Being a professional athlete is a pretty sweet gig. Those who make it to the top never have to worry about a business wardrobe or cubicle decorations. Instead, they get paid to live out their passions and dreams.
And typically, they live extremely comfortably. The average salary for an NFL player is approximately $2.1 million, though some players make significantly more than that annually.
These athletes making unimaginable amounts of money are likely closer to you than you think. Unlike the entertainment industry, for example, where all of the big money makers are centralized in California or New York, NFL players are everywhere.
Nearly every state has a native pro football player to root for, even if the state doesn’t have an NFL team of its own. A new study found the highest paid athlete from each state and it may make you a little jealous that it’s not you out on the field.
Alaska, Rhode Island, and Vermont are the only states without an active NFL player to represent their hometown. All 47 other states have an athlete to represent their hometowns under the stadium lights. Some of the names are very unsurprising (it’s not shocking to see big names like Eli Manning from Louisiana, Russell Wilson from Ohio, and Cam Newton from Georgia) – but others are lesser known athletes.
The study also identified the values of some of these player’s homes, like Eli Manning’s whopping $8.5 million 7,000 square foot home in Quogue, New York. These incredibly lavish homes are found all over the nation – from a $6.7 million waterfront home in Bellevue, Washington to a $2 million downtown condo in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The moral of the story is, these athletes have it made. While it takes an immense amount of talent and dedication to make it to this level of football, the rewards are definitely worth it.