Colin Jost Net Worth: SNL Salary, House, and Biggest Earnings

Colin Jost has spent two decades at one address in television: Saturday Night Live. He joined the NBC show as a young writer in 2005, worked his way up to head writer, and then stepped in front of the camera in 2014 as co-anchor of Weekend Update. That long run turned a Staten Island kid with a Harvard degree into one of the most familiar faces in American comedy, and it also built most of his money.

So what is Colin Jost net worth today? Published estimates most often put the figure at around 10 million dollars. That number is an estimate, not an official figure, because Jost has never published his finances. Still, the shape of his income is easy to follow: a steady senior salary at SNL, a best-selling book, stand-up tours, film and hosting work, and a few much talked about side projects, including a retired Staten Island ferry.

Quick Facts

Early Life and the Road to SNL

Colin Kelly Jost was born on June 29, 1982, and grew up in the Grymes Hill neighborhood of Staten Island. His mother, Kerry Kelly, worked as the chief medical officer for the New York City Fire Department, and his father, Daniel Jost, was a teacher at Staten Island Technical High School. His younger brother, Casey Jost, later became a writer and performer best known for his work connected to the comedy show Impractical Jokers.

Jost attended Regis High School, a Jesuit school in Manhattan, commuting from Staten Island each day. He then went to Harvard University, where he studied history and literature and graduated cum laude in 2004. At Harvard he wrote for the Harvard Lampoon, the famous student humor magazine, and rose to become its president. The Lampoon has been a starting point for many comedy writers, and for Jost it was direct training for the job he wanted.

After college he worked briefly in journalism and animation writing, including a stint connected to the Nickelodeon show Kappa Mikey, according to published biographies. In 2005, at just 23 years old, he was hired as a writer at Saturday Night Live. It was the start of one of the longest careers in the history of the show, and the foundation of everything in his bank account today.

The SNL Salary Story

Saturday Night Live does not publish what it pays its cast and writers, so every salary figure in print is a reported estimate rather than a confirmed number. With that warning in place, the reports are fairly consistent. Multiple outlets have reported that senior SNL cast members at the top of the pay scale earn around 25,000 dollars per episode. With a typical season of about 21 episodes, that works out to roughly 525,000 dollars per season before taxes and fees.

Jost is exactly the kind of performer those top-end reports describe. He served as a co-head writer from 2012 to 2015, returned as a head writer from 2017 to 2022, and has co-anchored Weekend Update with Michael Che since 2014. In October 2021 he became the longest serving Weekend Update anchor in the history of the segment, passing the record held by Seth Meyers. A performer does not hold a job like that for more than a decade without reaching the upper end of the show pay scale, even if the exact contract figure stays private and unconfirmed.

The steady nature of that income matters as much as the size. Many comedians earn in bursts, with a hit one year and nothing the next. Jost has collected an SNL paycheck, in one role or another, every season since 2005. Twenty years of steady, high level television income, first as a writer and then as a writer and on-air star, is the single biggest reason his estimated net worth sits in eight figures.

Books, Stand-Up, Film, and Hosting

The second layer of Jost income comes from work outside Studio 8H. In 2020 he published his memoir, A Very Punchable Face, a funny and surprisingly personal book about growing up on Staten Island, his years at Harvard, and life inside SNL. The book became a New York Times bestseller, which means real royalty income on top of the original publishing deal. The exact size of that deal has not been made public, so any specific figure attached to it should be treated as unconfirmed.

Stand-up comedy is another steady stream. Jost tours theaters and comedy festivals across the United States, often alongside Michael Che, and live dates let a television name convert fame into direct ticket income. He has also acted in films. He wrote and starred in the 2015 comedy Staten Island Summer, appeared in How to Be Single in 2016, played a version of himself in the 2021 film Tom and Jerry, and appeared in the 2024 film Fly Me to the Moon, which starred his wife.

Hosting has added a newer and larger stream. In April 2024 Jost hosted the White House Correspondents Dinner in Washington, one of the most high profile comedy jobs in the country. He then became the host of Pop Culture Jeopardy!, the pop culture spin-off of the famous quiz show, which launched on Prime Video in late 2024. A hosting role on a Jeopardy! franchise is the kind of job that usually carries a strong salary, although his exact pay for the show has not been published and remains unconfirmed.

House, Property, and the Famous Ferry

The title of this article promises a house, and here readers deserve a careful answer. Jost keeps his home life private, and he and Scarlett Johansson do not publicize their addresses. Entertainment reports over the years have linked Jost to homes in New York, including a house in the Hamptons area bought before his marriage, but the details of prices and locations vary between reports and should be treated as unconfirmed. What is clear is that a man with his income and a wife who is one of the highest paid actresses in the world lives very comfortably, even if the paperwork stays out of the news.

His most famous purchase is not a house at all. It is a boat. In January 2022, Jost and his former SNL colleague Pete Davidson, together with a small group of partners, bought a decommissioned Staten Island Ferry boat, the John F. Kennedy, at a New York City auction. The reported winning bid was 280,100 dollars. The plan, discussed publicly by the partners, was to turn the ferry into an arts and entertainment venue. The purchase became a running joke on Weekend Update, where Michael Che regularly teases Jost about the boat, and Jost himself has joked in interviews about how much work and money an old ferry demands.

The ferry is a good example of how celebrity net worth stories work. The boat is often listed as Jost asset or Jost purchase, but it was a group purchase, and an old ferry is as much a cost as an asset. It adds color to his story, and possibly value in the long term, but it is not the reason for his estimated 10 million dollar fortune. The SNL years are.

Family Life With Scarlett Johansson

Jost first met Scarlett Johansson through SNL. She hosted the show several times over the years, and the two began dating in 2017. They married in a small ceremony in October 2020. In August 2021 they welcomed their son, Cosmo. Jost is also a stepfather to Johansson’s daughter, Rose, from her earlier marriage. He rarely discusses the children in detail, and when he does it is usually in a joke on Weekend Update written, in the show annual tradition, by Michael Che to embarrass him.

Comparisons between the couple’s incomes are a favorite joke on the show itself. Published estimates place Johansson’s net worth far above her husband’s, often around 165 million dollars, thanks to her Marvel films and long movie career. Those figures are also estimates, but the gap is real enough that Jost built part of his comedy persona around it. His own money, though, was earned independently and mostly before the marriage, through twenty years of television writing and performing.

You may also read: Who Is Leopold Stanislaus Stokowski? The Full Story Of Gloria Vanderbilt’s Son

FAQs

What is Colin Jost net worth?

Published estimates most often put Colin Jost net worth at around 10 million dollars. The figure is an estimate based on his long SNL career, book sales, touring, and hosting work. Jost has never confirmed an official number himself.

How much does Colin Jost make per SNL episode?

Reports commonly say top SNL cast members earn about 25,000 dollars per episode, or roughly 525,000 dollars per season. SNL does not publish salaries, so this figure is widely reported but officially unconfirmed.

Did Colin Jost really buy a Staten Island ferry?

Yes. In January 2022 Jost, Pete Davidson, and partners bought the retired ferry John F. Kennedy at auction for a reported 280,100 dollars, with plans to convert it into an entertainment venue.

What is Colin Jost book called?

His memoir is called A Very Punchable Face. It was published in 2020 and became a New York Times bestseller.

Final Thoughts

Colin Jost net worth, estimated at around 10 million dollars, is not the story of one lucky break. It is the story of staying power. He walked into Saturday Night Live as a 23 year old writer in 2005 and simply never left, climbing from the writers room to the head writer office and finally to the Weekend Update desk, where he stayed longer than anyone in history. Add a best-selling memoir, a touring stand-up career, film roles, and a Jeopardy! hosting job, and the estimate makes sense. The ferry, the jokes about his wife’s income, and the self deprecating persona are all part of the act. The real story is simpler: two decades of steady work at the top of American comedy pays very well.

Featured photo: Colin Jost – photo by YantsImages, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons