Like coffee at Luke's or Friday night dinner, Emily and Richard's fortune is a constant in the world of Gilmore Girls. It allowed Rory to attend the prestigious (and expensive) Chilton Preparatory School and then Yale, while highlighting the longstanding tension between Lorelai and her parents. It's a world Lorelai stayed away from as a teenager, but revisiting it as an adult you can't help but notice its charm. After all, as Emily proves in Season 4, you can buy Manolo Blahnik, a diamond watch and a vintage china set in an angry shopping spree without a second thought (I need to check my bank’s mobile app balance during this time) is not the worst way to cure a bad day.
So, how do Emily and Richard afford their lavish lifestyle? First, they all come from wealthy families. This was demonstrated most clearly by Richard's mother, Lorelai "Trix" Gilmore, who had enough coins to provide a $250,000 trust fund for Rory. However, Emily's family is doing just fine, too - in fact, the hospital Richard visited in season one was founded by her great-uncle.
Richard also made a lot of money through his work. He served as executive vice president of an insurance company called Gerhman-Driscoll before branching out and starting his own consulting firm in his second season. The company didn't exist in reality, but he told Rory it was one of the largest companies in the country. According to Glassdoor estimates, he could earn as much as $544,000 a year if Berkshire Hathaway was one of the largest insurance companies in the United States.
While Emily may not directly contribute to the couple's annual income, she certainly plays an important role in running the house (according to a similar mansion in Hartford, Connecticut, which is now for sale price may exceed $3 million). Luckily, she has a revolving door of chefs and butlers to help her do just that—so much so that neither Emily nor Richard need to learn how to make frozen pizza, one of life's simplest pleasures one.
So, by all accounts, Lorelai's parents are super rich. Apparently, they had enough money to build a Yale astronomy building named after Rory! (For reference, the lab named after the Yale School of Nursing alone cost a whopping $5 million. So they must have tapped into the family's deep well.) But even so, they're not the richest in the world People Gilmore Girls. It becomes clear after Rory first meets the Huntzbergers, her college boyfriend Logan's family, who aren't exactly the most welcoming to her - or rather, their family The level of wealth is not high. As Shira Huntzberger once said, "Frankly, Emily, there's your money and there's our money."
