Aaron Peckham Net Worth and the Business of Urban Dictionary
At a glance
- 1999Urban Dictionary founded
- 17M+Definitions listed in 2025
- NoneVenture money, per 2014 interview
- 2007Court win against COPA
Aaron Peckham founded Urban Dictionary in 1999 as a Cal Poly freshman and left a Google engineering job in 2008 to run it full time. His net worth has never been publicly confirmed. He told The New York Times in 2014 that the site earns mainly from advertising and merchandise, took no venture money, and makes enough to support him and the site. He was a plaintiff in ACLU v. Gonzales, which struck down the Child Online Protection Act in 2007. The site listed more than 17 million definitions in 2025.
Profile
| Education | B.S. and M.S., Cal Poly |
|---|---|
| Home base | San Francisco (2013-14) |
| Earlier job | Google software engineer |
| Net worth | Not confirmed |
Site
| Founded | 1999 |
|---|---|
| Definitions | 17M+ (2025) |
| Visitors | 40M, Jan-Oct 2006 |
| Page views | 110M a month (2013) |
Money
| Main income | Advertising |
|---|---|
| Extras | Merch, calendars, books |
| Funding | No venture money (2014) |
| Revenue | Not disclosed |
Did you know
Before Urban Dictionary, Aaron Peckham made a spoof of the Ask Jeeves search engine and shut it down after a cease-and-desist letter.
Rumor check
Was Urban Dictionary sold? No sale has been reported. He said in 2014 he did not want an acquisition.
Aaron Peckham net worth has never been confirmed by him or by any reliable outlet, so we do not print a number. What he has said on record is unusually plain: the site pays its way, but it is no Silicon Valley jackpot.
He started Urban Dictionary as a college freshman in 1999 and still speaks for it. No sale has been reported, and he told The New York Times in 2014 that he had not taken venture money.
Below is what interviews and court records show about how the site earns, as of November 2026.
Quick facts
Known forFounder of Urban Dictionary, 1999 [1]
EducationBachelor’s and master’s in computer science, Cal Poly [5]
Earlier jobSoftware engineer at Google until 2008 [1][5]
FundingNo venture financing, he said in 2014 [1]
Home baseSan Francisco, per 2013 and 2014 reports [1][2]
Net worthNot publicly confirmed
Aaron Peckham net worth: what is on record
Searches for Aaron Peckham net worth bring up confident totals on bio sites. None of them cites a filing, a sale or an interview. Urban Dictionary is privately run and does not publish revenue.
The same gap shows up for course-company founders. Our Anik Singal net worth guide looks at what the FTC complaint alleges and what the stipulated civil settlement actually orders, and stops there.
Reporters have asked him about money more than once, though. His answers, plus a few hard numbers from court and the press, are the best guide we have.
| Money item | What is on record |
|---|---|
| Net worth | Not confirmed by him or any reliable outlet |
| Urban Dictionary revenue | Not disclosed; enough to support him and the site, he said in 2014 [1] |
| Main income | Advertising, plus calendars, greeting cards, books and other merchandise [1][2] |
| Outside funding | None sought or accepted, he said in 2014 [1] |
| Book deal | Urban Dictionary book from Andrews McMeel, 2005; advance not reported [7] |
| Sale of the site | None reported |
How did Aaron Peckham start Urban Dictionary?
Peckham was a computer science student at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo when he built it in 1999 [1]. The New York Times reported that he had already made a spoof of the Ask Jeeves search engine and shut it down after a cease-and-desist letter [1].
He meant Urban Dictionary as a joke too. In 2006 he told a federal court that he had set it up as a parody, a dictionary that takes every definition from the people who actually speak the language [5].
“At first, all the content was by me and my friends, having fun,” he told the Times [1]. His parents were a public-school teacher and an artist, the paper reported [1].
Did Aaron Peckham work at Google?
Yes. When he testified in October 2006, he said he was a software engineer at Google and had recently finished bachelor’s and master’s degrees in computer science at Cal Poly [5].
He kept Urban Dictionary going on the side. He quit Google in 2008, after two years there, to run the site full time, the Times said [1]. Turning a side project into a living is a familiar founder story. Russell Brunson’s net worth guide follows a software founder who also says he grew without outside investors.
How does Urban Dictionary make money?
Mostly from ads. In 2013 the Times reported that he contracted others to sell advertising and to make merchandise such as T-shirts and mugs printed with popular definitions. He had no paid staff then and ran the site from his laptop [2].
In 2014 he said the business made money mainly from advertising and a small line of products, including calendars, greeting cards and books sold through the site [1]. He would not give figures. He said it did not bring in a huge amount of cash but was enough to support him and the site, and called it “stable and growing” [1].
Newer features include Urban Dictionary Promote, a flat-fee advertising system, according to a December 2025 Times report [3]. An experimental chat feature built on artificial intelligence had also been tried and dropped, the paper said [3].
How big is Urban Dictionary?
The audience numbers come from different measures, so they are not directly comparable. In a 2009 radio interview he said the busiest day the site had ever had brought about 900,000 visitors [4]. A federal judge found in 2007 that the site had about 40 million visitors from January to October 2006 [5].
In 2013, Quantcast data put it at 110 million monthly page views, the Times reported [2]. ComScore counted 8.4 million monthly visitors in October 2013, and he said his own numbers were higher [1].
The definition count grew from more than 7 million in early 2014 to over 17 million in 2025 [1][3]. Big reach does not tell you the owner’s pay; Stephanie Soo’s net worth guide makes the same point about a top YouTube podcaster.
Why did Aaron Peckham sue the federal government?
Peckham joined ACLU v. Gonzales as one of its plaintiffs, the challenge to the Child Online Protection Act, a law aimed at sexually explicit material online that minors could reach [5][6].
He told Ars Technica in 2006 that requiring a credit card would kill his traffic, and that because the site was funded by ads he could not keep running it [8]. The court found that putting his visitors through an age check would have cost Urban Dictionary between $14.8 million and $38.8 million [5].
On March 22, 2007, Senior U.S. District Judge Lowell A. Reed Jr. ruled that the law violated the plaintiffs’ First and Fifth Amendment rights and permanently blocked its enforcement [5].
Has Urban Dictionary changed under his ownership?
In July 2020 he posted “Rethinking the Dictionary” on the site’s blog, asked users for feedback and promised new content guidelines and a rebuilt moderation system, The New York Times reported [3].
By late 2025 he said the voting system had been reworked so that every vote comes from a real person rather than a bot [3]. Moderation and “voting authenticity” are the two big challenges he named [3].
He still speaks for the site himself, answering the Times by email in 2025 [3]. Founders who keep control often keep their numbers private as well, as Maksud Agadjani’s net worth guide shows for the jeweler behind TraxNYC.
Aaron Peckham and Urban Dictionary timeline
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| 1999 | Starts Urban Dictionary as a Cal Poly freshman [1] |
| October 2005 | Urban Dictionary book published by Andrews McMeel [7] |
| October 31, 2006 | Testifies in ACLU v. Gonzales while working at Google [5] |
| March 22, 2007 | Judge permanently blocks the Child Online Protection Act [5] |
| 2008 | Leaves Google to run the site full time [1] |
| April 15, 2009 | Site’s biggest day to that point, about 900,000 visitors [4] |
| January 2014 | Tells the Times the site is “stable and growing” [1] |
| July 2020 | Posts “Rethinking the Dictionary” [3] |
| 2025 | More than 17 million definitions listed [3] |
Checked facts
Here is where the most repeated claims stand.
| Claim | Status |
|---|---|
| A reliable outlet has published his net worth | No. We found no verified figure |
| Urban Dictionary was sold or acquired | Not reported. He said in 2014 he did not want an acquisition [1] |
| He took venture capital | No, by his own account in 2014 [1] |
| He worked at Google | Yes, as a software engineer, until 2008 [1][5] |
| He sued the U.S. government | Yes, as a plaintiff in ACLU v. Gonzales, which won in 2007 [5] |
Reader questions
What is Aaron Peckham’s net worth?
It has not been publicly confirmed. Urban Dictionary is private, and he has declined to share revenue figures [1].
Who owns Urban Dictionary?
Its founder, Aaron Peckham. He started it in 1999 and has not reported a sale [1].
How does Urban Dictionary make money?
Mainly from advertising, plus merchandise such as calendars, greeting cards and books [1][2].
Sources
- The New York Times (Jenna Wortham), via San Luis Obispo Tribune: profile of Urban Dictionary and its founder (Jan. 6, 2014)
- The New York Times (Leslie Kaufman), via The Bulletin: Online slang dictionary gets a say in court cases (May 22, 2013)
- The New York Times, via The Indian Express: Who defines slang now? (Dec. 19, 2025)
- On the Media, WNYC: Interview with Aaron Peckham (2009)
- U.S. District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania: ACLU v. Gonzales, final adjudication (Mar. 22, 2007), with Oct. 31, 2006 trial testimony
- ACLU: Online free speech client profile, Aaron Peckham (Oct. 20, 2006)
- Harvard Book Store: Urban Dictionary, compiled by Aaron Peckham, Andrews McMeel (Oct. 1, 2005)
- Ars Technica: ACLU v. Gonzales, an eight-year struggle over internet censorship (Oct. 25, 2006)
