Dave Canterbury Net Worth 2025: Age, Height, Wife, Income & Biography

Who is Dave Canterbury?

David Michael Canterbury, popular by his stage name Dave Canterbury, is an American Reality TV Personality, Survival expert, and author. He is best known as a survival expert. He went from leading a simple life in a woodland environment to appearing on Television and becoming one of the respected Survivalists. As of 2025, Dave Canterbury’s net worth is around $300K.

Early Life

David Michael Canterbury was born on September 19, 1963, in Florida, USA. He holds American nationality. His father’s and mother’s names are unknown, but his parents got divorced. After that, his mother got remarried to a woodsman who loved hunting and fishing.

After Dave Canterbury’s high school studies, in 1981, he joined the US Army. There he learned discipline, work ethic, and hardship management, which are useful for his career.

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David Michael Canterbury went to Indiana to study primitive skills. He worked briefly as an animal control officer and a net diver in Florida. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Wilderness Ministry from Frontier Christian University.

He earned the certification for Wilderness First Aid/CPR and Advanced Search and Rescue. He also received basic and intermediate certificates from the International School of Herbal Arts and Sciences.

Personal Life

David Michael Canterbury got married to Iris Canterbury. They were married in 2002. The couple shared two children. They also have an adopted son. His wife, Iris Canterbury, is equally invested in survival projects and often works with her husband.

Age, Height, and Weight

In 2025, Dave Canterbury was 63 years old. Dave Canterbury’s height is 5 feet 8 inches (1.78m). His weight is 72 kg.

Professional Life

Dave Canterbury started his career by joining the US Army. He served there for 6 years of his life, from 1981 to 1987. He teaches survival techniques where he is the owner as well as an instructor at the Pathfinder school.

From 2010 to 2011, Dave appeared in the reality TV series ‘Dual Survival’ on the Discovery Channel. He served as a how-to guide on getting out of a sticky situation with the help of experts like yours truly. There, he earned a lot of financial success.

 

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Besides forming his Television, he is also the author of Bushcraft 101, listed as one of New York’s bestsellers, and Survivability for the Common Man, published in 2011. He also released another book in 2015, Advanced Bushcraft.

Dave Canterbury has a lot of work experience because he has served in different fields. His earliest jobs included working at a reptile farm, fishing, diving, and odd factory jobs.

Dave Canterbury Net Worth in 2025 / Dave Canterbury’s Salary / Income

Dave Canterbury is an American veteran military sergeant, former TV personality, published author, and currently a survival instructor at one of his schools. He was born on 19^th September 1963 in Florida with his original name Dave Michael Canterbury and went to Indiana to study primitive skills and earned a Wilderness Ministry degree from Frontier Christian University.

Dave Canterbury is a well-recognized face of the Discovery Channel and the National Geographic Channel, including other TV appearances as a survival expert. He has done two seasons on the Discovery Channel and has sold many self-inked books based on survival.

He has also bagged many certifications like Wilderness 1^st Aid/CPR, Advanced research & Rescue. Additionally, the scholar has also secured basic and intermediate certifications from the International School of Herbal Arts & Sciences. He is also into coaching people about survival techniques and self-reliance in his school, and also trains people in online classes.

Dave’s professional journey from being a local net diver on a reptile farm of a commercial fishing vessel in Florida to a huge TV personality as a survival expert, best-selling author, and then survival coach is of symbolic importance. His financial success is a story of a boy who has always been passionate about his childhood dream and pursuing it with hard work and earning potential.

As of 2025, his estimated net worth is speculated to be more than $300 thousand. His earnings not only come from reality TV shows, online/private classes, and book selling, but also from the sales of his merchandise of survival gear. Besides that, he gets considerable earnings from endorsements and sponsorships.

As a Military Sergeant

Dave Canterbury joined the American army right after finishing his formal education in Florida. He had started serving United States Army as a military sergeant in 1981. So it is rightly said that he started to acquire the importance of work ethics, discipline, hardships, and also started to get trained in a hard situation. This was the time when he started to lay the foundation of his professional career as well as his net worth.

Dave Canterbury served US Army for six years and retired from his position in 1987. So his service of years in the United States Army comprises 1981-1987 at unit number #984^th Military Police Company and #260^th Military Police Company.

Later, Dave left the army because he was an adventurous spirit and wanted to explore other walks of life in which he could do something more to achieve something big in his life regarding survival.

He was a self-creative person and knew the importance of self-crafted tools, which is why he left the army to achieve something big that would serve people in terms of any unexpected scenarios. Hardship management skills learnt by him in the army not only played a significant role in his career ahead but also established his net worth initially.

As a TV Personality

Dave Canterbury started gaining more knowledge by learning primitive skills and accomplished his bachelor’s degree in Wilderness Ministry from the university to pursue his interest and dream. He became a diver and animal control officer for a very brief period. He started again to get close to nature and animals, and simultaneously bagged many certifications.

Certainly, after three years of leaving the army, Dave gave his first appearance on a reality TV show in 2010. This show was called Dual Survival and used to air on the Discovery Channel. He was given the role of survival expert and co-starred in this show with Cody Ludin, with whom his chemistry was record-breaking on screen and used to gel well with him off-screen, too. Salary from this show was substantial enough, and his net worth became unstoppable afterwards. He did two seasons for the same show on the same channel till 2011.

Dave also gave an appearance on National Geographic Channel’s show called Dirty Rotten Survival in 2015. He co-starred in this series of shows for many episodes. His face became very famous among the audiences who have an interest in survival shows. He was presented with the role of survival expert on this show as well. Till that time, he was under massive limelight and salary from each episode of this show also contributed to his net worth.

As a published author

Dave Canterbury has written many books, as mentioned throughout his multifaceted career. Exclusive knowledge and adventurous experiences of his two-decades-long career based on survival are well depicted and explained in his books.

Dave also made himself enter the list of The New York Times Best Sellers by authoring a book called ‘Bushcraft 101 in the year 2014. Thousands of copies were sold among the people who got interested in the theme of survival. A few of his other bestselling books include ‘Survivability for the common man’, published in 2011, and ‘Advanced Bushcraft’, published in 2015. Earnings from such books are also factored into his net worth.

Dave Canterbury’s few books are also present on Amazon, as their Prices and names are tabulated below;

Dave’s books are best known for being an exclusive and excellent guide for beginners. His bibliography record is known to receive top-notch ratings and is still in the process of making an excellent commercial sale. Therefore, his net worth graph is still on a steady incline due to his entire book till today as well.

Speaking Fee and Other Public Appearances

Dave Canterbury, as a survival expert, is a river of knowledge, and that is why many schools, universities, and sponsored event hosts invite him to their respective set-ups by providing him a decent amount of salary. He usually shares his expertise and lifelong learnt lessons on educational convocations and many other conventions. He has given various lectures on extreme survival case scenarios faced by him throughout his entire career.

Furthermore, Dave Canterbury has also been featured in many popular magazines and publications. He has been featured in New Pioneer Magazine, Trappers World, Bushcraft and Survival Skills Magazine, American Frontiersman, and Backwoodsman Magazine. These magazines provided him with a substantial amount of salary, which has further expanded his net worth.

Earnings from his own School

As mentioned earlier, Dave Canterbury has always been very fond of nature and woods, and while exploring, he realized at one point that it was very complicated for a person who got abandoned and lost in the woods to survive. So it made the former inquisitive soldier come up with survival techniques.

As it was already a UN advanced era without any modern equipment so he discovered that one needs individual and self-crafted skills to survive in the forest without carrying any excessive items. In such conditions, he experienced his expertise and made shelters, wooden bows, learned to start a fire, and slept outside without any navigation. While getting his degree and experiencing his hand all out in nature (independently and on TV shows), he has opened his very own school and named it ‘The Pathfinder School’ with a link www.thepathfinder.com.

This school is based on coaching survival techniques to its students, including the 5Cs of Survivability.  The basic meaning of 5Cs is cutting tool, container, cover, combustion device, and cordage. It also transfers the tribal lessons of outdoor endurance and self-reliance to its students. Additionally, this school also provides basic/advanced courses/sessions to its students. Students get trained to make knives, Bushcraft, and wilderness first aid. His main goal behind founding this school is to prepare and train students for any possible emergency circumstances.

Dave’s fondness for nature and woods is benefiting the people around him for an unpredictable future, as he suggests in his classes that everyone should be prepared because of the uncertainty of affording modern gadgets. Such teachings are based on experiencing own hands and self-sufficiency. This thing benefits the people and makes him more popular and a favorite among his students and across borders.

Dave’s school has also entered the United States of America Today’s List of Top 12 Survival Schools. His school’s popularity is soaring with each passing day, and this fact points towards the swift rise in his net worth as well.

Earnings from merchandise (Store)

Dave Canterbury has also founded his merchandise in a store, and this creates another passive stream of income for his financial success. His fans, students, and audiences, gathered in a career spanning over 4 decades, seem to be very curious about his own favorite survival gear and survival tools. He has named his brand Self Reliance Outfitters Store.

The store has displayed some very useful tools, including knives, survival kits, Blankets, Training courses, and various sets of different colored T-shirts. Each supply of the store has its kind of importance, as he has customized the items himself. They are displayed at very affordable prices, resulting in rapid sales of his merchandise in a very short time. His own brand/merchandise is also expanding his net worth.

Brand Endorsements and Commercials

As mentioned that Dave Canterbury’s income is reliant on other brand endorsements and commercials. Numerous companies and huge brands look up to him to endorse their respective merchandise.

Dave is the brand ambassador and face of the Orakniv brand and gets a lion-sized salary from it. Moreover, he has also endorsed Grayl, Helicon_Tex, Ledlenser, ikamper, GPCA, and Silky Saws USA. He is also into marketing the brands by promoting them on his own social media. Brand deals and endorsements, including product consumption, are one of the major streams of income for him. Commissions from such lucrative brands are factored into his net worth.

Social Media

Dave Canterbury is very active and available on social media platforms. He is present on Facebook with an account handle @David Canterbury with 285k plus followers. On Instagram, he is available and very active with an account handle @Pathfindersurvival with 6,662 posts and 257k plus followers.

He is also present on Twitter/X with an account handle @Davecanterbury with 17.7k plus followers. On TikTok, he is present with an account handle @pathfindersurvival with 735.8k plus followers.

Dave Canterbury has a very wide range of followers on social media. Thanks to his professional career spanning over four decades, he has gathered such a wide range of fans across borders. He posts, re-posts, shares, re-shares, shouts, and gives shout-outs to other brands. His single tweet on X and shout-out for the brand is based on a decent amount of fee.  Earnings from social media further bolstered his net worth.YouTube

Dave Canterbury is one of the early adopters of the YouTube platform and has launched his own channel with the name @David Canterbury based on self self-reliance theme. Earning from YouTube is considered to be one of the major sources of income for him. He has 888k plus followers on YouTube, and the views on his videos have crossed 112 million. He usually shares informative videos based on survival techniques and the expertise of his field.

David Michael Canterbury’s content on YouTube consists of instructional videos, and he makes videos about how to use different make tools, fishing, hunting, and camping. He usually shares keynotes on emergency scenarios and self-sustainability.

Dave’s channel’s popularity is soaring over the years, and many users find his content very useful. Most of his viewers love his explanation of complex words into simple and clear instructions. According to the data given by Social Blade, his monthly income from YouTube only may rise from $241 to $3.9k monthly. Per year, earnings may rise from $2.9k to $46.3k as per reports.

Future Prospects

Dave Canterbury in 2025 seems unstoppable in terms of spreading his knowledge and expanding his financial wealth, as he is planning to launch more courses and other informative workshops at his school. His knowledge and impact on culture and survival education are of symbolic importance, as he has trained and is still giving education to many people on the importance of being self-sufficient. His legacy will continue to be seen in bushcraft popularity as a discipline and lifestyle. He seems very dedicated to ensuring that his learning and knowledge are accessible to everyone.

Dave’s work in the survivalist community has left an unavoidable mark because he is one of the pioneers in this field. In this ever-changing world, his expertise and knowledge are and will always be dominant enough to enable an individual to survive in any scenario. He still seems very interested in taking up lucrative endorsement deals.

David Michael Canterbury is also working hard on demonstrating his knowledge in his upcoming self-authored books. He is still into discovering other self-reliant and useful tools. It is speculated that we will soon read his authored books in the market, and also might see him on TV. Rumors are also doing the rounds that his net worth is also expanding with each passing day.

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