JK Rowling's Net Worth as of 2024
$1 Billion

Joanne Rowling was born on 31 July 1965, in Yate, England, and is undoubtedly best known world-wide as J. K. Rowling, the author of the popular series of “Harry Potter” fantasy books she has written that has reputedly become the best-selling book series in history. She has become a film producer too, associated with eight films of  the book series. She has also written successful adult books under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.

So just how rich is J. K. Rowling? According to sources, J. K. Rowling’s net worth is estimated to be an impressive $1 billion, the vast majority of her net worth due to the success of the aforementioned series of children’s books. However, earnings of over $9 billion from her “Harry Potter” franchise alone since the last book was released in 2007, plus her part of revenues from the films, suggest that her real net worth may be considerably higher.

J. K. Rowling Net Worth $1 Billion

J.K. Rowling was educated at Wyedean School and College, and then graduated with a BA in French and classics from the University of Exeter in 1986. She then worked as a researcher and a secretary for Amnesty International before venturing into writing. J.K. wrote stories when young, and utilised many real-life characters from her formative years, plus experiences during a particularly difficult part of her life prior to her success, including divorce from her husband after which she suffered through relative poverty living on state benefits, as well as the death of her mother.

J.K. Rowling didn’t finish the first book of the soon-to-be-famous series,  “Harry Potter and Philosopher’s Stone”, until 1995, however, it was rejected by twelve publishing houses before it was picked up by editor Barry Cunningham from Bloomsbury Publishing. In 1997, a thousand copies were published and several months later the book won its first award, the Nestle Smarties Book Prize; British Books Award and Children’s Book Award followed. Rowling continued to write the books in the series and several years later “The Chamber of Secrets” and “The Prisoner of Azkaban” were published to highly positive reviews. Rowling’s fourth book “The Goblet of Fire” broke all  sales record both in the United States and the United Kingdom with over 327,000 copies sold. Rowling has written a total of seven books in the “Harry Potter” series, which have become so popular that they have been translated worldwide into 65 languages. Over the years, “Harry Potter” turned out to be an extremely popular brand worth $15 billion in total as of early 2016, a large part of which constitutes J. K. Rowling’s net worth, and indicates a steadily high income for years to come.

The instant fame of the book series soon resulted in film adaptations. The first movie “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” was released in 2001 with Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson and Alan Rickman in leading roles. The movies proved to be yet another success, as “The Philosopher’s Stone” alone grossed $974 million worldwide, while the last film of the series “The Deathly Hallows Part 2” earned over $1 billion and became the highest grossing film of the “Harry Potter” series. Needless to say, J. K. Rowling added a substantial amount of money to her net worth from the release of the film adaptations.

Following the success of “Harry Potter”, J. K. Rowling has written several other books that have received positive critical appraisal. Her work “The Casual Vacancy” that deals with politics and social issues became the 15th best-selling book of 2012, and sold one million copies in English worldwide. Again, her net worth benefited appreciably, particularly so as the adaption of the book into a mini series, on which J.K. collaborated, aired on BBC TV in early 2015.

Rowling has also written several books under the alias of Robert Galbraith, including “The Cuckoo’s Calling” and “The Silkworm”, which have all added to J.K.’s net worth

In her personal life, J.K. Rowling married Jorge Arantes in 1992 in Portugal, but they separated in 1993 after the birth of their daughter, and divorced in 1994. The separation has not been amicable, with J.K. taking out a restraining order at one point. J.K. married Neil Murray in 2001; the couple have a son and daughter and currently reside in Edinburgh.

In 2000, Rowling established the Volant Charitable Trust, which uses its annual budget from income of over £5.1 million ($8 million) to combat poverty and social inequality. The fund also gives to organisations that aid children, one parent families, and multiple sclerosis research, from which disease her mother suffered. J.K. is also a generous philanthropist in other areas.

J.K. has a well-known aversity to unauthorised publicity, particularly of photographs by the tabloid press in the UK, which has resulted in several legal cases, all decided in her favour.