When Tim Allen first came on the entertainment scene, he was a comedian doing standup after some troubled run-ins with the law. But Home Improvements gave the green actor his start, and it was all smooth sailing from there.
After leading a show for years, Tim nabbed a handful of other high-profile—and high-paying—gigs in Hollywood. Today, he’s worth countless millions, and his net worth means Tim the Tool Man Taylor never has to lift a hammer again.
After Toy Story And More, Tim Allen Is Worth $100 Million
It’s no surprise to most fans of Tim Allen that he’s worth $100 million today, decades after he was Tim the Tool Man Taylor, and decades after he brought Buzz Lightyear to life. After all, a Disney paycheck is usually a big one, and Allen has voiced an iconic character in multiple films, spinoffs, and shorts.
Beyond his collaboration with Disney, Tim Allen also earns a decent chunk of change on other projects. According to Celebrity Net WorthTeams averages $235K per episode, though it’s not clear what shows that might reference. Since Tim’s longest-running sitcom since Home Improvements was Last Man Standingit could be assumed that was his salary for the recent series.
But the publication also noted that Tim used to earn $1.25 million per episode on Home Improvementswhich was a massive salary back in the ’90s (it equates to nearly $2M today, per Celebrity Net Worth). Unfortunately for his co-star, Patricia Richardson, he was reportedly only offered half of Tim’s salary to continue the series.
Adding to Tim’s impressive wealth are roles in franchises like Santa Claus and a handful of smaller yet still high-paying roles. After all, Allen can fetch high prices even for cameos. What’s interesting is that Tim took a major gamble on his first appearance in Toy Story; he and fellow lead voice actor Tom Hanks only made $50,000 for the first film. That didn’t stop either of them from amassing incredible net worths, though Tom’s did outweigh Tim’s by about four times.
How Much Does Tim Allen Make On Home Improvement Reruns?
Given Tim Allen’s extensive Hollywood resume, from Toy Story to The Santa Clause to Home Improvements and back again, it’s no surprise that he’s still earning cash thanks to reruns.
Even his long-ago work on Home Improvements Allen has reportedly earned a decent income over the years. Though the show didn’t have a massive budget, thanks to syndication, it’s earned Tim about $18 million since 1999.
It’s unclear what the arrangement is with Pixar/Disney when it comes to Tim’s having lent his voice to Buzz Lightyear for nearly three decades, but it’s rumored to be lucrative, too. Forbes noted in a 2012 profile that Tim had earned $14 million that year, and while the publication didn’t break down his precise earnings from various shows or films, it did suggest that Tim “earns heavily from residuals for voicing Buzz Lightyear.”
Interestingly, Tim only released a single new project in 2012 (a Buzz short) and a handful in 2011 (two more Buzz shorts), although he did appear in numerous episodes of Last Man Standing during that time.
Notably, though he worked on Toy Story 4 in 2019, Allen wasn’t part of lightyeara 2022 film that is centered on the life of the “real” Buzz, who inspired the toy in Toy Story. Tim admits he didn’t think the movie had much of a connection to his character in Toy Storyand thus didn’t partake—not that he was necessarily offered the gig in the first place.
Allen elaborated that it wasn’t the same team doing lightyear, so he didn’t feel close to the project. Not that he missed out on anything important—lightyear didn’t do well, especially compared to the previous films featuring Buzz and Woody.
Still, Chris Evans made about $22 million for voicing Buzz Lightyear, which is a hefty amount for almost any actor, but perhaps not for Tim Allen who’s riding the royalty train.
Royalties Could Mean Team Never Needs To Work Again
Thanks to his massive intake in terms of royalties, Tim Allen probably never needs to book a gig again. If his passive income from past projects continues to total nearly a million dollars per year, the 100 he is already worth will only continue to grow.
Clearly, Tim can have his pick of projects, or even retire, if he so chooses. But based on how fondly he’s spoken of the Toy Story “brass” (the original ones, not the crew that produced lightyear), and thanks to the super-high salary he now earns, Allen may not be averse to continuing on as Buzz in any future Pixar projects.
In recent years, he’s worked on various shorts, though there’s no word on precisely how much those projects have added to his income. If his deal with Disney is anything like his arrangement with past shows, Tim Allen’s net worth could continue to grow well into the future—and even his retirement.