The Big Bang Theory: Is It Possible That Penny Is Richer Than Leonard?
"The Big Bang Theory" doesn't always treat its female characters with respect, but one of them may be much more successful than her male companion.
By the time "The Big Bang Theory" comes to an end, Penny Hofstadter (Kaley Cuoco) is a successful pharmaceutical representative, working alongside her friend Bernadette Rostenkowski-Wolowitz (Melissa Rauch) after realizing she probably wasn't ever going to become a famous actress. Meanwhile, her husband Leonard (Johnny Galecki) works at CalTech (the California Institute of Technology) with all his friends for the entire series. So does Penny earn a bigger paycheck than Leonard?
According to Quora user Mr. Shelby: probably. As they wrote when a different user asked how Penny could possibly be more successful, "As far as I know, Leonard is a Research scientist at Caltech. Per Glassdoor, a Research scientist at Caltech makes around 88k a year, which isn't a very high salary by California standards. According to Medrep.com the Average salary for a medical representative, which is what Penny does is around 140k a year. So it's entirely plausible that Penny earns much more than Leonard."
At the beginning, Leonard and Penny's relationship is far from equal
If Penny does make more money than Leonard, then it definitely feels like it restores the balance between the two, as their relationship often feels weighted in Leonard's favor. When the two first meet, Penny is a struggling actress who, much to Sheldon Cooper's (Jim Parsons) dismay, uses Sheldon and Leonard's wifi and frequently eats meals at their (larger, nicer) apartment for free. She might be beautiful and socially adept, but she basically depends on Sheldon and Leonard for key aspects of her survival at first ... and the show often highlights the fact that Leonard considers himself to be much, much smarter than Penny and makes no secret of that.
A perfect example comes in the Season 6 episode "The Extract Obliteration," when Leonard discovers that Penny has been quietly attending classes at community college (Leonard has a PhD, while Penny never graduated from university). As it turns out, Penny had a good reason for keeping this from Leonard, because when he sees one of the papers she's written, he hastily rewrites it to help Penny get a better grade instead of encouraging her to learn on her own. It's a pretty condescending move on Leonard's part, so the idea that Penny ultimately surpasses him financially helps soften that blow somewhat.
"The Big Bang Theory" is streaming on Max now.