Kathy Hilton has a net worth of $350 million as of 2026, a figure she shares with her husband of over four decades, Rick Hilton. The number comes from a mix of real estate, a long-running fashion and home goods business, television paychecks, and the wider Hilton family fortune built through hospitality and property development.
Quick Facts
| Detail | Information |
| Full Name | Kathleen Elizabeth Hilton |
| Date of Birth | March 13, 1959 |
| Age | 67 |
| Birthplace | New York City, New York |
| Profession | Actress, fashion designer, television personality |
| Net Worth | $350 million (combined with husband Rick Hilton) |
| Spouse | Rick Hilton (married 1979) |
| Children | Paris, Nicky, Barron II, Conrad III |
| Height | 5 feet 7 inches |
How Kathy Hilton Built Her Fortune
Kathy Hilton did not start as a Hilton. She grew up in a show business family in New York, worked as a child actress, and appeared in small television roles before she turned twenty. Her connection to Hollywood came before her marriage, not after it, and that early exposure gave her the instinct for public life she later used on Bravo.
She married Rick Hilton in 1979. Rick went on to co-found Hilton & Hyland, a Beverly Hills brokerage that has handled some of the priciest home sales in Los Angeles, including the old Playboy Mansion. That business, alongside the broader Hilton hospitality name that Rick’s family built, forms a large part of the couple’s combined wealth.
Kathy did not simply ride along. She built her own income streams over three decades, starting with a clothing and skincare line she sold through QVC before moving her business to HSN. Long before “influencer” was a job title, she was one of the first celebrities to treat home shopping television as a real brand-building platform rather than a side gig.
Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and TV Career
Kathy hosted NBC’s “I Want to Be a Hilton” in 2005 and later appeared alongside her daughter Paris on “The World According to Paris.” Her most recognized television role, though, came later. She joined The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills as a friend of the cast during season 9 and became a full-time cast member in season 11, where her unpredictable one-liners and off-script moments turned her into one of the show’s most talked-about personalities.
She has said watching her younger half-sisters, Kyle Richards and Kim Richards, on the show in its earlier seasons was difficult for her personally, which is part of why she avoided joining for so long. Once she did join, her salary and appearance fees added a new, direct television income stream on top of her existing business earnings.
RHOBH pays its full-time cast members well into six figures per season, with more senior stars commanding higher rates. For Kathy, that income sits on top of a fortune that was already large before Bravo cameras ever found her, so the show functions more as a visibility boost for her fashion brand than as her primary source of wealth.
Family: Rick Hilton and Their Four Children
Kathy and Rick Hilton have four children together: Paris, Nicky, Barron II, and Conrad III. Paris built a global lifestyle and business brand starting in the early 2000s, spanning music, fragrance, and a wide range of licensed products. Nicky works in fashion design and runs her own clothing line. Both daughters remain closely tied to their mother’s public image, and Kathy is regularly seen supporting them at industry events.
Kathy is also part of a well-known extended family through her sisters. Kyle Richards, another longtime RHOBH star, and Kim Richards, a former child actress, are her half-sisters. The three have had a complicated relationship playing out partly on camera, with disagreements about family history resurfacing across multiple seasons of the franchise.
Real Estate and Lifestyle
The Hiltons own property in Bel-Air, one of the most expensive residential pockets of Los Angeles, and Rick’s brokerage has given the family direct access to some of the highest-value listings on the market. Real estate is widely considered the largest single contributor to their combined net worth, ahead of television income or fashion revenue.
Kathy travels frequently, favors designer wardrobe pieces for public appearances, and has become something of a style reference point in her own right, particularly among viewers who watch her Bravo appearances as much for her outfits as for the drama. At 5 feet 7 inches, she has also done modeling work tied to her own collection over the years.
What Made Kathy Hilton’s Net Worth Grow in Recent Years
Three things have kept her fortune moving upward heading into the back half of 2026. First, her continued role on RHOBH through season 15 kept her income and visibility steady, with the season’s reunion filmed in spring 2026. Second, Los Angeles real estate values, particularly in Bel-Air and other high-end pockets Rick’s firm covers, have stayed strong, which supports the property side of the family’s holdings. Third, her fashion and home line continues generating licensing and product revenue independent of anything tied to television.
Estimates on the exact figure vary by source. Celebrity Net Worth puts the combined Kathy and Rick Hilton figure at $350 million, while some other outlets place Kathy’s individual holdings in a lower range closer to $60 to $70 million when isolating her personal ventures from Rick’s business and the wider family estate. The $350 million figure is the one most widely cited across entertainment outlets and reflects the couple’s joint financial position rather than Kathy’s income alone.
Kathy Hilton’s Philanthropy Work
Kathy has spent decades supporting causes tied to children’s health and welfare. She has raised money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation since organizing a celebrity charity auction for the group back in 2007, and she remains a longtime supporter of the Starlight Children’s Foundation, which brings toys and entertainment to hospitalized kids. She was named the first-ever CASA of Los Angeles ambassador for her work with foster children in the city’s court system.
Her giving extends beyond children’s causes too. She has backed the Race to Erase MS gala for years, supported City of Hope and the Alzheimer’s Association, and hosts an annual holiday pajama party with daughter Nicky that benefits animal rescue groups. In interviews, she has pushed back on being labeled just a socialite, pointing to her philanthropy as proof she stays busy well beyond red carpets and reality television.
Kathy Hilton’s Jewelry and Fashion Ventures
Kathy’s business instincts trace back to the 1980s, when she opened a gift and antique shop on Sunset Plaza before moving into home and beauty lines on QVC and later HSN. That early retail experience shaped how she approaches her ventures today. In 2024, she launched a jewelry line with designer Anna Zuckerman, with pieces inspired by her personal collection and priced from around $125 up to $3,200.
Her fashion line has also landed in major department stores, including Nordstrom and Saks Fifth Avenue, giving her a retail footprint that runs independently of her television paycheck. Combined with her home shopping background, these ventures give her a revenue stream that has grown steadily over four decades rather than depending on any single deal or season of television.
Kathy Hilton’s Early Life and Child Acting Career
Kathy started acting later than her younger sisters, landing her first professional credit at age 11 on an episode of “Nanny and the Professor,” the same show that launched Kim’s career. From there, she picked up small roles on shows like “Bewitched,” “Family Affair,” “Happy Days,” and “The Rockford Files” through the 1970s.
She often served as an on-set guardian for Kim during those years, a role that put her around working actors and production crews well before she had children of her own. She retired from acting at 21, the same year she married Rick Hilton, and moved into work at the Waldorf Astoria before opening her own gift shop. That early transition from actress to businesswoman set the pattern she has followed ever since, treating each new venture as the next chapter rather than a comeback.
Kathy Hilton and Her Sisters, Kyle and Kim Richards
Kathy is the oldest of three sisters. Kyle Richards, born a decade later, became known for a recurring role on “Little House on the Prairie” and a part in the original “Halloween” before eventually joining RHOBH as a founding cast member in 2010. Kim, the youngest, had the most prolific child acting career of the three, appearing in “Nanny and the Professor” and Disney’s “Escape to Witch Mountain.”
The three sisters have a relationship that has played out publicly across RHOBH’s run, with disagreements about family history and old resentments resurfacing on camera more than once. Kathy has said in past interviews that watching Kyle and Kim’s early seasons from the outside was emotionally difficult for her, which contributed to how long it took her to join the show herself. Once she did join in season 11, scenes with her sisters became some of the most-watched moments of her run on Bravo.