Kris Aquino
$8 million
Penn Badgley has an estimated net worth of $8 million, built over a 25-year acting career spanning soap operas, network television, and major Netflix productions. Born on November 1, 1986, in Baltimore, Maryland, Badgley rose to prominence as Dan Humphrey on the long-running CW drama Gossip Girl (2007–2012) before cementing his status as a leading man through his portrayal of serial killer Joe Goldberg in Netflix’s psychological thriller You (2018–2025). Outside acting, Badgley fronts the indie band MOTHXR and co-hosts the podcast Podcrushed.
Updated March 2026: According to Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter, Penn Badgley wrapped production on You‘s fifth and final season in 2025, concluding a seven-year run as the show’s lead. Industry reports peg his net worth at approximately $8–10 million, reflecting cumulative earnings from two major TV franchises plus film and business ventures.
Penn Dayton Badgley was born on November 1, 1986, in Baltimore, Maryland, to Duff Badgley — a newspaper reporter turned carpenter who ran as the Green Party candidate for governor of Washington State in 2008 — and Lynne Murphy Badgley. An only child, Badgley grew up splitting time between Richmond, Virginia and Seattle, Washington, where he attended Woolridge Elementary School (his mother served as PTA president), St. Christopher’s School, and Charles Wright Academy in Tacoma. He was involved in the Seattle Children’s Theatre and the Pine Nut Players community theater from an early age.
After his parents divorced when he was 12, Badgley moved to Los Angeles with his mother to pursue acting. At age 14, he passed the California High School Proficiency Exam, bypassing a traditional high school diploma, and enrolled at Santa Monica College. He was later accepted to the University of Southern California but deferred admission due to acting commitments; he ultimately completed two years at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon. His first professional work came via voiceovers for the video games Mario Golf 64 and Mario Tennis 64 in 1999–2000, and he made his television debut on Will & Grace.
Badgley landed his first notable recurring role in 2000 as Phillip Chancellor IV on CBS’s daytime soap opera The Young and the Restless, a performance that earned him a Young Artist Award nomination in 2001. He followed this with regular parts on the short-lived WB series Do Over (2002) and The Mountain (2004–2005), building a resume of TV work before his breakout.
In 2007, Badgley was cast as Dan Humphrey — the self-styled “Lonely Boy” narrator — on the CW teen drama Gossip Girl, which ran for six seasons through 2012. The show attracted a devoted global audience, and Badgley earned six Teen Choice Award nominations during its run. During this period he also appeared in films including John Tucker Must Die (2006), The Stepfather (2009), Easy A (2010) alongside Emma Stone, and the financial drama Margin Call (2011), in which the ensemble cast won the Robert Altman Award at the Spirit Awards. His portrayal of Jeff Buckley in the biographical film Greetings from Tim Buckley (2012) was particularly praised by critics.
In 2018, Badgley debuted as Joe Goldberg in You, originally airing on Lifetime before Netflix picked up the series and relaunched it globally. The show quickly became one of Netflix’s most-watched dramas, spawning five seasons through April 2025. Badgley also served as producer and directed an episode, “She’s Not There,” in the later seasons. The series finale, all ten episodes of Season 5, was released on April 25, 2025, according to Netflix. His performance earned him a Saturn Award nomination.
Beyond his screen work, Badgley co-founded the indie-pop band MOTHXR (originally M O T H E R), releasing the debut album Centerfold in 2016 through Kitsuné/Washington Square Music. In May 2022, he launched the podcast Podcrushed with co-hosts Nava Kavelin and Sophie Ansari, in which guests including Drew Barrymore and Ariana Grande share stories about their middle school experiences. In 2025, the podcast released an accompanying book, CRUSHMORE.
Badgley’s wealth derives from a combination of television salaries, film work, music, and endorsements accumulated over more than two decades in the entertainment industry. According to reporting by Koimoi and Finance Monthly:
Penn Badgley married British-American singer and doula Domino Kirke-Badgley on February 27, 2017, in a civil courthouse ceremony in New York City, followed by a larger outdoor wedding celebration. The couple met in Brooklyn around 2014. Domino is the daughter of Bad Company drummer Simon Kirke and designer Lorraine Kirke, and is the older sister of actress Jemima Kirke (known for Girls) and actress-musician Lola Kirke. She released her debut solo EP Beyond Waves in 2017 and her sophomore album The Most Familiar Star in 2025, while also running the Brooklyn doula collective Carriage House Birth, as profiled by SPIN.
Together, Badgley and Domino have three biological children: a son named James, born August 2020, and identical twin boys born in September 2025, as Badgley confirmed via Instagram. Badgley is also a stepfather to Domino’s son Cassius Riley from a previous relationship, making him a father of four. In late 2025, Badgley discussed on the Not Skinny But Not Fat podcast that the couple had experienced two consecutive miscarriages before James’s birth, and that the ordeal nearly led to a separation, according to People. The couple is based in Brooklyn, New York.
Badgley grew up alongside Blake Lively — his future Gossip Girl co-star — with both reportedly home-schooled together at one stage, per Wikipedia. His former Gossip Girl cast members Chace Crawford and Leighton Meester have also maintained notable post-Gossip Girl careers. Badgley is known for publicly challenging the romanticization of his You character Joe Goldberg on social media, regularly reminding fans of the character’s violent nature throughout the show’s run.
Penn Badgley’s net worth is estimated at approximately $8 million as of 2026. This figure reflects over two decades of earnings from television, film, music, and real estate, headlined by his six seasons on Gossip Girl and five seasons as the lead of Netflix’s You. His salary trajectory on You alone grew from roughly $55,000 per episode in Season 1 to approximately $145,000–$200,000 per episode by the final season, per reporting by Koimoi.
Penn Badgley’s wife is Domino Kirke-Badgley, a British-American singer-songwriter, doula, and entrepreneur. The two married on February 27, 2017, in a New York City courthouse ceremony. Domino is the daughter of Bad Company drummer Simon Kirke and is the founder of the Brooklyn doula collective Carriage House Birth; she released her sophomore album The Most Familiar Star in 2025. According to ELLE, the couple met at a Brooklyn meatball shop around 2014 and have been together for over a decade.
Penn Badgley is 39 years old as of March 2026, born on November 1, 1986, in Baltimore, Maryland. He grew up primarily between Richmond, Virginia, and Seattle, Washington. At age 14 he passed a California high school proficiency exam and enrolled at Santa Monica College, effectively skipping a conventional high school experience, per his Wikipedia biography.
Penn Badgley stands 5 feet 8.5 inches tall (approximately 174 cm), according to IMDb. This height has been consistently cited throughout his career alongside his roles in Gossip Girl and You.
Penn Badgley’s salary on Netflix’s You increased significantly across the show’s five seasons. He earned approximately $55,000 per episode in Season 1, rising to $125,000–$145,000 per episode for Seasons 3 and 4, representing a 262% increase over his starting rate, as reported by Koimoi. By the final fifth season (2025), industry estimates placed his per-episode fee at up to $200,000. His total earnings from the series across all five seasons are estimated at more than $7 million.
Penn Badgley has four children in total. With wife Domino Kirke, he has three biological children: son James (born August 2020) and identical twin boys born September 2025. He is also a stepfather to Domino’s older son Cassius Riley from a prior relationship. According to People, Domino announced the twin pregnancy in February 2025, describing the spontaneous twins as “beyond magical.” Badgley’s own parents, Duff and Lynne Badgley, divorced when he was 12; his father later became a Green Party political candidate in Washington State.
Penn Badgley and his family are based in Brooklyn, New York. He previously owned a 10.5-acre country property near the Ashokan Reservoir in West Shokan, New York (in the Catskills region, roughly two hours north of New York City), which he purchased for approximately $1.6 million and listed for sale at $1.7 million in 2023, per Architectural Digest. The 3,400-square-foot, four-bedroom home included handcrafted wooden beams, wide-plank floors, a fieldstone fireplace, solar panels, a library, and a fitness room.