Net Worth Ranker
What Is Ben Carson’s Net Worth?
As of 2023, Dr. Ben Carson, an American neurosurgeon and former United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, possesses a net worth estimated at $30 million. This figure reflects a combination of his earnings from his medical career, speaking engagements, book royalties, and board memberships.
Financial Disclosures and Income Sources
Dr. Carson’s financial standing has been documented through various disclosures over the years. A 2014 financial disclosure indicated a net worth of $26 million at that time. However, an updated disclosure in 2016 lowered this estimate to $16 million. These filings revealed his ownership of substantial equity holdings in publicly traded companies, including Kellogg and Costco, where he also served as a board member.
Beyond his medical profession, Carson has generated significant income through motivational speaking. In 2014 alone, his speaking engagements earned him over $2 million, with individual speech fees ranging from $12,000 to $50,000. A subsequent financial disclosure covering a 16-month period from 2014 to 2015 showed that Carson and his wife, Candy, accumulated between $9 million and $27 million from speaking fees, book royalties, and board member salaries.
Specifically, between January 2014 and May 2014, Carson earned $4 million from delivering 141 speeches. During the 16-month period from 2014 to 2015, his service as a board member for Kellogg and Costco yielded between $2 million and $10 million. Additionally, he received between $1 million and $6 million in book royalties and advances during the same period. Contributions to Fox News and the “Washington Times” further supplemented his income, generating between $200,000 and $2 million.
Early Life and Education
Benjamin Solomon Carson Sr. was born on September 18, 1951, in Detroit, Michigan. His mother, Sonya, married his father, Robert Solomon Carson, when she was just 13 years old, and he was 28. The family initially resided in Chattanooga, Tennessee, after his father completed his military service. In 1959, Carson’s parents separated, and he moved with his mother and brother to Boston. Two years later, they returned to Detroit, where Ben attended Southwestern High School and graduated third in his class.
Carson secured a full-ride scholarship to Yale University and subsequently earned his medical degree from the University of Michigan Medical School. Despite initial academic struggles, he persevered and graduated in 1977, earning election to the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society. He then joined the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine neurosurgery program, serving as a surgical intern for one year and a neurosurgery resident for five years. His final year was spent as chief resident in 1983.
From 1983 to 1984, Carson served as a Senior Registrar in Neurosurgery at a hospital in Perth, Western Australia. In 1984, he was appointed the Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins University, where he later became a Professor of Neurosurgery, Oncology, Plastic Surgery, and Pediatrics. At Johns Hopkins, Carson performed approximately 300 surgeries on children annually, a decrease from his initial 500 surgeries per year.
Surgical Career Highlights
As a neurosurgeon, Dr. Carson specialized in traumatic brain injuries, brain and spinal cord tumors, epilepsy, and other neurological and congenital disorders. He played a significant role in reviving the hemispherectomy, a surgical procedure involving the removal of part or all of one hemisphere of the brain to control severe epilepsy in children. He refined the procedure and performed it extensively.
Dr. Carson gained widespread recognition for leading the surgery to separate the first pair of successfully separated conjoined twins in 1987. He led a team of 70 surgeons in the separation of Patrick and Benjamin Binder, who were joined at the back of the head. The team practiced the surgery for weeks using dolls secured together with Velcro. Although the surgery successfully separated the twins, both were left in a vegetative state, unable to talk or care for themselves, and became institutionalized wards of the state. According to his uncle in 2015, Patrick Binder had died sometime in the last decade.
The Binder surgery served as a blueprint for the separation of conjoined twins and was refined in subsequent decades, contributing to successful outcomes in other cases. This surgery propelled Carson into the public spotlight, leading to publishing deals and a career as a motivational speaker. His contributions to pediatric neurosurgery have been lauded as groundbreaking, and in 2008, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Dr. Carson’s research and findings have been published in over a hundred publications.
Dr. Carson retired from the field of surgery in July 2013.
Political Career
Carson’s political career began to take shape after he delivered a conservative speech at the 2013 National Prayer Breakfast, which garnered significant attention due to its perceived criticism of President Barack Obama’s policies. In 2016, he ran for President of the United States in the Republican primaries. Initially, he led in the polls but experienced a decline after controversial ads and underperformance in presidential debates.
Carson suspended his campaign on March 4, 2016, following the Super Tuesday elections. Subsequently, he became the new national chairman of My Faith Votes, an organization promoting Christian voter turnout. His campaign spent $58 million, primarily on political consultants and fundraising. A week after suspending his campaign, he endorsed Donald Trump.
In March 2017, President Donald Trump appointed Dr. Carson as the 17th United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Carson’s political affiliations have shifted over time, having identified as a Democrat (before 1981), a Republican (1981 to 1999 and again starting in 2014), and an independent (1999 to 2014).
Author and Publications
Dr. Carson has authored numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals and several bestselling books, including “Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story” (1992), “Think Big: Unleashing Your Potential for Excellence” (1996), “The Big Picture: Getting Perspective on What’s Really Important in Life” (2000), “Take the Risk: Learning to Identify, Choose, and Live with Acceptable Risk” (2009), “America the Beautiful: Rediscovering What Made This Nation Great” (2013), “One Nation: What We Can All Do to Save America’s Future” (2014), “One Vote: Make Your Voice Heard” (2014), “You Have a Brain: A Teen’s Guide to T.H.I.N.K. B.I.G.” (2015), “My Life: Based on the Book Gifted Hands” (2015), and “A More Perfect Union: What We the People Can Do to Reclaim Our Constitutional Liberties” (2015).
Personal Life and Real Estate
Dr. Ben Carson and his wife, Candy, have been married since 1975. They have three children: Rhoeyce, Benjamin Jr., and Murray. Their eldest son, Murray, was born in Perth during Carson’s residency there. In 2002, Ben was diagnosed with prostate cancer and underwent a successful two-hour operation at Johns Hopkins Hospital.
In 2001, Ben and Candy purchased a 48-acre property in Upperco, Maryland. In 2013, they relocated to West Palm Beach, Florida. Following his confirmation as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in February 2017, Carson acquired a $1.22 million home in Vienna, Virginia, and sold his West Palm Beach residence for over $900,000.
