How much money did shakespeare make per year?

Answer 1

Today, the typical working person is employed by a business, which pays the worker a weekly or monthly salary. But in Shakespeare's day, a playwright had to depend on a number of sources to get paid anything at all. Shakespeare made some of his money by selling his plays to theater companies, which would then perform them. Another way he made money was that some of these theaters let the playwright share in the profits. Also, Shakespeare sometimes found a patron: this meant seeking out a wealthy benefactor who would pay the writer a small but regular amount of money and sponsor the writer's work. And Shakespeare even did some acting, for which he was also paid by his patrons.

While there is no accurate way to add up all the various ways that Shakespeare was paid, some British sources say that at his most popular, he made about six hundred pounds a year, a respectable sum back then; and it does seem he was able to carve out a comfortable living for himself and his family. We know he was able to purchase land in Stratford, and when he died, his will stated that he left three hundred and fifty pounds and a number of real estate holdings.