No Woman Makes Forbes' 2026 Top 50 Highest-Paid Athletes as Cutoff Reaches $54.6 Million
Updated
Updated · Forbes · May 22
No Woman Makes Forbes' 2026 Top 50 Highest-Paid Athletes as Cutoff Reaches $54.6 Million
2 articles · Updated · Forbes · May 22
$54.6 million was the income needed to crack Forbes’ 2026 top 50 highest-paid athletes, leaving women off the list for a third straight year.
Coco Gauff led female athletes with $33 million in 2025 earnings, far below the cutoff; Serena Williams was the last woman to make the overall top 50, on the 2023 list.
The gap is widest in team sports: LeBron James earned $137.8 million versus Caitlin Clark’s $12.1 million, while NBA media rights near $7 billion annually compared with the WNBA’s $281 million average.
Women’s leagues are still growing quickly—WNBA maximum salaries jumped to $1.4 million this season, and Deloitte expects women’s elite sports revenue to hit $3 billion in 2026.
Off-court income is narrowing faster, with Clark, Sabrina Ionescu, Paige Bueckers and Angel Reese each making at least $9 million from endorsements, suggesting future bids for the top 50.
Why are women's team valuations exploding, while player salaries still lag so far behind their male counterparts?
If female athletes deliver higher ROI for sponsors, what prevents this from closing the overall earnings gap?
Breaking the Earnings Barrier: The Record Cutoff and Persistent Gender Gap on Forbes’ 2026 Highest-Paid Athletes List
Overview
The 2026 Forbes list of the world's highest-paid athletes highlights a record-high earnings cutoff, reflecting the rapidly escalating financial landscape in professional sports. Top male athletes continue to generate substantial income, with the top ten earning $902 million from on-field activities alone. Despite this growth, women remain absent from the top 50 for the third consecutive year, underscoring a persistent gender gap. Forbes' methodology, which separates on-field and off-field earnings, further reveals how endorsements and business ventures boost overall income, making it even harder for female athletes to break into these elite rankings.