Mark Rober Net Worth 2024: The Willy Wonka of Rocket Science Made $15 Million

Mark Rober is a former NASA engineer and a multimillionaire YouTuber, famously referred to as “the Willy Wonka of rocket science and engineering”. The inventor and educator is best known for his DIY YouTube videos on science topics, as well as his highly profitable business, CrunchLabs.

As of 2024, Mark Rober’s net worth is estimated at $15 million.

Before he became a star on YouTube, Rober worked for NASA for nearly a decade and was an Apple engineer for four years, too. Fast forward to today, and he is one of the most trusted engineering faces on YouTube, earning money from diversified income sources.

Let’s take a look at how a NASA engineer became a YouTuber and millionaire.

Mark Rober’s Net Worth Breakdown:

What makes Mark Rober worth $15 million? His net worth is difficult to pinpoint since there is very little known about his business earnings and assets. Even so, we did thorough research so we can present to you a clear picture of what he’s been earning over the years. Below, you’ll find a breakdown of Rober’s estimated net worth in 2024.

6 Interesting Facts About Mark Rober

1. Rober created his first viral YouTube video in 2011, showing off a Halloween costume that used iPads to create a “hole in the body” effect.
2. His popular “glitter bomb” videos, targeting package thieves, have racked up over 300 million views and led to police arrests.
3. Before YouTube, he worked on the Mars Curiosity Rover project while at NASA.
4. He collaborated with MrBeast on #TeamTrees and #TeamSeas, raising millions for environmental causes.
5. Rober’s recent business, CrunchLabs, focuses on engineering kits to make STEM learning fun for kids.
6. His son has autism, and Rober has publicly advocated for autism awareness and acceptance.

Latest News & Controversies

Divorce Announcement in 2024: In September 2024, Rober revealed on Twitter that he had been divorced for three years, surprising fans. This announcement was a rare peek into his private life, as he usually keeps family matters out of the spotlight. The post drew supportive responses from followers, and Rober remains focused on his projects and advocacy efforts.

Fight Over CrunchLabs Design Rights: Recently, Rober faced a legal issue regarding CrunchLabs, with allegations claiming design similarities to another STEM kit brand. CrunchLabs, launched in 2022, has been a popular subscription service, though the ongoing dispute has raised questions about intellectual property in STEM-based products. The case is still under investigation, but it has fueled discussions around design originality and competition within educational tools.

Robotics Competition: In April 2024, Rober was honored with the Founder’s Award at the FIRST Robotics Competition. His contributions to making engineering accessible to young audiences have positioned him as a leading figure in STEM education. This recognition further cements his commitment to science and engineering advocacy.

Early Life and Education

Mark Rober was born on March 11, 1980, in Orange County, California. He spent most of his childhood in Brea, California with his parents and two siblings.

In 1998, Mark Rober graduated from Brea Olinda High School. Even at this time, he was very passionate about engineering. He started inventing by making a pair of goggles that help people avoid eye irritation while cutting an onion.

Rober’s mother passed away early in his career from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. In an interview with Colin and Samir, he shared that his mother had a great influence on his career, saying, “I grew up in a home where we all did chores. I was helping with dinner, and my mom asked me to cut the onions, but they make you cry, so I went upstairs, got our goggles, came down, and put them on. My mom saw that, and…”

… I remember her laughing and saying, ‘Oh, that is a great idea.’ She took a picture which back then meant something. To me, it represented being encouraged to be creative and to come up with solutions.

You can listen to the full conversation here:

After high school, Rober enrolled at Brigham Young University (BYU). He graduated with a mechanical engineering degree in 2004 and further pursued his education at the University of Southern California. In 2014, he earned his Master’s degree in mechanical engineering from USC.

More recently, Rober received an honorary fellowship from the Institution of Engineering and Technology.

Personal Life

Mark Rober’s wife was Lisa Rober. The family lived in Sunnyvale, California, but have since been divorced. They have a son, Jonathan Rober, who has been diagnosed with autism, which prompted Rober to do advocacy work to raise awareness about the condition.

Happy Autism awareness day/month. The best part of my day is the 20 minute night time routine with my son and his stuffed animals. Repetition doesn’t bother him (in fact he prefers it) so my same jokes totally kill every night. pic.twitter.com/KN1iZxWwYW

— Mark Rober (@MarkRober) April 3, 2018

Unlike most famous couples, the Robers have managed to stay out of the public eye for years. This is why it was a big surprise for Rober’s fans to learn that the YouTube star has been divorced for 3.5 years, a detail he shared in September 2024 on Twitter.

Mark Rober Net Worth: How a NASA Scientist Turned into a YouTube Sensation

Mark Rober’s career started long before he became a YouTuber. Let’s take a look at how his career progressed over the years.

Work in NASA and Apple Inc.

In 2004, Mark Rober joined NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where he spent nine years working. For seven years at NASA, Rober helped develop the Mars Curiosity Rover, an automobile-sized rover that was designed to explore Mars’ Gale Crater.

In addition to this project, Mark Rober developed hardware for various missions launched by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at NASA, which included:

• Soil Moisture Active Passive
• Mars Science Laboratory
• Gravity Recovery

That massive thing behind me will be rolling around on another planet very soon! Spent the day seeing old friends at @NASAJPL and filming for my Feb 2021 video!!! pic.twitter.com/qbvbz8X4MM

— Mark Rober (@MarkRober) January 11, 2020

As a NASA scientist, Rober was among the main architects of the wiki known as JPL Wired and published a case study on applying wiki technology in high-tech organizations.

In 2015, Rober joined Apple as their product designer in the Special Projects Group. In 2018, media sources reported that Rober has been working secretly on virtual reality projects for Apple. These projects reportedly included Apple’s on-board entertainment for self-driving cars.

He remained working as a product designer for Apple’s Special Projects Group until early 2020.

YouTube Success

Rober joined YouTube on October 20, 2011. While still working at NASA, he started sharing videos on different topics, including science projects, escape room tricks, and April Fools’ Day pranks. His first video was of a custom-made Halloween costume he created using a pair of iPads, which made it appear as if he had a transparent body.
Not long after its release, the video went viral and racked up over a million views in a single day.

In December 2018, Rober posted a video showcasing a prank done on package thieves. In the viral video, the thieves were sprayed with a fetid odor and splashed with a glitter bomb. In a single day, this video had 25 million views.

Based on this success, he made several versions of the glitter bomb over the years, including several in collaboration with other content creators and stars such as Macaulay Culkin, Jim Browning, Scammer Payback, and more.

Soon enough, the popularity behind his glitter bombs led to Rober collaborating with the authorities to use bait packages as a tactic to arrest money mules and criminals who worked with scamming call centers in India to rob the elderly.

Eventually, his work and that of his collaborators resulted in the shutdown of said call centers, and 15 senior officials were arrested for the scams.

In 2021, Mark Rober released another viral video on his YouTube channel titled Backyard Squirrel Maze. This popular science video shows a backyard obstacle course aimed to deter squirrels from stealing the food in bird feeders. A year later, he released a follow-up video with an updated obstacle. His three videos about the squirrel obstacles counted around 220 million views by September 2023.

Fast forward to 2024, and his YouTube channel counts over 58.2 million subscribers. He has 177 videos on the main channel as of October.

Earnings from YouTube

A large portion of Mark Rober’s net worth comes from his YouTube channel. He earns a fortune from subscriptions, advertising revenue, and sponsorship deals, as well as merchandise sales.

In 2023, Mark Rober was ranked 29th among the highest-earning creators worldwide. His earnings from YouTube as of September 2023 were estimated at $6 million. Social Blade puts his monthly earnings from ads on YouTube as high as $1.9 million per month.

When asked by Video Productions Daily, Rober shared some details about his earnings from social media and sponsorships. He said, “The more eyeballs you get, the more they will pay you. 90% of my revenue used to be from sponsorships, and 10% of it was from ad revenue on YouTube. Now, it has flipped because the channel itself gets so many views, so 60% is from YouTube ads, and 40% is from sponsors.”

Here’s the full conversation:

Philanthropic Endeavors

The former NASA scientist and famous YouTube personality has done a lot of good using his fame over the years. In October 2019, he launched a major project in partnership with fellow YouTube star MrBeast called #TeamTrees. The collaborative fundraiser had the goal to raise $20 million to be used to plant 20 million trees.

 

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A post shared by Mark Rober (@markrober)

All the donations from the project went to the Arbor Day Foundation, which started planting trees in January 2020.

By the end of 2020, the project had raised $23.6 million and the money went to trees planted in many locations worldwide including Brazil, China, Haiti, Peru, Canada, the United States, Turkey, Thailand, Indonesia, and more. Today, they have raised $24.7 million for the cause.

Led by this success, Rober collaborated with MrBeast on a second project in 2021. The duo founded a collaborative fundraiser called #TeamSeas, which raised over $34 million to clean up seas and beaches. The idea is to remove one pound of trash per dollar donated, which was made possible through their collaboration with The Ocean Cleanup.

In addition to this, the famous mechanical engineer has spent years working to promote autism awareness.

Awards and Accolades

As a major name in the content industry, Mark Rober has earned many nominations and awards over the years.

These include:

• Science or Education Award at the 9th Streamy Awards (2019)
• Learning and Education Award at the 10th Streamy Awards (2020)
• Nonprofit or NGO Award for Team Trees at the 10th Streamy Awards (2020)
• One-off prize as STEM Personality of the Year by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (2021)
• Science and Engineering Award at the 11th Streamy Awards (2021)
• Nonprofit or NGO Award for NEXT for AUTISM’s Color the Spectrum LIVE (2021)
• Webby Film & Video Person of the Year Award at the 26th Webby Awards (2022)
• Social Good: Creator, Brand Engagement, Collaboration, and Science and Engineering Awards at the 12th Streamy Awards (2022)
• FIRST Robotics Competition Founder’s Award at the FIRST Championship (2024)

Assets, Projects, and Other Investments of Mark Rober

Mark Rober’s net worth has been growing by millions in the last couple of years thanks to YouTube and sponsorship deals.

However, this isn’t all that contributes to his wealth.

In addition to his YouTube career which has lasted for more than a decade now, Rober is also the founder of at least two businesses and has made numerous TV appearances and other investments. Let’s take a look at what else makes his impressive net worth.

Business Ventures and Projects

Due to the viral success of his Halloween YouTube videos, Rober decided to establish an online Halloween costume company he called Digital Dudz in 2012. The company specializes in app-integrated costumes like the ones seen in his viral video.

“We spent zero dollars on advertising. We just had a YouTube video and that was it,” Rober said. “We did a quarter million dollars in revenue, just in three weeks.”

Over only three weeks of operation, Digital Dudz made $250,000 in revenue. By 2013, the business was selling its products in different retail stores such as Party City, and the costumes were featured on TV programs and channels like Discovery Channel, CNN, and The Today Show.

In 2013, Rober sold his Digital Dudz brand to the UK-based spandex brand Morphsuits.

The details of the sale haven’t been disclosed. He reportedly works at Morphsuits today. After he left NASA, Rober joined Morph Costumes as their vice president of new product design.

In 2022, Rober launched a second brand, his educational technology company called CrunchLabs. This business creates STEM learning experiences and Build Boxes – subscription box services – which provide engineering challenges and building projects for children.

On the My First Million podcast, YouTuber Samir Chaudry shared that CrunchLabs earnings surpass Rober’s YouTube earnings. According to Ryan Matthews, the business earns $3 million a month.

Still, we don’t know how much of this goes into Rober’s pocket.

TV Appearances

During his online career, Rober has contributed several articles to Men’s Health. In 2015, he gave two TEDx presentations:

• How to Come Up with Good Ideas
• The Super Mario Effect – Tricking Your Brain Into Learning More

In addition to this, the famous YouTuber has made numerous TV appearances. He has starred in a Discovery Channel hidden-camera show Revengineers alongside Jimmy Kimmel, the famous late-night talk show host.

In addition to Revengineers, Rober has made numerous appearances on Jimmy Kimmel Live. In July 2022, he guest-hosted the show.

Finally, he has starred in a second series on Discovery, titled This is Mark Rober, which aired in 2023.

Assets

While we didn’t manage to find anything about his real estate assets, Rober is known for his love of expensive gadgets and cars. His garage has several expensive cars in it, including a Porsche 911 (worth around $130,000) and a Tesla Model S ($80,000).

What Can We Learn from Mark Rober’s Story?

Mark Rober’s story offers many lessons to aspiring entrepreneurs and content creators. His love for engineering and creative problem-solving began early and he impressively followed it through his education and career.

Rober’s ability to merge science with creativity demonstrates how combining innovation and passion can lead to unique success.

Rober worked at NASA and Apple before he transitioned into content creation on YouTube. This willingness to explore new opportunities, even after creating a successful and probably highly paid career, showcases the value of adaptability and courage in life.

Rober didn’t just rely on YouTube income, even though he’s been earning millions from the platform.

Over the years, he’s diversified his income sources by launching businesses like Digital Dudz and CrunchLabs. This highlights the importance of having different revenue sources for better financial stability.

Lastly, Rober’s involvement in initiatives like #TeamTrees and projects that promote autism awareness demonstrates how leveraging fame and success for good can create a truly meaningful impact.