Summary

• The salaries of the Modern Family cast members increased significantly after 11 seasons, reflecting their contribution to the show's success.
• The final season of the show made it clear that ABC recognized the cast's role in the show's success, as their salaries were indicative of their value.
• Several cast members, including Rico Rodriguez, Ed O'Neill, and Ty Burrell, received substantial pay raises throughout the show's run, with O'Neill earning the highest starting salary.

Modern Family featured one of the best ensemble casts of any recent sitcom, and given how much they contributed to its success, it's unsurprising the salaries of the Modern Family cast members increased significantly after 11 seasons. After well over 200 episodes, the show was a standout for ABC, launching the careers of many of its stars. Cast members Sarah Hyland, Ariel Winter, Nolan Gould, Rico Rodriguez, and Aubrey Anderson-Emmons were all kids when the show first took off in 2009 and were young adults by the time it concluded.

Time flew by while following the Pritchett-Delgados, Dunphys, and Pritchett-Tuckers with the Modern Family cast making these characters more lovable as audiences spent more time with them. Following the show's success with critics, audience members, and more than 20 Emmy wins, the cast received some substantial pay raises. Taking a look at the Modern Family salaries by the final season of the show it's clear that ABC were under no illusions over how much its success was owed to the cast.

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Rico Rodriguez

$125,000 An Episode For Playing Manny

Rico Rodriguez played Manny Delgado-Pritchett on Modern Family. Like most of the Modern Family cast members, his role began in the very first Modern Family episode. He's the son of Gloria and stepson of Jay, though Jay treats him as his own flesh and blood. Manny is an adorable yet sophisticated young man who never really knew how to be a kid.

He can often be seen drinking espresso, reading poetry, and falling in love with any pretty girl that looks his way. According to Celebrity Networth, Rico used to get $75,000 an episode but due to the show's success, he started receiving $125,000 as of 2018 before the final season (via Celebrity Net Worth).

Ed O’Neill

$500,000 An Episode For Playing Jay

Ed O'Neil was the biggest star on the show when Modern Family aired, which is why he had the largest starting salary in the Modern Family cast at $105,000 an episode (via Cheat Sheet). Over time, however, he joined his fellow castmates for contract negotiations that actually involved the adult cast members as part of a lawsuit against 20th Century Fox.

Following the results, he began earning the same amount per episode at $500,000. It's been said that O'Neil had a larger stake in profit sharing and residual payouts when the series first began airing as well, but those numbers haven't been public.

Ed played Jay Pritchett — the patriarch of the family. He's the father of Claire and Mitchell (and stepfather to Manny) and a husband to Gloria. Jay is a very wealthy businessman who made his fortune in the closet industry. He's a pretty simple guy but has a bad temper when things upset him or don't go his way.

Nolan Gould

$100,000+ An Episode For Playing Luke

Nolan Gould played everyone's favorite "dumb brother," Luke Dunphy. Among the original cast, Luke was also the youngest Modern Family character. Luke is the son of Claire and Phil and considers his dad his best friend. They do everything together but when the whole family is around, Luke is usually with Manny (who's actually his uncle) talking about girls.

In real life, Nolan is nothing like Luke and is actually very intelligent. TV Over Mind revealed he made around $125,000 an episode during the final two seasons, which is astounding for a 21-year-old. Gould, Rodriguez, Ariel Winter, and Sarah Hyland, however, all renegotiated their contracts at the same time — right ahead of production on season 10, allowing all four young actors to get significant salary bumps for the final two seasons of Modern Family.

Julie Bowen

$500,000 An Episode For Playing Claire

Actress Julie Bowen played Claire Dunphy, the matriarch of Modern Family's Dunphy family. She's the wife of Phil and the mother of three rowdy kids. She was a homemaker for over 20 years before jumping back into the workforce, which allowed her to truly find her identity. Claire is uptight and can be very much a helicopter parent when it comes to her kids' life decisions, but she's always there to pick them up at the end of the day.

According to TheRichest, Bowen made $500,000 an episode in the final season after making $190,000 an episode back in 2014. That put her on par with most of her adult costars, who all negotiated their contracts together.

Ty Burrell

$500,000 An Episode For Playing Phil

Ty Burrell played the funny dad who was very much like a big kid himself, Phil Dunphy. Phil's a successful realtor in Southern California who loves what he does. However, while he's career driven, what he loves even more than his work is being a dad to his three kids. He and his son Luke are best friends and can be found creating experiments and inventions in their downtime.

Burrell really brought life to the character over Modern Family's 11 seasons, and Phil was often thought of as the funniest Modern Family character. According to Variety, Ty was earning around $350,000 an episode at the midpoint of the show, but by the time the final season rolled around, he signed a contract for a major payday alongside costars like Bowen, earning $500,000 an episode.

Ariel Winter

$100,000-125,000 An Episode For Playing Alex

Actress Ariel Winter played the smartest kid on the show, Alex. Unlike her siblings Haley and Luke, Alex had drive from an early age and always knew she wanted to be a scientist. She's also one of the few kids on the show who had a variety of colleges to pick from. And while she was bullied frequently by her older sister, Alex finally found her footing and became more confident.

As for how much Winter made an episode, websites dispute between $100,000 and $125,000 an episode. Considering there are over 20 episodes in a season, that's a great deal, even with that wide of a margin. It's rumored that she, Gould, Rodriguez, and Hyland all made the same Modern Family salaries in the final two seasons of the show, since their contracts were all renegotiated at the same time.

Jesse Tyler Ferguson

$500,000 An Episode For Playing Mitch

Jesse Tyler Ferguson played Mitchell Pritchett. He's the husband of Cam, father to Lily, and everyone's favorite uptight uncle. Mitchell and Claire are very different siblings, but very similar at the same time. He's more sensitive and in touch with his emotions than Claire but all around, pretty anxious, just like his sister.

The Hollywood Reporter stated that Jesse Tyler Ferguson earned $65,000 an episode when Modern Family started but, by the final season, brought in a whopping $500,000 an episode. That makes sense considering the negotiations for pay parity among the adult cast members of the series, giving him the same Modern Family salary as Bowen and Burrell.

Sarah Hyland

$100,000-125,000 An Episode For Playing Haley

Sarah Hyland played the ditzy older sister who had a thing for bad boys, Haley Dunphy. As the eldest of the Dunphy crew, some would think Haley would be protective over her two younger siblings, but that isn't always the case. Haley could be quite selfish, uneducated, and downright mean sometimes. However, as she matured, she also became nicer and more family-oriented. In fact, Haley has one of the best Modern Family character arcs because of those changes.

On the show, Hyland once made around $70,000 an episode (via Deadline) but by the end of the series, was in the same neighborhood as her TV siblings, earning over $100,000 an episode. With Hyland, Winter, Gould, and Rodriguez negotiating their contracts ahead of season 10, all of their Modern Family salaries were in the same range for the final two seasons.

Eric Stonestreet

$500,000 An Episode For Playing Cam

Eric Stonestreet delivered a scene-stealing performance on Modern Family as Cameron Tucker-Pritchett. With his penchant for clowning, his knowledge of farm animals, and his embracing of the Pritchett family, he won people over from the very first episode. He's a casring dad to Lily and adores his husband Mitchell. Together, this family of three goes through a ton of drama, but it's all for the show's success.

As it is with the rest of the adults on Modern Family, Stonestreet made $500,000 an episode for the final season after starting on $100,000 an episode (via EW). Over time, his Modern Family salary grew (along with the rest of the cast) as the show performed better and better.

Sofia Vergara

$500,000 An Episode

Gloria is the stereotypical "hot-headed" Columbian who is very protective of her two sons, Manny and Joe. Gloria and Jay's relationship began when they met in a diner and formed a genuinely loving relationship. It took some time for members of the family to fully get used to her but once they did, Gloria became a very important member of the family.

Thanks to her role as Gloria Pritchett on Modern Family, Sofia Vergara was the highest-paid TV actress for the last seven years of the show's airing (via Forbes). From $190,000 to $500,000 an episode, she earned a decent Modern Family salary alongside her costars. While it sounds like large jumps in pay from the first season to the last, it took a decade of incremental raises for the Modern Family salaries to increase to their final levels.