David Muir’s net worth is $25 million, built over more than two decades as one of America’s most prominent television news anchors. Muir serves as the sole anchor and managing editor of ABC World News Tonight, the most-watched evening newscast on U.S. television for ten consecutive years, and as co-anchor of the investigative newsmagazine 20/20.
Updated March 2026: According to Wikipedia and reporting by ABC News, Muir’s World News Tonight has maintained its position as the No. 1 newscast on all of television, averaging more than 8.9 million total viewers as of March 2026 — leading NBC Nightly News by 1.735 million viewers and CBS Evening News by over 4 million. Industry reporting places his annual ABC salary in the range of $8 million per year, contributing to an estimated net worth of $25 million.
David Jason Muir was born on November 8, 1973, in Syracuse, New York, and raised in the Onondaga Hill neighborhood of the city. He grew up in a Catholic household with one older sibling and two younger stepsiblings. Muir discovered a passion for broadcast journalism at an early age; he interned at a local television station while still in high school, giving him hands-on newsroom experience before college. He enrolled at Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York, where he studied journalism. He graduated magna cum laude in 1995 with a Bachelor of Arts in journalism. He supplemented his degree with study abroad programs, attending Georgetown University and the University of Salamanca in Spain, where he developed conversational proficiency in Spanish.
Muir began his professional television news career in 1994 while still an Ithaca College student, working as a reporter and anchor at WTVH-TV in Syracuse — a role he continued after graduation through 2000. He then moved to the larger Boston market, joining WCVB-TV, an ABC affiliate, where he worked from 2000 to 2003, covering major New England stories and developing his on-air reporting style.
In 2003, ABC News recruited Muir to its national network, where he joined the overnight programs World News Now and America This Morning. He quickly advanced through the ranks, becoming the weekend anchor of World News Saturday and World News Sunday in 2007. In 2013, he was elevated to co-anchor of 20/20, the network’s long-running newsmagazine, significantly raising his profile.
The defining moment in his career came in September 2014, when ABC News named Muir the sole weeknight anchor and managing editor of World News Tonight, succeeding Diane Sawyer. Within a year, he had guided the program to the No. 1 position in total viewers among evening newscasts — a ranking it has held for ten straight years through the 2025–2026 broadcast season. As of March 2026, World News Tonight averages 8.9 million total viewers per night, per ABC News press data.
Muir has conducted interviews with every sitting U.S. president during his tenure as anchor. On September 10, 2024, he and ABC News anchor Linsey Davis moderated the presidential debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, which drew an audience of nearly 70 million viewers — one of the most-watched political events of the year. In 2023 and again in 2024, World News Tonight won both the News and Documentary Emmy for Outstanding Live News Program and the RTDNA Edward R. Murrow Award for Network TV Newscast. In 2024, Muir received the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism. In April 2025, TIME magazine named him to its TIME100 list of the most influential people in the world, with a tribute written by former anchor Diane Sawyer, per TIME.
Unlike entertainers whose wealth derives from multiple revenue streams, Muir’s net worth comes primarily from a single, well-compensated source: his ABC News contract.
Muir has maintained a very private personal life throughout his career. He is not married and has no children. He remains close to his family in upstate New York and is known to frequently return to Syracuse for personal visits. He is the proud owner of a dog named Axel, who has made occasional appearances on his social media. He attends church regularly and has described his Catholic upbringing as a formative influence.
In May 2025, Muir made a surprise appearance at Ithaca College’s commencement ceremony, delivering remarks to the graduating class and reconnecting with the institution where his journalism career began. He was ranked fifth on Mediaite’s Most Influential in News Media list in 2025, behind only a handful of cable hosts whose audiences skew toward partisan programming.
Viewers interested in the broader political media landscape covered by Muir’s newscast may also be interested in profiles of prominent political figures, including Marco Rubio, Kristi Noem, Usha Vance, Pete Hegseth, and Sean Hannity.
David Muir’s net worth is estimated at $25 million as of 2026. His wealth is derived almost entirely from his long-running salary as anchor of ABC World News Tonight and co-anchor of 20/20, supplemented by real estate investments in New York.
Industry reporting places Muir’s annual ABC News salary at approximately $8 million per year under a long-term contract signed in 2021. This compensation reflects his status as anchor of the most-watched evening newscast in the United States, a position his program has held for ten consecutive years as of the 2025–2026 broadcast season, drawing an average of more than 8.9 million nightly viewers, per Adweek Nielsen ratings data.
No. David Muir is not married and has no children. He has kept his personal life largely private throughout his career, declining to discuss romantic relationships in public forums. He lives primarily in New York City and maintains a lakeside home in upstate New York near his hometown of Syracuse.