The Friends Characters’ Salaries Throughout The Series, Explained

Despite being off the air for almost two decades, the hit sitcom Friends continues to pique the interest of fans online, with the show’s continuity errors and many other behind-the-scenes tidbits doing the rounds on social media well beyond its late ’90s peak. Now, the Friends characters’ salaries throughout the show’s 10-season run have been revealed, and fans might be surprised to learn who was taking home the most dough.

Joey Tribbianni

As per the Independent, figures collected by a recruitment company for the phone network Giff Gaff estimate that on-and-off soap opera star Joey Tribbiani (played by Matt LeBlanc) earned the most inside the Friends universe after he landed a role in a feature film that saw his annual earnings rocket to $130,000. In between acting gigs, however, Joey seemed to lack any part-time jobs to make ends meet.

Chandler Bing

Meanwhile, Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry) is thought to have seen his take-home pay as an IT procurement manager rise from $50,000 to $100,000 per year. However, when Chandler swapped careers to become an advertising copywriter in Season 9, the character’s earnings are estimated to have dipped significantly.

Monica Geller

Working as a head chef at Javu, Monica Geller earned an estimated salary of $80,000. However, it’s rare that fans ever saw Monica at the restaurant (or any previous waitressing gigs she had), where long hours would be part of the job.

Ross Geller

Her brother Ross is thought to have taken home $75,000 per year as a paleontologist. He then goes on sabbatical for a couple of seasons and returns to work making a slightly lower salary.

Rachel Green

As for Rachel Green, her role at Ralph Lauren earned her a maximum of $55,000 after originally working as a Buyer and Personal Shopper at Bloomingdale’s.

Phoebe Buffay

Phoebe Buffay (Lisa Kudrow), who tried her hand at a number of different careers, including as a masseuse and busker, is estimated to be the lowest earner of the six New York City pals.

As mentioned, the Friends character salaries are merely estimations, and when taking into account the real-world cost of living, especially in one of the most expensive cities in the world, the economics of Friends should probably be taken with a grain of salt.

Monica’s iconic Greenwich Village apartment, for example, would have cost an estimated $4 million as of 2018, according to Which? Mortgage Advisers, while the deposit alone would set you back $400,000.