How Much The Stars Of Southern Charm Are Really Worth

Bravo has a knack for putting rich people in a room and seeing what happens (Hint: It's always dramatic). Southern Charm is no exception and follows in the footsteps of beloved Bravo hits such as The Real Housewives, Shahs of Sunset, and Million Dollar Listing. It's a binge-worthy formula the network has mastered.

Since its debut in 2014, Southern Charm fans have grown accustomed to watching the lavish lifestyle of Charleston's status-obsessed socialites. Whether they're dating their friend's exes or slowly putting off adulthood with flighty, short-lived business ventures, the real question is: just how rich is the cast? Are these characters as wealthy as they would have us believe?

Though it seems like many of the cast members come from family money, not everyone on Southern Charm is raking in millions. According to assorted reports and some spilled sweet tea, this is how much the stars of Southern Charm are really worth. (Try not kick yourself over your student loan debt after reading.)

Austen Kroll joined Southern Charm during Season 4, and since he's a relatively new cast member, his net worth is tough to pin down. He hasn't had the same amount of time raking in that rumored Bravo paycheck, but his LinkedIn account sheds some light on how much money he may be making.

On paper, Kroll appears to be one of the less affluent members of the cast. According to Bravo, he became immersed in the world of craft beer after moving to Charleston. He previously served as a cellar man for Palmetto Brewing Company, Charleston's oldest brewery since the Prohibition era. According to Salary Expert, working in a brewery cellar typical pulls in around $24,000 a year. Kroll left that position in 2016 and became the territory sales manager of Red Hare Brewing Co., a Georgia-based craft brewery. According to PayScale, this position typically nets nearly $60,000 a year. While Kroll's job doesn't make him rich like some of his castmates, he's currently working on his own beer company, so the sky's the limit.

Apparently, Kroll's cheddar has no effect on his swagger. He's dated two of co-star Shep Rose's ex-flings — and Shep supposedly rakes in millions.

Ashley Jacobs got her start on Southern Charm when she moved to Charleston to be with then-boyfriend Thomas Ravenel. According to Glamour, the high-profile pair quickly became one of reality TV's most hated couples, in no small part because of Ravenel's sexual assault allegations. Jacobs, who appeared without her beau during a reunion special, told host Andy Cohen the allegations were "all hearsay." She's since split with Ravenel, but thanks to her income as a nurse and her Southern Charm paychecks, she probably won't be hurting without his fortune.

Though Jacobs' net worth is unclear, Romper reports that she worked as a nurse in Santa Barbara, Calif. and appears to have continued her career in Charleston (judging by her Instagram posts). According to GlassDoor, registered nurses in Santa Barbara make an average of about $105,000 per year, but nurses in Charleston get paid 12 percent below the national average. That's okay, because Radar Online claims Southern Charm cast members receive $25,000 per episode, plus a bonus for reunions. Jacobs has also freelanced as a model, which doesn't seem like a bad side gig. In other words, if she's smart with her money, she should be just fine.

Craig Conover's career has been a focal point of more than a few Southern Charm episodes. The Jack of all trades admitted to lying about graduating from law school and was called out by co-star Shep Rose in an incident Bravo dubbed "lawyergate." He's since tried his hand as a carpenter, gardener, and real estate investor while exploring his passion for sewing through a lifestyle brand called Flawed Creation.

In an interview with Decider, Conover talked about his plans for the brand, which will reportedly sell throw pillows, custom onesies and "anything else you would want to embroider." One thing is certain: He didn't amass his reported $400,000 net worth by spending his afternoons crafting. He's got his own company called Apex Principles and worked as a litigation assistant and in the pharmaceutical division of Anastopoulo Law Firm, according to his LinkedIn page. In a move that shocked longtime fans of the series, Conover eventually did finish his degree and pass the bar exam — well done! Will he be the next Martha Stewart? Only time will tell.

Naomie Olindo finally pulled the plug on her relationship with Craig Conover after questioning his sewing-related business endeavors (c'mon, you're mad over a throw pillow?) Perhaps this Southern Charm star was a little annoyed about Conover's ever-shifting career interests. From the looks of it, she's a focused career woman who's reportedly amassed an estimated $500,000 net worth as of 2016.

In an interview with Decider, Olinda says she graduated from a finance-focused MBA program in July 2017 and launched her own business, which appears to be a clothing line called L'abeye. According to Romper, the star used to work in real estate and also helped with the opening of her family's Charleston-based restaurant called Nico. Her family also reportedly owns several restaurants in France, by the way. With all these endeavors, this woman's bottom line is probably très healthy. 

From the looks of it, Kathryn Dennis doesn't really have a lot of professional endeavors going on outside of being a mother to Thomas Ravenel's children. Then again, do you really need a second career if you can collect a decent paycheck hawking diet shakes on Instagram to your more than 700,000 followers? According to The Wall Street Journal, stars with around 1 million followers can command $15,000 per branded post, so Dennis may be well on her way to her first million in more ways than one.

Dennis' estimated $800,000 net worth appears to be a mix of her reported $25,000 per episode pay on Southern Charm, social media partnerships, and family money — she comes from a line of politicians. According to Bravo, Dennis is related to John C. Calhoun, the seventh vice president of the United States, who served alongside Andrew Jackson and John Quincy Adams. Her grandfather is Rembert Dennis, who served as a legislator in the South Carolina senate from 1943 to 1998. She's basically Southern royalty.

Chelsea Meissner has appeared on Southern Charm since 2016, but she became a main cast member in Season 5, according to E! As part of the core group, she's responsible for her fair share of drama, but what we really want to know is how a South Carolina hairdresser and surfer babe managed to rack up an estimated net worth of $1.2 million.

According to Bravo, Meissner started her career in medical sales before taking a year off to travel and eventually become a hairdresser. Salary.com reports that the average hairstylist in Charleston makes less than $25,000 a year — the same amount as Bravo's reported per episode payout on Southern Charm. Reality TV has been good to Meissner, who made it to the final elimination round during Season 24 of Survivor. On top of her reality TV earnings, Meissner stands to make a pretty penny on brand partnerships. She's already working with Pepsi, and considering fellow Bravo reality star Lisa Rinna has apparently raking in thousands on social media product placement, everything adds up!

Cameran Eubanks follows the trend of the Bravo real estate moguls that came before her, and if you know anything about the network, you know there are plenty. The girl may not be on Million Dollar Listing – SmartAsset claims Charleston is one of the worst cities to be a real estate agent — but her impressive estimated net worth of $1.5 million speaks for itself.

Eubanks has had a rich career in reality TV. She hosted Girls Gone Wild and appeared on MTV's The Real World: San Diego. Southern Charm is nothing new for the TV veteran, but her net worth probably spiked when she married a doctor in 2014. According to Good Housekeeping, husband Jason Wimberly is an anesthesiologist who never appears on the show. Salary.com reports that anesthesiologists typically make more than $350,000 a year, so this duo should be doing just fine. 

Whitney Sudler-Smith's reported $2 million net worth shouldn't be surprising. His mother is the rich socialite Patricia Altschul, who's known to sip on $2,000 bottles of wine. He's also the filmmaker responsible for all the dramatic goodness of Southern Charm. Though Sudler-Smith, who created the titular series, left as a cast member in 2016, he still serves as an executive producer, according to IMDb. He added Southern Charm Savannah and Southern Charm New Orleans to his numerous successes in 2017 and 2018, respectively.

The Bravo franchise is certainly Sudler-Smith's biggest achievement, but he already knew his way around the camera at its inception — sort of. The filmmaker produced the 2010 documentary Ultrasuede: In Search of Halston, which IndieWire called "generally an embarrassing effort." In fact, it said describing Sudler-Smith as a filmmaker or director "insults far too many people." Perhaps his critics have reevaluated their opinions after witnessing Ashley Jacobs' insane Hilton Head blow up in Season 5. How could you not appreciate that television glory?

Landon Clements didn't earn her estimated $3 million net worth by following a traditional career path. According to Bravo, the Georgia native spent luxurious semesters abroad sipping wine in Italy. She eventually landed in Telluride, Colo., where she became an interior designer working with Ralph Lauren Home. She then moved to Los Angeles, working for SBE and Philippe Starck to develop hotels and restaurants around the world. So, how did Clements stumble upon Southern Charm?

She was reportedly pursuing a photography and writing career in the high society city of Aspen, Colo. when she reconnected with some old friends in Charleston and decided to stick around and live in a friend's sail boat. Honestly, that storyline sounds like reality TV gold. During the series, she worked on her Trovare travel site, but found herself drifting away from the show. 

In 2017, she left Southern Charm to pursue a real estate career in California. "It wasn't really about filming or not filming, it was just what I wanted out of my life," she told People. "I love real estate and the hospitality ... we have so much fun making the show, but you know, I was just ready to do some other stuff now."

Shepard "Shep" Rose is one of the most infamous Southern Charm cast members, and he's also one of the richest, with an estimated net worth of about $4 million. In 2017, Romper reported that Shep's net worth was a paltry $200,000, so he must have made some money moves and capitalized on his reality TV run. 

On the series, Shep appears to suffer from "Peter Pan syndrome" (at least that's how Life & Style affectionately refers to his lack of responsibility and penchant for partying), but he's certainly grown up enough to launch a career in resort development and move to Dubai to sell commercial real estate. When he returned to Charleston, the notorious playboy opened a bar and restaurant called The Palace Hotel. 

Unfortunately, his hotel biz hit a snag when a fire broke out in the building in 2016, but the establishment appears to have recovered. In fact, he's reportedly had great success selling Palace merch. According to Bravo's The Daily Dish, the star sold out of his limited edition hats. "The last thing I want to do is to monetize fans, that's just not cool, but the hats are really cool. I love the hats. If I didn't own it, I would buy it," he said.

Before landing on reality TV and becoming one of Southern Charm's most controversial figures, Thomas Ravenel was the state treasurer of South Carolina. With an estimated salary of around $92,000 per year, there's no doubt his service helped contribute to his estimated $6 million net worth. Add the earnings from Ravenel Development Corporation, and we're starting to get a fuller picture of his fortune.

What's more interesting than Ravenel's wealth is how his controversial nature tarnished his successful career as a politician (and as a reality star). According to People, Ravenel lost his 2004 bid for U.S. Senate and was fined $19,500 from the Federal Election Commission for improperly filing reports. He won his bid for state treasurer but resigned after being indicted on federal cocaine distribution charges in 2007. He unsuccessfully ran for U.S. Senate again in 2014.

Ravenel has since quit Southern Charm amidst sexual assault allegations and a police investigation. According to People, the alleged incident involved "Nanny Dawn," the ex-caretaker of his young children. Real estate agent Ashley Perkins also accused Ravenel of assaulting her mother after a Tinder date in 2015. He has denied all of the allegations.

Patricia Altschul is the matriarch of Southern Charm. Whether she's recognizing the elegance in a well-worn caftan, calling foul on a castmate's relationship, or cutting someone off after "uncalled for" behavior, Altschul is not afraid to express her polarizing opinions with class. As mom to show creator Whitney Sudler-Smith, you can always count on the 70-something socialite to spill the tea.

With an estimated net worth of $20 million, Altschul is one of the wealthiest members of the Southern Charm gang — and her life seems like it's been ripped from the pages of Gossip Girl. According to Bravo, the star remarried prominent psychologist Edward Fleming years after divorcing Sudler-Smith's father. Fleming and Altschul sailed around the world for a year and a half, but after he proposed a move to Ireland, she supposedly hopped off the boat and went home to Virginia, where she took care of her sick mother. Eventually, she reconnected with her old friend Arthur Altschul, a Goldman Sachs Group partner and Wall Street mogul. They were married until his death in 2002.