Parker Schnabel Net Worth & Gold Rush

What is Parker Schnabel’s net worth?

Parker Schnabel is an American reality television star and gold miner who has a net worth of $10 million. Parker Schnabel has gained fame for his role in the Discovery Channel’s reality series, Gold Rush.

He was born on July 22, 1994, in Haines, Alaska, as Parker Russell Schnabel, to Roger and Nancy Schnabel.

Parker has a brother, Payson Schnabel.

He grew up in Porcupine Creek, Alaska.

Schnabel began summer work at the Big Nugget Mine when he was a kid.

His grandfather, John Schnabel, passed away in 2016.

He was 96.

John was also part of the Gold Rush and owned a claim to the Big Nugget mine in Porcupine Creek, Alaska.

”John lived a great life and was one of a kind. I am glad the world got to see an amazing man,” tweeted Parker at the time.

Education

Parker Schnabel graduated from high school in May 2012.

He skipped college to begin mining.

Gold Rush

Schnabel has been on the series since the show’s second season.

The series follows the escapades of a group of miners who initially took up the mining pursuit since they had lost their jobs.

In the fourth season of Gold Rush, Parker set up his own mining operation using his college fund.

”My mom always hated the idea of me not going to college,” Parker told Entrepreneur. He added, ”So I always intended on going and not pissing her off. But then I met Tony Beets and went to the Yukon.”

Since season 2, he started to mine his grandfather’s property at Big Nugget Mine.

Gold Rush: Parker’s Trail

Gold Rush: Parker’s Trail started in 2017, and it follows Parker on mining trips to other areas. It is produced for the Discovery Channel by Raw Television.

In the first season, Parker and his team attempt the Klondike trail of 1897. In the second season, Schnabel went to the jungles of Guyana, South America.

”The big thing is with the heat and the jungle environment…there are all sorts of things that will maim and/or kill you,” Parker told Fox News about his trip to Guyana.

Parker took his hunt for gold to Australia (one of the world’s largest gold-producing nations) in the fourth season.

In 2018, he appeared in Gold Rush: The Rise of Rick Ness.

In 2020, Parker was featured in the documentary Gold Rush: The Legend of Porcupine Creek.

”It’s a very intense business, you have short amount of time, like we have four months to basically make all the money that we can in it in a season, so, its a very intense business,” Parker told in an interview at the BUILD Brunch table. ”You never know what you’re gonna get. It’s like going to Vegas.”

Fifteen million dollars on one creek

In 2023 Parker signed for Dominion Creek, a block of Yukon claims that cost him about $15 million.

PEOPLE reported the ground might give up 80,000 ounces, some of it buried 40 feet down, and the property is at 7,500 acres.

Most of people assume the price tag scared him.

It was the other road he hated: a smaller company and a broken-up crew.

Asked about that crew, he told PEOPLE in October 2023, “That was my biggest fear.”

He called the purchase a long-term investment and said the profit answer would need a few years.

Same year, his company Little Flake Mining signed a royalty deal with Metallic Minerals for 5.5 miles of claims on Australia Creek, with a promise of at least $1 million a year in work there.

Season 14 closed with 7,381.1 ounces, or $14.76 million by the show’s count, against a goal of 5,000. Nearly 150 percent of target.

2024, the miss

The 2024 dig went badly from the first week.

Ten weeks in, he had 1,107 ounces toward a 10,000-ounce goal, and he called it “embarrassing” on camera.

He lowered the target to 8,000 and finished on 6,837.04, good for more than $18.3 million.

More cash than any year before it.

“I don’t like being a loser,” he said after that April 2025 finale.

His later explanation was about the calendar. “2024 was about being efficient, and prepping in 2025 was really about production,” he told PEOPLE in November 2025.

10,596 ounces and still second

Filmed in 2025, Gold Rush season 16 premiered November 7, 2025.

Parker set a goal of 10,000 ounces, a $35 million target at the prices of that autumn.

He pushed for four wash plants, poached foreman Brennan Ruault from Kevin Beets, handed Tyson Lee more control at Dominion and in December banked 827 ounces in one week, a $2.8 million haul, the best week of his career.

The finale aired May 1, 2026.

Parker weighed 10,596.45 ounces, valued at $42 million, the biggest total he has ever posted.

Tony Beets weighed 11,231 for $45 million and stayed King of the Klondike.

Earlier, over a drink in Dawson City, Parker had told Tony, “I can’t have you finding more than us.”

Of his crew he said “everyone really stepped up their game and left it all on the field”.

Season 17 premiered October 2, 2026, with Parker and Tony both set on 13,000 ounces and gold near $5,000 an ounce.

Girlfriend

Parker Schnabel used to date Ashley Youle, a certified veterinary nurse who he met after a trip to Australia. She was first seen in season 6 of Gold Rush.

”Ashley and I broke up. I just never really made the relationship a priority, didn’t make her a priority, and she deserves a lot better than that,” — Parker said in 2018. He continued: ”At the end of the day, I do think she is doing what’s best for her, and that’s the hardest part of it… it’s a real shame.”

Some rumors sparked that Parker is dating his assistant producer of Gold Rush, Sheena Cowell, after posting a photo of the two.

As of November 2026, Parker has no publicly confirmed partner. “I’m probably just going to keep my personal life [private],” he said.

Other outlets wrote about rumors of a romance with Tyler Mahoney, who worked with him on Gold Rush: Parker’s Trail in Australia. Neither of them confirmed a relationship.

READ MORE: Who is Patrick Bet-David’s wife?

Quotes

”The biggest asset any business has is the people who work there.”

”Mining traditionally is a fairly family-oriented business.”

”The toughest thing is that it’s very seasonal work, and we basically have four months to make a year’s worth of money.”

”Loved being out on the water and in the woods looking for deer.”

Trivia

In March 2018, there were some reports that he bought a mansion in Alaska for $950,000. But, he denied it in a tweet: ”The best part of this BS is that I don’t have any house anywhere, I’m homeless.”

Other cast members of Gold Rush are Monica Beets and Freddy Dodge.

He oddly resembles actor Adam Driver.

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Net Worth

So, how much is Parker Schnabel worth? Schnabel earned most of his wealth from starring in Gold Rush and the gold he and his team have mined. Therefore, Parker Schnabel has an estimated net worth of $10 million.

In season two, he mined 34 oz ($55,000) from Big Nugget Mine. In season four, Parker mined 1,029 ounces ($1.4 million). In season five, Schnabel mined 2,538 ounces ($3 million).

In season six, Parker and his crew mined 3,372 ounces ($3.5 million). In season seven, he managed to mine 4,300 ounces ($5 million). ”I was happy with what we found this season, for sure,” he said at the end of the season.

In season eight of Gold Rush, Schnabel mined 6,280 ounces ($7.5 million), while in season 9 – 7,427 ounces ($9 million). In season ten, Schnabel mined 7,223 ounces ($10.8 million).

”Gold mining, like most things in life, you get out of it what you put in,” Schnabel once said.

What a day at Dominion costs

Parker put a number on it for PEOPLE before the 2025 dig aired: base costs near $100,000 a day, and with acquisition and capital costs added, “you’re actually up in the probably $200,000 to $250,000 a day range”.

To TV Insider he said it shorter: “Mining is a game of just massive amounts of CaPex.”

CapEx is capital expenditure (money for machines and ground, the big one-time purchases). He spend most of it on wash plants and dozers, and on the $15 million claim itself.

High prices help.

“It’s a very good time to be a gold miner,” he told Fox News Digital in December 2025.

Paydays and deals by year

Year	Payday or deal	Amount
2013	First Klondike season, 1,000+ oz	About $1.4 million
2023	Dominion Creek purchase	About $15 million
2023	Australia Creek work commitment	$1 million a year, minimum
2023	Season 14, 7,381.1 oz	$14.76 million
2024	Season 15, 6,837.04 oz	Over $18.3 million
2025	Daily cost with capital	$200,000 to $250,000
2025	Best single week, 827 oz	$2.8 million
2025	Season 16, 10,596.45 oz	$42 million
2026	Season 17 goal, 13,000 oz	$65 million target

Parker, his brother, and his father are shareholders in The Big Nugget gold mining company.

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