Kristi Noem Has Quite The Lavish Lifestyle

Imagine earning over $200,000 a year, while having a spouse whose business rakes in hundreds of thousands annually. Picture having that much income, not having to pay for rent or travel, while owning property worth at least $1 million. This might sound like the dream for some people, but for Kristi Noem, it was only a small bit of the lavish lifestyle she led as the Department of Homeland Security secretary. But this taste for the finer things in life started before she even landed the role.

Before her DHS employment, Noem was a farm girl, then a representative, and eventually the Republican governor of South Dakota. Those positions might not have offered her Elon Musk-level wealth, but they earned her a decent, steady income and something much more important: perks.

As a governor and DHS secretary, Noem had access to government funds, business owners who were eager to please, and heavily discounted services. And according to the allegations, she didn't hesitate to help herself to these perks and wasn't exactly strict about separating public funds from personal benefits. While Noem has been fired from her DHS post, she's been reassigned as "Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas" and will likely still be earning an above-average salary. Plus, judging by her closeness to America's most powerful and her work history, we have no doubt that she's got more lavish days ahead.

No one expected Kristi Noem to live in an unsecured apartment building or to fly economy while she worked for the DHS, but the amount of money she spent on housing and travel might make your head spin. For starters, she owns a 200-acre ranch that is worth approximately $1.1 million, but didn't even live there as DHS secretary. Instead, she lived in a military residence that was originally supposed to be for the top Coast Guard — and she did so rent-free, which is certainly not the norm for a DHS secretary. 

When Noem wasn't in her rent-free military home, she frequently traveled for both official and personal reasons in style. First class wasn't good enough for the former governor, and so, in October 2025, while the rest of the country was struggling through a grueling shutdown, she gave the okay for her department to purchase two private jets, of which she was the "primary user," according to the House Appropriations Committee Democrats.

Noem's willingness to splurge on travel didn't start when she became DHS secretary. As governor, AP News reported that she cost South Dakota $640,000 on travel over six years. This wasn't just for professional duties. The costs included bills for a bear hunt vacation, her book tour, and a trip for dental work. Noem's new salary and living arrangements as the Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas haven't yet been publicly released as of this writing, but we have no doubt that the role will include some luxe perks of its own.

Considering that Kristi Noem is forever haunted by her many hair extension fails, it's easy to assume that she goes for the cheap stuff. But don't be deceived. Her hair fails are definitely a skill issue, not a cost one. For starters, she clearly uses premium human hair extensions, and anyone who's ever worn extensions or a wig will tell you that those things don't come cheap. In fact, hair expert Amber Renee told our sister site The List that the clip-ins cost an estimated $1,500 to $3,000 for the hair alone. When styling, maintenance, and other hair-related costs come into play, the bill goes up really fast.

However, this price could be even higher because Noem doesn't go light on the extensions. The obviously fake, puffed-up look her hair has is partly because the extensions are ridiculously heavy and overfilled in some areas. Additionally, she is rarely seen without them, which isn't surprising, considering that old pics of Kristi Noem's short hair without her infamous hair extensions are jarring. With how often she wears them, we can't help but wonder how many sets of extensions she has and how frequently she gets professional maintenance. For most people, hair appointments are a luxury, but for the former DHS secretary, they're just a way of life.

Kristi Noem is one of the worst offenders of the Mar-a-Lago face trend, and while the look might be a beauty crime, it's also a look that signals just how rich you are. When we spoke to a plastic surgeon about Kristi Noem's face transformation, he gave us the breakdown of the likely reasons behind each change. We know she's gotten her lips done, which signals to lip fillers, and that the frozen expression and weird skin texture she has hint at Botox and more filler. Now, unlike plastic surgery, fillers and Botox are procedures that require frequent maintenance.

Botox, for example, can cost from $325 to $600 on average, depending on what you're getting done (per the American Academy of Facial Esthetics). Since it requires touch-ups every three to four months, Noem could be spending thousands yearly on Botox alone. Fillers, on the other hand, cost around $700 to $900 per session, depending on where you live and how much you're putting into your face. They also need frequent maintenance. We can't say for certain how much Noem spends, but it's clear that keeping up with her Mar-a-Lago face costs thousands of dollars each year.

No Mar-a-Lago face is complete without thick makeup slathered on obnoxiously, and Kristi Noem pays dearly for it. During her time as governor, she spent $75,000 of state funds on a studio package that included a makeup kit and filming equipment. The Dakota Free Press revealed that the package was called the ReadyCam and that Noem was the only governor to have her own studio.

Makeup aside, Kristi Noem's teeth lawsuit controversy revealed that she'd been given free dental work from a dental aesthetics company. Not only did she not have to pay for it, but she reportedly spent public funds to travel to and from the Texas company during her time as South Dakota governor.

As icing on the cake, Noem pairs her Mar-a-Lago face, teeth augmentations, and expensive makeup with an impressive amount of fake tan, which also requires regular upkeep. Say what you want about the end result, but one thing is for certain: it takes a great deal of money to look that controversial.

To complement her lavish lifestyle, Kristi Noem makes sure to wear only the best jewelry, and by the best, we mean the priciest. Shortly after being hired as DHS secretary, Kristi Noem stirred controversy by wearing a Rolex in an inappropriate setting. She'd been on an official visit to El Salvador's gruesome Terrorist Confinement Center (CECOT), where inmates were visibly kept in horrific conditions. While no one doubted that many of the incarcerated persons had committed crimes, the then-secretary's $60,000 Cosmograph Daytona Rolex seemed quite tone deaf.

Expensive watches aside, Kristi Noem almost exclusively wears pearl earrings and necklaces, which is quite an expensive taste to have. Now, while we don't know exactly how much her jewelry collection costs, we know she frequently patronizes Pearls by Shari, a pretty high-end jewelry brand. One of the cheapest pieces on the brand's website is a ring that costs $900, while the most expensive is the Tahitian Keshi Premier Strand for $42,840, as of this writing. Love her or hate her, we can all agree that being Kristi Noem is expensive business.

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