997), a graduate of Texas A&M University.
• Paige (born 1999), a student at the University of Arkansas.
• Bryce (born 2002), who pursued college football.
• Todd (born 2004), the youngest of the family.

The Drummonds homeschooled their children through high school, weaving family, ranch life, and Ree's growing business into a single household.

Real Estate & Drummond Land

Ree's wealth is substantial on its own, but it is dwarfed by the scale of the Drummond family's land holdings. Ladd's family owns about 433,000 acres in Oklahoma, making them the largest landowners in the state and among the top 25 landowning families in the U.S. The family ranch is operated through Drummond Land & Cattle Co., a private, family-run company dating back to the late 1800s.

The Drummonds' land is not only a base for cattle ranching but also part of a federal program. The Bureau of Land Management pays the family around $2 million per year to maintain wild horses and burros on their pastures. Since 2006, these contracts have generated more than $33 million in federal payments. Combined with cattle operations and additional agricultural subsidies, the land has made the Drummond family one of the most financially successful ranching dynasties in America.

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