Pete Hegseth Net Worth

What Is Pete Hegseth's Net Worth and Salary?

Pete Hegseth is an American television host, producer, and writer who has a net worth of $6 million. Pete currently serves as the 29th United States Secretary of War (previously known as the Secretary of Defense. According to a financial disclosure released in January 2025 (more details in the next section below), in the two years prior to becoming Secretary of War, Pete earned between $6 and $9 million, roughly half of which, $4.6 million, came from his Fox News salary.

Pete Hegseth served as an officer of the Army National Guard and as an executive director of Concerned Veterans for America and Vets For Freedom. In May 2018, it was reported that Hegseth was being considered to replace David Shulkin as United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs, but Robert Wilkie was chosen instead. Pete has been involved in conservative politics since college, and he occasionally advised Donald Trump during his presidency.

Pete became a contributor for Fox News in 2014, and he has appeared on programs such as "Fox and Friends," "America Live," "Red Eye w/Tom Shillue," "The Kelly File," "The Factor," "Kennedy Live," "The Greg Gutfeld Show," "Watters' World," "Tucker Carlson Tonight," "Unfiltered with Dan Bongino," "The Faulkner Focus," and "Hannity." He wrote, produced, and hosted the 2020 Fox Nation special "Battle in the Holy City," which focused on "the conflict between Muslims and Jews over Temple Mount in Jerusalem." Hegseth has published the books "In the Arena: Good Citizens, a Great Republic, and How One Speech Can Reinvigorate America" (2016), "American Crusade: Our Fight to Stay Free" (2020), "Modern Warriors: Real Stories from Real Heroes" (2020), and "Battle for the American Mind: Uprooting a Century of Miseducation" (2022).

Salary & Financial Disclosure

Financial disclosures released around the time of his January 2025 confirmation hearings revealed that in the previous two years, Pete had made between $6.3 and $9 million. The majority of his income, $4.6 million, came in the form of his Fox News hosting salary ($4,602,340, to be precise). One can, therefore, presume his annual salary before bonuses and other benefits is around $2 million, which is in line with other similar Fox hosts.

Outside of his Fox News salary, Pete earned $900,000 in speaking fees from 40 events over the previous two years. Pete's financial disclosure also revealed that he earned $348,000 from the publishing house Harper Collins for his book "The War on Warriors" and $150,000 for his book "Battle for the American Mind." He then also earned $100,000 – $1 million in combined royalties for both books. He has $250-500,000 invested in a Vanguard retirement account and directly owns several hundred thousand dollars worth of stocks.

Pete's salary as Secretary of War is $253,100.

Real Estate

In June of 2022, Pete paid $3.425 million for a home in Goodlettsville, Tennessee. The 9,000-square-foot mansion has four bedrooms and seven bathrooms. He previously owned a home in Baltimore, Maryland. His financial disclosure revealed a gain of $100,000 to $1 million when that home was sold in 2023. His financial disclosure also revealed that he has a mortgage on the Tennessee home in the range of $1 to $5 million.

(Photo by John Lamparski/Getty Images)

Early Life

Pete Hegseth was born Peter Brian Hegseth on June 6, 1980, in Forest Lake, Minnesota. Pete is the son of Penny and Brian Hegseth, and he has two brothers. After graduating from Forest Lake Area High School, he enrolled at Princeton University, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in 2003. As a Princeton student, Hegseth published the conservative student publication "The Princeton Tory" and was a member of the men's basketball team. He later attended Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, graduating with a Master of Public Policy in 2013.

Early Military Service and Finance Career

After graduating from Princeton University, Pete Hegseth began working as an equity capital markets analyst at Bear Stearns while also serving as a reserve infantry officer in the U.S. Army National Guard. In 2004, his Minnesota National Guard unit deployed to Guantánamo Bay, where he served as an infantry platoon leader. He later deployed to Iraq, working as both an infantry platoon leader and a civil–military operations officer in Baghdad and Samarra. For his service in Iraq, Hegseth received an Army Commendation Medal and a Bronze Star Medal.

He returned to active duty in 2012 with the rank of captain. During a deployment to Afghanistan, he served as a senior counterinsurgency instructor at Kabul's Counterinsurgency Training Center. Hegseth later transitioned into the Individual Ready Reserve and ultimately reached the rank of major.

Veterans Advocacy and Political Action

After returning from Iraq, Hegseth briefly worked at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research before moving into leadership roles within veterans' advocacy organizations. From 2007 to 2012, he served as executive director of the political advocacy organization Vets For Freedom. In 2012, he sought the Republican nomination for one of Minnesota's U.S. Senate seats but withdrew following the state's nominating convention.

He later became executive director of Concerned Veterans for America, a group heavily funded by Charles and David Koch, and remained in that role until early 2016. During his tenure, Hegseth faced scrutiny over financial management issues. A 2018 APM Reports investigation noted that his political action committee, MN PAC, spent roughly one-third of its funds on Christmas parties. When he departed Concerned Veterans for America, he reportedly signed a non-disclosure agreement and received a six-figure severance payment amid internal disagreements over finances and organizational direction.

Media and Fox News

In 2014, Hegseth became a contributor for Fox News, expanding his profile within conservative media. He co-hosted "Fox & Friends Weekend" and appeared regularly across the network's programming, including "Tucker Carlson Tonight," "Hannity," and "The Faulkner Focus." In 2020, he wrote, produced, and hosted the Fox Nation special "Battle in the Holy City."

Hegseth also built a career as an author. His books include "In the Arena" (2016), "American Crusade" (2020), "Modern Warriors" (2020), "Battle for the American Mind" (2022), and "The War on Warriors" (2024).

Secretary of Defense

In November 2024, President-elect Donald Trump selected Hegseth to serve as Secretary of Defense. After a contentious confirmation process in January 2025, during which Hegseth addressed questions about past allegations involving personal conduct and financial management, the Senate confirmed his appointment. He assumed office on January 25, 2025.

Personal Life

Pete was married to Meredith Schwarz from 2005 to 2009. After their divorce, he wed Samantha Deering in 2010, and they welcomed sons Rex, Boone, and Gunner together. While married to Deering, Hegseth had a daughter, Gwen, with Fox producer Jennifer Rauchet in August 2017. Pete and Samantha divorced that same month, and two years later, Hegseth married Rauchet, who has three children from her first marriage.

Pete has said that he's a Christian, and in a 2022 interview with "Faithwire," he stated, "I've got a bunch of kids and you start to realize that the only thing that matters is introducing them to Jesus Christ. You spend so much time teaching them how to dribble a basketball or to love America — and those are all great, but they're utterly insufficient."

Controversies

While filming a live segment on June 14, 2015, Pete accidentally struck a drummer from West Point military academy with an axe. The drummer suffered "only minor injuries."

In May 2018, Pete mocked what he referred to as the "failing 'New York Times'" for not reporting on the capture of several ISIS leaders despite the fact that the newspaper had been one of the first publications to report the story two days earlier.

After it was reported in May 2019 that Donald Trump was thinking about pardoning several members of the U.S. military who had been charged with war crimes, CNN and "The Daily Beast" revealed that Hegseth had been trying to convince Trump to pardon them for months. During this time, Pete had been speaking about these cases on Fox News without ever disclosing his involvement.

In July 2019, Hegseth accused Muslim congresswoman Rashida Tlaib of having a "Hamas agenda."

In January 2020, he encouraged Trump to bomb the Iranian homeland if it was believed that they were storing weapons there, stating, "I don't care about Iranian cultural sites, and I'll tell why. If they could, if Iran could, if you understand the Islamic Republic of Iran, of Islamists, if they could, if they had the power, they would destroy every single one of our cultural sites and build a mosque on top of it."

In February 2020, Pete stated that Democrats were "rooting for coronavirus to spread. They're rooting for it to grow. They're rooting for the problem to get worse." He later suggested that Democrats made up the Omicron variant to help their performance in the 2022 midterm elections.

Awards, Badges, and Decorations

Hegseth has earned two Bronze Stars, a Combat Infantryman Badge, and an Expert Infantryman Badge. He has also received an Afghanistan Campaign Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, National Defense Service Medal, and two Army Commendation Medals.

Who's Richer?

Pete
Hegseth

Compare!

Tom
Cotton