In February-March of 2009, I took a flight of fancy and made a stab at trying to figure out how much money Severus Snape really made as a potions master and head of Slytherin House. Sure, the numbers were wonky - I’m a liberal arts grad, not an accountant, lol - and overly generous. But at least I gave it a stab. And if nothing else, “Potions Master’s Payday” can act as a jumping off point for someone else to come up with some better numbers.
Now, I want to take a look at Dumbledore’s money. I’ve already given him a house in “Santo Rappacio - the Headmaster’s House”. Now I want to know how much income he has to maintain it. Just how much does this legendary headmaster of this illustrious school of magic make in a year?
All we can do is guess. So, here’s my take…
So…just how much money does ole Dumbles make in a year?
My (Fuzzy) Methodology
I’ve tackled this question before for our favorite potions master, Severus Snape. Back in 2009 I calculated (as best I could) how much Snape made in a year. I started with the assumption that he began at Hogwarts in the 1985-86 academic year at ₲7,975 galleons (I use the ₲ symbol for galleons) a year. I then made the following assumptions:
- 1 galleon = 5 pounds
- 1 dollar = either 9.75 galleons or 10.07 galleons
- 4% cost of living increase in each succeeding year
Note:for more specifics on how I came up with these assumptions, see my Sources notes in Potions Master’s Payday.
I then took that starting salary in galleons and did 3 conversions:
- Galleons to pounds
- Galleons to dollars using the 9.75 conversion rate
- Galleons to dollars using the 10.07 conversion rate
I then carried out those calculations for all subsequent years ending with the 1994-95 academic year. As a result, I calculated that Severus started out in the 1985-86 academic year earning:
- ₲7,975
- £41,470.00
- $80,866.50 (9.75 conversion rate) or $83,520.58 (10.07 conversion rate)
And by the 1994-95 academic year, he was earning:
- ₲11,804.92
- £59,024.60
- $115,097.97 (9.75 conversion rate) or $118,875.54 (10.07 conversion rate)
Basically, over the years, Severus’ salary increased by about 30% overall.
Dumbles’ Dollars (and Galleons and Pounds)
Okay so where does that leave Dumbles?
For Dumbledore, I took Severus’ starting salary of 7,975 galleons and added 10,000 galleons for a starting salary of 17,975 galleons. Let’s not assume a 4% increase. Let’s just round up to 18,000 galleons and convert to pounds and dollars (using the 2 conversion rates).
- ₲18,000 galleons
- £90,000 pounds
- $175,500 dollars or $181,260 dollars
So, if we assume an approximately 30% increase over 10 years, that’s an upgrade to
- ₲23,400 Galleons
- £117,000 Pounds
- $228,150 dollars or $235,638 dollars
However, that is too low. Over 10 years, Dumbles is making only 2000 more pounds than Severus is. That’s not right, not in terms of hierarchy.
So, let’s change his starting salary to
- ₲28,000 galleons
- £140,000 pounds
- $273,000 dollars or $281,960 dollars
If again, over 10 years, if we assume a simple 30% increase, we then get
- ₲36,400 galleons
- £182,000 pounds
- $354,900 dollars or $366,548 dollars
And that puts him ahead of Severus by
- ₲25,049.11 galleons
- £122,975.46 pounds
- $239,802.03 dollars or $247,672.46 dollars
So, we can conclude that Dumbles earns
- ₲36,400 galleons
- £182,000 pounds
- $354,900 dollars or $366,548 dollars
Technically, that’s less than the salary (£270,000 or ₲54,000) of a previous head of Eton. And since I see Hogwarts as being a magical analog to Eton, then I think that’s a reasonable comparison.
Not bad, Dumbles, not bad.
Now let’s talk about those royalties you get for discovering and patenting different uses for dragon’s blood…