How Much the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders & Other Squads Make

Breaking Down How Much the Dallas Cowboys Players Make vs Cheerleaders

How 'bout them Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders' salaries?

After years of fighting for a true living wage, the squad was, frankly, kind of thunderstruck when they received word that they'd be getting an approximately 400 percent pay bump as they headed into the 2025 season.

Describing it as a "drastic change," Jada McClean—who ended her five-season run in 2025—demonstrated the new routine for The New York Times, telling the outlet that in her final year she was banking $15 per hour and $500 for each appearance.

But with the new pay structure, she noted, veterans would strut their way toward $75 an hour, meaning they could potentially spike the full-time jobs and side hustles they had previously relied on to make ends meet.

"It was less about me and more about the girls who come after me," McClean explained to E! News of leading the charge. "I wanted to make sure that I left this organization better than I came in. So, for them to have a little more comfortability with their finances was something that was really important to me, because it was something that I did struggle with while being on the team."

And the often imitated, never duplicated squad—who will take to the field at Texas' AT&T Stadium once more when the third season of America's Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders kicks off on Netflix June 16—aren't the only ones making moves.

Daniel Kelly II, an associate dean and professor at the Tisch Institute for Global Sport at New York University predicted to the Times that the salary increase would change the game for all NFL cheerleaders, placing them "above the entertainment staff salaries and independent contractors, like mascots."

As for the actual stats, the league's mascots flex their way to an average of $60,000 annually, per Pro Football Network, roughly the same as waterboys.

Matthew Pearce/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

And when it comes to dancers, much like their forehead-grazing high kicks, the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders rank highest on the depth chart.

Before their significant salary increase, NBC Sports Boston reported that DCC teammates were shaking their way to the $500-per-game McClean mentioned, the same rate as the Carolina Panthers' Carolina TopCats. While the Xs and Os can get a bit confusing when you factor in number of games and practice sessions, the amount nets out to roughly $75,000 annually.

Meanwhile, other dancers were banking between $75 and $150 per game, with ZipRecruiter putting the nationwide average at $45,000.

So, yes, DCC members were jump splitting for joy when they learned about the boon to their paychecks.

"I was a rookie last year," Kelly Villares told E! News last July. "I'm still just trying to do my best to work my very hardest. So having leaders like Jada, people who aren't afraid to stand up for what is right, means the absolute world. It inspires me to hopefully, at one point, lead the team to do the exact same thing."

As for what else it takes to don those coveted stars, we're running through the entire routine.