The Naked Cowboy — real name Robert John Burck II — is estimated to be worth $500,000 by Celebrity Net Worth, after nearly 28 years performing in New York City’s Times Square. It is a respectable sum for someone whose original business plan was essentially to stand on a sidewalk in his underwear, and a lot less than most people would guess after hearing he has been a Times Square fixture for almost three decades.
| Quick Facts | |
|---|---|
| Real name | Robert John Burck II |
| Born | 23 December 1970, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States |
| Known as | The Naked Cowboy, Times Square street performer |
| Career average income | $150,000 per year (self-reported) |
| Itemized 2025 income | $87,800 |
| Net worth estimate | $500,000 (Celebrity Net Worth) |
From Ohio to Venice Beach
Burck grew up in Ohio and graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a political science degree in 1995. He wanted to be an entertainer, preferably a country singer. In the late 1990s, he tried performing on the Venice Beach boardwalk in California with his guitar, boots, cowboy hat and ordinary clothes. Almost nobody paid attention.
Then a photographer who had worked with him on a Playgirl shoot suggested a simple adjustment: lose the clothes. Burck tried singing in his underwear and made more than $100 in a day, compared with almost nothing when he was fully dressed. He spent the next couple of years travelling and testing the act in different cities before establishing himself in Times Square. Those early years were not glamorous. At one point, he accumulated $45,000 in credit card debt.
In New York, he learned that being memorable was not enough. People would stop and stare, laugh and take photos, but they did not always pay. According to his longtime origin story, writing the word “TIPS” on his cowboy boots helped transform his daily collections from as little as $40 to as much as $600. The outfit was the gimmick. Figuring out how to get paid for the gimmick was the business.
What He Actually Earned in 2025
Burck says he has earned $150,000 per year on average over the course of his career. His best year brought in $250,000. But the income has not been remotely consistent: he has also endured consecutive years when he earned just $25,000 to $30,000, barely enough to keep showing up for work.
In October 2026, Burck gave Business Insider an unusually detailed breakdown of his finances, and the most surprising part is where the money actually comes from. For 2025, he itemized: Times Square tips of $20,000, Cameo videos of $50,000, Naked Cowboy Enterprises of $7,800 and Naked Cowboy Oysters of $10,000 — a total of $87,800. That is significantly below his claimed $150,000 annual average, and he made two and a half times as much money recording Cameo videos as he did performing for tourists in person.
Cameo lets customers pay for personalised video greetings from recognisable personalities. For Burck, that can mean grabbing his phone and recording a birthday message or an anniversary song for somebody who remembers seeing him in New York. He described the platform as a lifesaver for his finances. Nearly three decades of street-level brand recognition are now paying off when he is not even standing on the street.
The oysters are real, too. Burck licensed his name to a seafood business that markets Naked Cowboy Oysters, harvested from Long Island Sound. He is not personally harvesting shellfish between guitar sets; he receives income from the use of his brand. His separate Naked Cowboy Enterprises income reflects another piece of the business he built around the character.
The Surprisingly Expensive Business of Wearing Almost Nothing
Dressing for work is cheap. Getting to work, staying fed and surviving New York City are anything but. Burck lives in a rented apartment in Queens and says his monthly rent, including a garage, is about $2,100, or $25,200 a year. He has lived there for years and benefits from having stayed in the same place rather than paying current market rents for a new apartment.
Then there is his car. In a city where millions of residents use the subway, Burck insists on driving himself to Times Square. His car doubles as storage for his equipment and a place to escape the heat or freezing cold between performances. Factoring in vehicle costs, gas, insurance, parking, tolls and congestion charges, he estimates that driving costs him $3,000 a month, or $36,000 a year.
And then there is the food. Burck follows an intense exercise and high-protein eating routine involving mountains of egg whites, sushi, protein shakes and chicken. He estimates that he spends $120 a day on food, which works out to $43,800 a year. Add those three expenses together — $25,200 in rent, $36,000 in transportation and $43,800 in food — and the total is $105,000 per year, more than the $87,800 he itemized in earnings for 2025. Celebrity Net Worth itself notes that his expenses and earnings are self-reported snapshots rather than a complete accounting of the same year’s cash flow, so the comparison illustrates the shape of the business rather than a precise loss. He separately described $11,000 in annual work-related expenses, some of which overlap with his transportation costs, and $3,600 in out-of-pocket medical expenses in 2025. He says he has never had health insurance.
Trademarks, Franchises and Endorsements
Burck was thinking about trademarks and licensing long before Cameo existed. He registered the Naked Cowboy name and likeness, appeared in advertising campaigns and signed deals with companies that wanted a piece of his Times Square notoriety. A Chevrolet commercial featured him during the 2007 Super Bowl, and in 2014 Fruit of the Loom enlisted him to promote a new line of boxer briefs.
He even tried turning the act into a franchise. In 2010, Entrepreneur reported that other performers could license the Naked Cowboy concept for $5,000 a year, or $500 a month, plus 20% of their tips and appearance fees. Burck subsequently said he had nine paying franchise performers. He has also released albums, appeared in music videos and made short-lived runs for New York City mayor and president of the United States.
Sometimes that protectiveness led to court. In 2008, he sued Mars for $6 million after a blue M&M appeared on Times Square billboards dressed like the Naked Cowboy, complete with a guitar. The case ended without a publicly disclosed payment. A separate lawsuit over a similar character on CBS’s The Bold and the Beautiful was dismissed in 2012. One legal fight did produce a disclosed payout: after Burck’s 2021 arrest for alleged panhandling during Daytona Beach’s Bike Week, he sued the city and two officers, and Daytona Beach agreed to a $90,000 settlement in 2022 without admitting wrongdoing.
So What Is He Worth?
Burck says he has $250,000 in a cash management account and IRA, owns his Naked Cowboy trademark and has no debt. He rents rather than owns the Queens apartment, and he credits a financial manager with helping him put money away whenever a larger endorsement cheque or other windfall arrived. Burck believes his trademark could conceivably be sold for $1 million, pointing to the potential for licensing it to everything from apparel to entertainment projects — but that is his personal idea of what the brand might fetch, not a disclosed purchase offer.
Based on his disclosed financial assets and the value it assigns to his trademark and business interests, Celebrity Net Worth estimates the Naked Cowboy’s net worth at $500,000. Burck, for his part, does not sound terribly interested in an exit strategy. He told Business Insider he would rather be broke and living the dream. After nearly 28 years, he is still doing exactly what he set out to do: getting up, putting on his boots and heading for Times Square. The pants are still optional. The work is not.
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