Two years is a long time on YouTube. For Stephen Yeager, the eldest child behind the family channel Shot of The Yeagers, those two years were a deliberate silence. In October 2024 he left for a two year mission with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Now that the calendar has caught up with that timeline, his name is climbing search results again, often attached to a blunt and slightly morbid question: is he still alive?
He is. The disappearance was planned and announced, and by the standards of a churchgoing Utah family it was completely ordinary. What's less ordinary is how much of his life an audience of millions had already watched before he turned 20.
Stephen at a glance
| Full name | Stephen Yeager |
|---|---|
| Born | June 22, 2006, in Clearfield, Utah |
| Age in 2026 | 20 |
| Nationality | American |
| Star sign | Cancer |
| Height | About 5 ft 8 in |
| Faith | The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints |
| Best known for | Shot of The Yeagers (SOTY), the family channel |
| Own channel | Stephen Yeager, 1.8 million+ subscribers |
| Family channel | Shot of The Yeagers, 6 million+ subscribers |
| Parents | Jamie and Steve Yeager |
| Siblings | Taylor, Payton, Jordyn, Parker and Blake |
| Net worth | Icon Polls estimate: $500,000 to $1 million |
Nine years old and already on camera
Stephen was born on June 22, 2006, in Clearfield, a small city north of Salt Lake City. When his parents, Jamie and Steve Yeager, launched Shot of The Yeagers in 2015, he was nine. As the oldest child he became the channel's natural lead: the one taking on the challenge first, falling for the prank, or losing the game in the most watchable way.
The formula was simple. Challenges, pranks, games and gentle family comedy, all aimed squarely at young viewers and the parents sitting next to them. It worked. SOTY passed 6 million subscribers and has racked up billions of views, which puts it among the best known family channels the platform has produced. In 2017 the family was invited to CVX Live, a gathering of online creators and their fans, a sign of how quickly they had gone from home videos to an actual brand.
Stepping out of the family brand
Plenty of kids from family channels never get a following of their own. Stephen did. He launched his self titled channel in September 2017, at 11, and it has since crossed 1.8 million subscribers. That's a real audience, not just spillover from his parents' channel.
The content stayed close to what SOTY fans expected: comedy videos, challenges, vlogs and more personal uploads as he got older. He played high school football, and that side of his life drifted into his videos now and then. Watching his channel in order is a little like flipping through a yearbook, from goofy kid to a young man figuring out who he is with a camera rolling.
Honest assessment? His solo channel never reinvented the family style, and it didn't need to. Its strength was continuity. Viewers who grew up with him kept watching him grow up.
Why the uploads stopped
Before he left, Stephen packed a lot in. He graduated from Syracuse High School in May 2024 and studied Chinese at Weber State University, earning an associate degree. Then, in October 2024, he began his two year mission, serving in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Missions come with strict expectations, and Stephen has been largely off social media for the duration. His family has filled some of the gap with updates and openly emotional posts about missing him. That's the whole story behind the "what happened" searches. No scandal, no illness, just a young man doing what many members of his church do at his age.
A comeback on the calendar, but not announced
The timeline points to his mission finishing around late 2026, which is roughly now. His family has signalled that this is the year they get him back. What hasn't been confirmed, as far as Icon Polls can find, is any official plan for his own channel. Returning home and returning to weekly uploads are two different decisions, and fans should treat the second one as an open question until Stephen answers it himself.
If he does return, he arrives at an interesting point. He's no longer the kid in the thumbnail; he's 20, with a degree, a second language under way and two years of life his audience didn't see. That could make for more grown up content than SOTY ever needed. While you wait, you can argue about where creators like him belong in our vote for the greatest YouTubers of all time.
What the money probably looks like
No official figure for Stephen's net worth exists, and some sites throw around numbers as high as $5 million. That doesn't hold up for a 20 year old who has spent the last two years off camera. Icon Polls estimates his net worth at $500,000 to $1 million in 2026, drawing on his personal YouTube earnings, brand deals, merchandise and a share of family channel revenue.
Treat that as an informed estimate, not a bank statement. How family channel income is split between parents and children is rarely made public. The figure could climb if he returns to regular content, but an older catalogue earns less every month it sits untouched.
The family outside the thumbnails
Stephen is the eldest of Jamie and Steve Yeager's children. His younger siblings are Taylor, Payton, Jordyn, Parker and Blake, and each has carved out a personality on the family channel. The Yeagers have also spoken openly about a painful chapter: when Stephen was about a year old, his parents lost a baby son, Bryce, during childbirth. The family has described that loss as part of who they are.
As for romance, Stephen isn't married. Beyond that, he keeps his private life private, and with two years spent largely offline there's been no public update from him on his relationship status. Icon Polls will leave that where he left it.
Quick answers
How old is Stephen Yeager?
He's 20 in 2026. He was born on June 22, 2006, in Clearfield, Utah, and turns 21 in June 2027.
Where is Stephen Yeager now?
He has been serving a church mission in Las Vegas, Nevada, since October 2024. It was expected to end around late 2026, but there's no official word yet on a return to regular YouTube uploads.
Did Stephen Yeager go to college?
Yes. He studied Chinese at Weber State University and earned an associate degree before his mission, after graduating from Syracuse High School in May 2024.
