Many fans are curious about Ruth Bader Ginsburg's financial success in April 2026. Our team analyzed the latest data to provide a clear picture of their income.

What Was Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Net Worth and Salary?

Ginsburg returned to academia in 1961 to become a research associate for the Columbia Law School Project on International Procedure; she was then promoted to associate director. During her time working on the project, she did research in Sweden and co-authored a book with Anders Bruzelius. Ruth's time in Sweden – a country with much greater gender equality than the US at the time – significantly impacted her views going forward. In 1963, Ginsburg had her first professorial appointment at Rutgers Law School. One of the few female law professors in the country, she held her position through 1972. During her time at Rutgers, Ruth co-founded the law journal the Women's Rights Law Reporter. She had her next professorship at her alma mater, Columbia Law School, where she taught through 1980.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg was born Joan Ruth Bader on March 15, 1933, in Brooklyn, New York City. She was the second daughter of Jewish parents, Celia and Nathan. When Ruth was still a baby, her six-year-old sister Marilyn died from meningitis. Ginsburg was a strong student growing up, graduating from James Madison High School at just 15 years of age. Just a day before her graduation, her mother passed away from cancer. Ruth went on to attend Cornell University, from which she graduated with a BA in government in 1954. A few years later, she enrolled at Harvard Law School, where she was one of the few women in a class of around 500. Clashing with her sexist dean, Ginsburg ended up transferring to Columbia Law School, graduating in 1959.

Ginsburg struggled with the sexism of the legal industry during her early years when she was looking for work. In 1960, she was rejected for a clerkship by Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter on account of her gender. Eventually, a threatening recommendation from her Columbia professor Gerald Gunther resulted in Ruth's hiring as a law clerk for Judge Edmund L. Palmieri of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg's annual salary for serving as a justice of the Supreme Court was $255,300.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg was an American lawyer and judge who had a net worth of $8 million at the time of her death in 2020, according to her last asset disclosure. Her asset disclosure listed a range of net worth from as low as $4 million to as high as $18 million. Ruth Bader Ginsburg was the wealthiest judge on the Supreme Court for much of her life. Ruth's 2002 wealth disclosure listed a range of net worth from $8 million to as high as $34 million. Her wealth estimates did not include the value of her home in Washington.

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Ruth served as a Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1993 until her death on September 18, 2020. Before this, she served on the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The second woman ever appointed to the Supreme Court, Ginsburg was renowned for her work advocating for women's rights and gender parity.

In summary, the total wealth of Ruth Bader Ginsburg reflects strategic moves.

Disclaimer: All net worth figures are estimates based on public data.