Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Salary Revealed: How Much Do DCC Dancers Make?

While dancing for the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders is considered a prestigious honor in itself, it doesn't come with a salary to match.

"I would say I'm making, like, a substitute teacher [salary]," Kat Puryear said during the first season of Netflix's America's Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. "I would say I'm making, like, [the same as a] Chick-fil-A worker [who] works full time."

In order to make ends meet, many DCC stars supplement their incomes. Several of the girls have multiple jobs, whether it's a corporate gig or working retail. Chandi Dayle even revealed in season 2 of the Netflix hit that she had four side hustles to make ends meet.

Keep scrolling to learn more about the DCC stars' salaries - and what they've said about the staggering amounts:

Specific Numbers

Kristin Westbrook danced with the DCC from 2019 to 2022, making $15/hour for practice and then a $400 flat fee for each NFL game.

"Flat fee for appearances - $100 (x # of years on the team)," she wrote in a June 2025 Instagram Story post, noting a rookie would make $100, while a second-year veteran would earn $200 and so on.

Jada McLean further told The New York Times that she made $15/hour with a $500-per-game fee during the 2024-2025 season, her fifth with the DCC.

Extra Perks

As seen on season 2 of the Netflix doc, Jada led the charge for higher pay along with teammates Megan McElaney and Amanda Howard, eventually securing a 400 percent pay increase at the end of the 2024-2025 NFL season.

"We were pretty serious, as leaders, this was something that we really wanted to see a change happen," Jada exclusively told Us Weeklyin June 2025. "It's a very great change and I think the girls are gonna benefit a lot from it moving forward. … It's gonna take a lot of the financial stresses out of their lives, which is something that we wanted to see."

She added, "I've struggled financially on this team and that was something that I didn't want anyone else to have to deal with while they're cheerleaders. I think they're in a good position moving forward.

Jada further told The Times that the new salary boost could see veteran cheerleaders earn $75 per hour. The Cowboys, however, have not disclosed the new amounts.

How the Pay Increase Affected the 2025 Squad

"It has been such an improvement and a big increase than what we have seen in the past," Reece said on a November 2025 episode of the "Unplanned" podcast. "When we do get paid, it is a significant increase, but how the avenues of how it's being drawn out, I'm not sure."

The cheerleaders get paid for their appearances at NFL games, other meet-and-greets and more.

"Now the hourly pay [for game days] is completely different." she explained. "Games are a huge improvement to what they were in the past. … I was just [like], ‘I'm on board with this, it seems so encouraging and hopefully this is going to inspire so many other generations.'"

What Kelli Finglass Has Said

DCC class of 2020 member Jada Mclean said she's now "mainly doing social media full-time" with an emphasis on brand deals.

"It all varies, but it can go anywhere from five-thousand dollars for me right now to like fifty-thousand," Mclean said in season 3. "So, a lot more than I was making sitting at my 9-to-5."

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This story was originally published June 16, 2026 at 9:45 AM.