What Does a Cattle Rancher Like ‘Yellowstone’s John Dutton Really Make?

Cattle Ranchers Don’t Make That Much in Real Life – Especially in Yellowstone

Prior to the final stretch of Yellowstone episodes, Variety sat down with real-life rancher Jessie Jarvis to get her opinion on the series. Jarvis was fairly open about what was real and what was exaggerated, especially the opulence of the Dutton ranch. She said that real life ranches don’t have the kind of equipment that’s front and center on Yellowstone:

The Duttons are very wealthy, and that does not track with the majority of farms and ranches in America right now. We don’t own a helicopter. A lot of the pickups and trailers that are featured, they are top of the line, like Dodge Trucks and Bloomer Trailers. They are used in our industry, but they’re actually more on the Western sports side of things, not necessarily what you would find if you were to walk into a family farming and ranching operation.

A look at the average earnings of a cattle rancher back up Jarvis’ words, since the pay will vary based on the state. ZipRecruiter lists the annual salary for Montana cattle ranchers as $79,116, which breaks down to $38.04 per hour. That’s much more than most jobs, but not enough to afford a helicopter or a Dodge truck. In contrast, the place where cattle ranchers do pull down the most money is in New Brunswick, where they can pull down a whopping $136, 976 a year. There are also challenges that ranchers can face, like “cattle bloat” – depicted in great detail during the Yellowstone episode “Only Devils Left” – and recent concerns about the meat industry affecting the environment, which has forced ranchers to reconsider how they approach their duties.