Summary

• Sex and the City has come under criticism at points for its portrayal of money, with the characters having quite an exuberant lifestyle in New York, even when their salaries shouldn't be able to afford it.
• Steve the bartender is the least affluent Sex and the City character, making around $30k per year.
• Mr. Big is, unsurprisingly, the most wealthy, and is a multimillionaire (though his exact net worth is never disclosed).

Sex and the City focuses on its four leads — Carrie, Miranda, Samantha, and Charlotte — as they try to juggle careers, men, and occasionally financial struggles in one of the world's most expensive cities, New York. From the gorgeous penthouses of Park Ave to the trendy lofts of the Meatpacking District, their status was often tied to where they could afford to live, and even having a rent-controlled apartment like Carrie's didn't come without certain financial complications. While the central four aren't overly wealthy, the Sex and the City characters' net worth is still more than most viewers watching at home.

In recent years, Sex and the City's portryal of money has come under scrutiny. The lifestyles of the Fab Four and their significant others sometimes seem divorced from reality, leaving fans to wonder about the true financial situations surrounding their favorite characters. It seems that Carrie, Samantha, Miranda, and Charlotte (and the men they fell in love with) often had more money than they knew what to do with, and the way the Sex and the City characters' net worth is flaunted seems a little out of touch with today's reality.

Sex and the City is available to stream on Max and Netflix.

10 Steve Brady

Bartenders Make $30,000 A Year Average Salary

As a regular working man who begins the series living in a small practical apartment, Steve Brady isn't exactly the wealthiest man around. Steve's often embarrassed about how Miranda always has to pay for things during their relationship, and at one point he remarks that a suit she wants to purchase for him might as well be his rent for the month. This isn't surprising given the average salary for a bartender in New York City is just shy of $30,000 a year (via Salary.com).

Later in the series, he goes into business with Carrie's ex, Aidan, and they purchase a bar together. However, it's not clear how much money Steve makes from the venture, considering most restaurants don't make any profits for the first couple of years due to high overhead costs. In And Just Like That, Steve opens his own place in Coney Island after his breakup with Miranda, so it is clear that his financial situation has improved a great deal from his time working as a bartender on Sex and the City.

9 Aidan Shaw

Furniture Makers In NYC Make $40,000 A Year On Average

Aidan Shaw is one of Carrie's love interests in Sex and the City, and she meets him when she sees an ad for his furniture in the paper. While a furniture maker in New York City makes on average about $40,000 a year (via Zip Recruiter), an in-demand one like Aidan Shaw with spaces in showrooms in Manhattan with high-profile clients can expect to make much more. Carrie meets him during an open house at his workshop, and he doesn't seem to lack customers.

Since Steve was working as a bartender when the show started, Aidan likely provided the majority of the financial backing for their establishment.

Fans know Aidan is reasonably successful because not only do people like Mr. Big's fiancé, Natasha, take an interest in his items, but he can afford to buy the ading unit to Carrie's apartment, have a modest country cabin, and later go into business with Steve to open a bar. Aidan also had the money to help finance a bar with Steve Brady, and since Steve was working as a bartender when the show started, Aidan likely provided the majority of the financial backing for their establishment.

8 Carrie Bradshaw

A Columnist At Vogue Makes On Average $50,000 A Year

It stretched credulity with viewers that Carrie could afford to keep her rent-controlled apartment on her columnist salary (especially with $40,000 worth of shoe debt). The only way she could maintain her lifestyle was to both increase her own earnings and marry well. Carrie lands a reasonably lucrative writing engagement at Vogue. A Fashion journalist can make roughly $50,000 (via Zip Recruiter), and she later becomes a novelist with an anthology of some of her most popular columns.

Even with a hefty advance, Carrie has to continue to write bestsellers — and marry Mr. Big — to continue her spending habits. Despite being the main character, she is one of the less affluent of her social circle until she marries Mr. Big. There is a big problem with the Sex and the City characters' net worth, because Carries always seems to have money to spend and is always paying for things, but there is no explanation for where this money comes from on a columnist's salary.

7 Charlotte York

Art Dealers In NYC Earn Around $50,000 To $70,000 A Year

Along with being a successful art dealer, which could land her a salary of about $50,000 - $70,000 a year (via ZipRecruiter), Charlotte came from a well-to-do family in Connecticut that could afford to send her to Smith College. After she married Trey MacDougal, she may have given up her position at the gallery, but she settled for a particularly opulent lifestyle that came with a Park Ave apartment. This was her dream, to marry into wealth, but it ended badly when she fell out of love with Trey.

When her marriage to Trey imploded, Charlotte walked away with several million dollars and was allowed to keep the apartment.

When her marriage to Trey imploded, Charlotte walked away with several million dollars and was allowed to keep the apartment. Charlotte didn't have to work any longer and enjoyed a second marriage to successful divorce attorney Harry. Not only that, but Harry has a nice amount of money himself, so Charlotte does not need to her new husband (like Miranda did with Steve) and the two live comfortably together as equals in the relationship, at least as far as the Sex and the City characters' net worth.

6 Harry Goldenblatt

NYC Attorneys Average Around $100,000 A Year

A highly qualified divorce lawyer, Harry helps secure Charlotte a great settlement from her ex-husband Trey due to his reputation for being a shark. After this, he and Charlotte fall in love, and eventually end up married. Like Miranda, he's a partner at his law firm, and while most divorce lawyers earn about $100,000 a year (via salary.com), clients like Charlotte ensure he probably earns twice that amount. After all, at one point he tells her, "I am the Hamptons, baby, I've got a house in Bridge."

Harry doesn't care as much about material accouterments as Charlotte does, but Harry does treat her with respect and helps her maintain the lifestyle to which she's accustomed. He obviously has plenty of money, but it is hard to tell how wealthy he really is because he doesn't flaunt it as many characters on Sex and the City do throughout the series.

5 Samantha Jones

A PR Firm Owner Likely Makes Around $150,000 A Year

Samantha Jones is incredibly wealthy, owning an apartment in the trendy Meatpacking District with high-end decorations, and a closet full of designer outfits to wear to restaurant openings and movie premieres. Her actual salary is difficult to pinpoint because she works for herself at a PR firm she owns. However, having clients like Lucy Liu and Richard Wright means she can comfortably make around $150,000 (via salary.com).

By the time And Just Like That premieres, Samantha has moved out of New York City and relocated to London, where she likely still has a very expensive lifestyle and a high salary.

When she takes over being the publicist for Smith Jerrod, she takes a percentage of what he makes doing model and movie work, which could push her into making well over $200,000 a year. By the time And Just Like That premieres, Samantha has moved out of New York City and relocated to London, where she likely still has a very expensive lifestyle and a high salary.

4 Miranda Hobbes

A Partner At A NYC Law Firm Likely Makes $450,000 To $500,000 A Year

As a partner at a successful law firm in New York City, Miranda can expect to take home the highest end of an attorney's salary, around $400,000 - $490,000 a year (via Payscale) which explains how she can afford a Manhattan apartment on the Upper East Side and employ her own housekeeper. She doesn't seem to spend as extravagantly as her friends, which means she keeps much of her income. While Samantha flaunts her Sex and the City character's net worth constantly, Miranda is much more modest.

Any bonuses or profit-sharing adds even more to Mirand's base salary. What money she doesn't spend on designer shoes, she spends on quality classic pieces for her wardrobe and much less costly takeout dinners. Miranda does well for herself, and since all her clothing is likely tax deductible in the end, she ranks as the wealthiest of the core friends on Sex and the City.

3 Trey MacDougal

A NYC Cardiologist Makes $500,000 A Year

As a successful cardiologist, Trey MacDougal likely makes upwards of $500,000 a year (via salary.com), especially given his reputation. He can afford to live in a beautiful Park Ave apartment, buy Charlotte a Tiffany engagement ring, and also not mind giving away some of his millions — and his apartment — to Charlotte when they eventually get divorced. Trey also comes from an incredibly wealthy family who vacations in the Hamptons and can trace their ancestry back to the highland clans of Scotland.

Trey no doubt has a trust in his name and inherits his family fortune upon his mother's death

Trey no doubt has a trust in his name and inherits his family fortune upon his mother's death, which is one of the reasons Bunny is so determined to make sure Charlotte gives him a male heir (or leaves the family entirely). With Bunny so interested in protecting her family's wealth and fortune, Bunny has a hand in every life decision Trey makes. This also likely means Trey has access to the money, but it does not belong to him yet, and he has to wait for his mother's death to inherit his main wealth.

2 Smith Jerrod

Jerrod Can Make Up To $1 Million A Year As A Model

While he begins the series working as a waiter with occasional parts in off-Broadway productions, Smith Jerrod is just a working actor trying to make it in the Big Apple. He makes very little money, and his income is likely even less than Steve Brady's. However, after Samantha Jones discovers him, she makes sure he becomes one of the biggest stars New York City has ever seen. Using her PR firm, she pushes him up the rankings of the city's top male models.

Thanks to Sam, he became the new "Absolut Hunk" model. The top male models can earn anywhere from $200,000 a year to over $1 million (via GQ). Smith also later became a rising Hollywood star. The Sex and the City movie shows him with a hectic work life in movie locations away from Sam. Given the sort of blockbuster star he's becoming, it's almost certain Smith is making well over a million dollars a year, making him wealthier than anyone on the show other than one specific character.

1 Mr. Big

Mr. Big Is A Multi-Millionaire CEO

Being able to afford a luxurious apartment for himself in Manhattan, and a penthouse later on when he marries Carrie, certainly indicates that Mr. Big is the wealthiest character when it comes to the Sex and the City characters' net worth. He can afford to move to Paris, to Napa to buy a vineyard on a whim, and to stay at the Four Seasons on a lark. When Carrie needed $30,000 to keep her apartment, he wrote a check to her.

No one on Sex and the City has close to his wealth.

Carrie said he once "took something like $3 million and leveraged it to build a $100 million building." Whenever they ran into each other on the street, he had car service. It's generally thought he owns a financial firm. At one point, he emails Carrie from "JJPNY.com" aka John James Preston New York. If he's the CEO, with a salary, commissions, bonuses, and stock options, Mr. Big can easily make several million dollars a year (via salary.com). No one on Sex and the City has close to his wealth.