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Outbyte Driver Updater FREEFix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Outbyte PC Repair FREEClear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →In Forbes’s 2025 estimate of pretax television earnings, Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel tied as the highest-paid late-night hosts, at $16 million each. Stephen Colbert was next at $15 million. These are reported estimates of TV earnings—not verified base salaries, take-home pay, or net worth.
Who was the highest-paid late-night host in 2025?
Forbes’s 2025 estimates put Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel in a tie for the top spot. The figures cover estimated pretax earnings from television work in 2025, rather than a disclosed annual salary. Forbes reported that its estimates drew on interviews with agents, lawyers, managers, executives, and other industry experts.
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| Host | Reported 2025 estimate | What the figure measures |
|---|---|---|
| Jimmy Fallon | $16 million | Forbes estimate of pretax TV earnings |
| Jimmy Kimmel | $16 million | Forbes estimate of pretax TV earnings |
| Stephen Colbert | $15 million | Forbes estimate of pretax TV earnings |
The Forbes figures are estimates, not confirmed contract terms or audited payroll disclosures. Forbes’s measure can include traditional salaries as well as production deals and licensing agreements, and the estimates do not deduct representation fees. Because no public primary compensation disclosure was identified in the cited reporting, the ranking should be read as a reported comparison, not a definitive payroll list.
How much does Jimmy Kimmel make per year?
Forbes estimated Kimmel’s pretax TV earnings at $16 million for 2025. That figure is a period-specific estimate of television earnings, not proof of his contract’s base salary or his personal income from every source.
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Why salary lists can show different numbers
“Salary,” “earnings,” and “net worth” are different measures. A salary is contract pay; broader earnings estimates may include production or licensing income; net worth is an estimate of accumulated assets minus liabilities. They should not be compared as if they were the same annual paycheck.
For example, Hindustan Times reported that Seth Meyers earned about $12 million annually from Late Night and writing projects in 2025. That is a secondary estimate with a broader stated scope than Forbes’s TV-work estimates, so it is not a directly like-for-like ranking entry. Hindustan Times’s report should not be used to equate that figure with a verified salary.
Other online salary compilations also cite historical contract claims and estimates. Those figures may refer to different years, contracts, or definitions of compensation, so they do not supersede a dated estimate with a stated methodology. Celebrity Net Worth’s salary-history compilation is one such secondary source.
Is Stephen Colbert still a late-night host?
No. Colbert’s $15 million figure is part of Forbes’s 2025 comparison, but it should not be presented as the earnings of a current host in 2026. The Associated Press reported that CBS canceled The Late Show in July 2025 and that the program ended in May 2026. The AP report also described pressure on late-night economics, including lower ratings and advertising and challenges monetizing online highlights. Those industry conditions do not establish that any individual host’s pay caused a program decision.
Can these figures identify the highest-paid host on air now?
Not reliably. The Forbes comparison is for 2025, and the available figures do not provide a comparable 2026 earnings ranking for hosts still on air. Since compensation is privately negotiated and the published amounts are estimates, the sound conclusion is limited to the period and measure: Fallon and Kimmel tied at the top of Forbes’s 2025 pretax TV-earnings estimates.
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