(NewsNation) — GOP Ohio Sen. JD Vance was recently selected as former President Donald Trump‘s running mate in the 2024 election. But how rich is the senator?
Net worth is the value of the assets a person owns minus the liabilities they owe. Here’s a look at Vance’s wealth, from his memoir to his time as a senator.
What’s JD Vance’s net worth?
Vance has an estimated net worth of about $5 million (per Celebrity Net Worth) to $10 million, according to Forbes.
After graduating from The Ohio State University, Vance went to Yale Law School, graduating without student debt because of his Marine Corps service and high-paying jobs at elite law firms, Forbes reported.
After getting his law degree, Vance and his future wife Usha Chilukuri clerked in Cincinnati, Ohio, and moved to Washington, D.C. Forbes writes that Chilukuri was a clerk for then-appeals court judge Brett Kavanaugh and Vance started at a corporate law firm. Eventually, the couple moved to California, where Vance became a part of Mithril, a venture capital firm co-founded by Peter Thiel.
It was in 2016 that Vance wrote about coming from a poverty-stricken area of the Appalachian Mountains in his memoir “Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis.” Two years later, JD and Usha Vance bought a house in Cincinnati for $1.4 million — which Forbes now values at $1.8 million.
In 2021, Forbes said, Vance had between $3 million and $10 million of venture holdings and liquid assets. The next year, he successfully ran for Senate in Ohio.
How much did JD Vance make from ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ book, movie?
While many people praised “Hillbilly Elegy,” which focused on themes of self-reliance, others criticized it for painting a stereotypical and inauthentic view of Appalachia.
The book gained popularity despite criticisms, becoming a bestseller and getting Vance invites to give speeches and political talks to at least 18 universities, the Associated Press reported. These visits garnered Vance more than $70,000, according to records provided to the AP.
Regarding the book itself, Vance reported earning $347,752 in 2021 through royalties from publisher HarperCollins, not including what he received through a movie deal with Netflix. When he announced he was entering the political world, that went up to $475,380.
JD Vance as a senator
As a senator, per the Congressional Research Service, Vance made less than he did from his books: compensation for most U.S. lawmakers is $174,000.
Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, kisses his wife Usha Chilukuri Vance during the Republican National Convention Wednesday, July 17, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) 
Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, speaks during the Republican National Convention on Wednesday, July 17, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) 
Former US President Donald Trump, left, and Senator JD Vance, a Republican from Ohio and Republican vice-presidential nominee, during the Republican National Convention (RNC) at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US, on Tuesday, July 16, 2024. Former President Donald Trump tapped JD Vance as his running mate, elevating to the Republican presidential ticket a venture capitalist-turned-senator whose embrace of populist politics garnered national attention and made him a rising star in the party. Photographer: Hannah Beier/Bloomberg via Getty Images 
FILE—Ohio Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, JD Vance, takes the stage to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Dallas, Aug. 5, 2022. Vance founded a new charity called “Our Ohio Renewal” a day after the 2016 presidential election, promising to use it to help solve the scourge of opioid addiction, Vance’s Senate rival, Democratic U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, has targeted “Our Ohio Renewal” as a failure. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File) 
Senate candidate JD Vance, left, greets former President Donald Trump at a rally at the Delaware County Fairgrounds, Saturday, April 23, 2022, in Delaware, Ohio, to endorse Republican candidates ahead of the Ohio primary on May 3. (AP Photo/Joe Maiorana)
JD Vance’s investments
Vance’s experience as a venture capital investor led him to hold stakes in more than 120 private companies, Markets Insider reported, such as defense company Anduril Industries and sneaker exchange company StockX.
Most of Vance’s stakes in private companies are worth $1,000 to $15,000, Market Insider reported, citing the lawmaker’s most recent financial disclosure report, which uses data from 2022.
Top publicly traded investments Vance holds include streaming service Rumble, Walmart, gold and Bitcoin, which he has been supportive of.
