Steve Harvey Net Worth: From Sleeping in His Car to Building a $200 Million Empire

Steve Harvey's sitting on about $200 million these days, pulling in roughly $45 million every year from his TV gigs, radio show, and a bunch of business deals. Not bad for a guy who once had to choose between eating and putting gas in his car.

The Grind Before the Glory: Steve's First Paychecks

Born in Welch, West Virginia, Steve grew up watching his coal miner dad work himself to the bone while his mom taught Sunday school. The family packed up and moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where Steve bounced around Kent State and West Virginia University before calling it quits on college. After dropping out, he did whatever it took to survive—delivering mail, fixing cars, selling automobiles, pushing insurance policies, even cleaning carpets. Basically, if it paid, he did it.

Steve's first taste of comedy money came in 1985 when he walked into a local comedy club and won an amateur night contest. The prize? Fifty bucks. That's it. But that fifty-dollar bill lit a fire that would eventually burn bright enough to light up the whole entertainment industry. Still, making it big wasn't gonna happen overnight.

The Rough Patch: Three Years Living Out of a Ford Tempo

Here's where things get real. Steve went all-in on comedy in the mid-1980s, and man, did it backfire at first. He ended up homeless for three years, living in his car and scraping by on fifty bucks a week. His first marriage fell apart during this time too. "That was an ugly period, just very painful," he's said about those days. "Everybody has a moment when they turn back, when you say to yourself, 'This is too much.' I had it on several occasions."

Steve's talked about hitting rock bottom and almost throwing in the towel completely. He remembers breaking down in tears, ready to give up, when something inside him—he calls it God's voice—told him, "If you keep going, I'm going to take you places you've never been." That moment kept him from quitting when he was inches away from walking away from everything.

Steve Harvey Net Worth Climb: When the Big Breaks Finally Came

Things started turning around in 1989 when Steve made it to the finals of the Second Annual Johnnie Walker National Comedy Search. That got people noticing him. Then in 1993, he caught his real break—hosting Showtime at the Apollo. He held that gig until 2000, and it put him on the map for real.

Between 1996 and 2002, The Steve Harvey Show ran on WB, making him a household name. But what really launched him into comedy royalty was the Kings of Comedy tour from 1997 to 1999. Steve teamed up with Cedric the Entertainer, Bernie Mac, and D.L. Hughley, and they absolutely killed it. Spike Lee even made a movie about the tour called The Original Kings of Comedy.

In 2000, Steve kicked off The Steve Harvey Morning Show on the radio, and it's still going strong today. The show reaches about 7 million people every week and pays him a cool $20 million annually. That's when the money really started rolling in.

Hitting His Peak: Family Feud and steve harvey net worth Now

Steve started hosting Family Feud back in 2010, and honestly, he breathed new life into the show. It became one of the top three syndicated shows on TV. He's making $10 million a year just from Family Feud, not counting Celebrity Family Feud and other spin-offs.

But Steve's money doesn't just come from standing in front of cameras. He's built Steve Harvey Global, which handles everything from producing films to making investments and licensing products. Back in 2019, reports said he was pulling in around $45 million yearly from all his different projects combined.

Still, Steve's had some serious financial hits along the way. He's talked about how after his divorce from his second wife Mary Shackelford in 2005, he was basically broke—just $1,700 in his bank account. He got stuck with a monster tax bill, having to pay seven years of back taxes plus interest. He was in deep trouble financially.

Today though? Steve's got his hands in everything—radio, TV, fashion, books, you name it. He's written four bestselling books, started his own suit line called "H by Steve Harvey," and owns some serious real estate, including a $15 million mansion in Atlanta that used to belong to Tyler Perry.

How Steve Says You Can Make It: His Success Philosophy

Steve doesn't just talk about success—he's lived it, from the absolute bottom to the very top. Here's what he tells people who want to make something of themselves.

• Stop Overthinking and Jump: Steve's big on taking risks. He says if you've got a dream, you gotta jump and go all in. "Your willingness to jump will open doors for you," he preaches. He believes the only real difference between you and successful people is that they actually jumped. Once you take that leap, opportunities start showing up.

• Figure Out What You're Actually Good At: Steve tells people to find that one thing only they can do and work on it like crazy. Everyone's got something special, he says. For him, it was making people laugh, though he never imagined it could make him rich. The catch? Most people fool themselves about what they're good at. You've gotta be brutally honest with yourself.

• Small Steps Beat Big Dreams: Here's Steve's money advice: Forget about needing some genius million-dollar idea. Take a ten-dollar idea and work ten times harder on it—boom, you've got a hundred dollars. Keep multiplying that effort, and before you know it, you're at a million. It's all about taking small, steady steps instead of waiting for some massive breakthrough.

• Fail Forward: Steve doesn't sugarcoat failure—he says it's necessary. "Growth is in a series of mistakes. That's the only way you learn." He sees every failure as just another lesson getting you ready for success. Challenges aren't roadblocks; they're what make you stronger.

• Move Fast on Good Ideas: When Steve gets an idea he believes in, he acts on it immediately. No hesitation. "I don't give myself a chance to talk myself out of it because if you sit down long enough, you come out with reasons why you shouldn't do anything." That's how he rolls—fast decisions, no looking back.

• Don't Sell Out Your Values: Steve's a big believer in knowing what you stand for and sticking to it, even when it costs you. He once walked away from a major sponsor during his comedy tour because they wanted him to promote alcohol, and that went against his values. Yeah, it caused drama and almost cost him the whole tour, but he held firm.

Steve's story is proof that you don't need to come from money or have some magic talent to make it big. You just need to refuse to quit, even when you're living in your car eating ramen. His journey from homeless comedian to $200 million entertainment mogul shows that persistence beats talent, luck, and pretty much everything else.