Josh Peck has opened up about how much he earned during his time on Drake & Josh, and the figure is lower than many people might expect.
Now 39, Peck became widely recognized through the hit Nickelodeon series, where he starred opposite Drake Bell. He first appeared on the network on The Amanda Show before the pair were cast in their own sitcom, which premiered in 2004 and ran for four seasons.
The show became one of Nickelodeon’s signature live-action hits of the 2000s, but Peck says the money he made from it was far from the kind of fortune many assume child stars receive.
During a June 2026 appearance on the Financial Tea with Mrs Dow Jones podcast, he detailed his pay from the franchise, which began with his work on The Amanda Show.
The actor revealed: “We started out making $3,000 an episode on The Amanda Show. And then by the time we finished Drake & Josh – so that was 60 episodes total for the whole show – the median rate, the average rate per episode was about $15,000. So over four years, we wound up making about 900 grand.”
He then explained that once taxes and industry commissions were taken out, his actual earnings were cut down significantly.
He added: “We probably, between agent, manager and taxes cleared half of that. We were making about $125,000 a year. And people always will say, ‘Well, compared to so many other tougher jobs, like who are you to say anything?’ And I go, ‘I’m not’.
“The only reason I say it is because people always assume that it’s so much more and why would you ever have to work again? But of course, if you made the salary of a dentist or something like that, you couldn’t just stop working after four years.”
This is not the first time Peck has talked candidly about the finances behind the show. He previously said he never received residual payments from the series, something he has described as common in kids’ television from that era.
Speaking to Jason Nash, the actor explained: “I would say, we made 60 episodes, and the median sort of price over the four seasons was $15,000 an episode. No residuals. No residuals in kids’ TV.”
According to Peck, the lack of long-term income meant he was back looking for work relatively quickly after the series ended. He has said that he was effectively on a short financial runway after the show wrapped, even though Drake & Josh remained a nostalgic favorite for years afterward.
Peck went on to say that he was needing to work just 18 months after Drake & Josh finished as a result.
“If you have it ingrained in you that you never want to be broke again, you will run like your pants are on fire for as long as you can, and I have,” he said.
“And I saw that in myself forever, just a deep financial insecurity that drove everything I did.”
Since then, Peck has stayed busy with acting, podcasting and content creation, continuing to build a career well beyond his Nickelodeon years.