If you’ve spent any time scrolling through dance clips or catching the latest season of Dancing with the Stars, you know her face. She’s effortless. She’s strong. But lately, the question on everyone’s mind isn't just about her footwork—it's how old is Hayley Erbert? It’s a fair thing to ask, especially considering the massive life shifts she’s navigated in just the last few years.
Hayley Erbert is currently 31 years old.
She was born on October 11, 1994. While she might still seem like the "new girl" on the pro dance circuit to some, she’s actually been a professional force for over a decade. Honestly, when you look at what she’s accomplished—and survived—before hitting her mid-30s, that number feels a bit deceptive. Most people her age are just hitting their stride; Hayley has already lived through a lifetime of career highs and a terrifying near-death experience.
The Topeka Roots and Early Grinds
Hayley didn't just wake up one day and decide to be a world-class dancer. She’s been at this since she was 3. Growing up in Topeka, Kansas, she wasn't just another kid in a tutu. She was a competitor. By the time she was a student at Washburn Rural High School, she was already balancing high-level dance with the pageant world.
In 2013, she actually placed as the first runner-up in Miss Kansas Teen USA. Shortly after that, she made the leap to the national stage on So You Think You Can Dance Season 10. She was only 18. Think about that for a second. While most of us were trying to figure out how to do laundry in a dorm room, she was performing for millions and getting critiqued by icons like Mary Murphy and Nigel Lythgoe.
She didn't win the show—she finished as a Top 6 female—but it didn't matter. The industry took notice.
Meeting Derek and the DWTS Era
It’s kinda wild to think that destiny basically handed her a career and a husband in one go. In 2014, Derek Hough and his sister Julianne were looking for dancers for their Move Live on Tour. They hired Hayley. She was 19 or 20 at the time. Derek is about nine years older than her, a gap that some fans occasionally point out, but in the dance world, they were peers from the jump.
After that tour, Derek and Julianne passed her name along to the producers at Dancing with the Stars. She joined the troupe in Season 21. That was 2015. For seven seasons, she was the glue of those massive group numbers. She never became a "pro" partner in the sense of being paired with a celebrity, but she was arguably more versatile than half the main cast.
The Health Crisis That Changed Everything
You can't talk about how old Hayley Erbert is without talking about December 6, 2023. At 29 years old, she was on the Symphony of Dance tour with Derek when something went horribly wrong.
During a performance in Washington, D.C., she became disoriented. It wasn't just exhaustion. It was a cranial hematoma—a burst blood vessel in her brain. She was rushed into an emergency craniectomy. Basically, surgeons had to remove a piece of her skull to stop the pressure from killing her.
"What a miracle it is that two years ago I was fighting for my life… and now, here I am creating life," Hayley recently shared on her social media.
Recovery wasn't a straight line. She had to undergo a second surgery—a cranioplasty—to replace the skull fragment with an implant. For a professional dancer whose entire life is based on balance, coordination, and physical perfection, a brain injury is the ultimate "game over" scenario. Except it wasn't for her. She was back on stage four months later. That kind of resilience is rare at any age, but at 29, it cemented her as a bit of a legend in the dance community.
Motherhood and the 2026 Chapter
As of early 2026, Hayley is embracing a whole new title: Mom.
After a heartbreaking miscarriage that the couple bravely shared with fans in late 2024, they welcomed their daughter, Everley Capri Hough, on December 29, 2025. It’s a "rainbow baby" situation that has clearly shifted her perspective.
Right now, her life looks a lot different than it did during those frantic tour days. She’s 31, she’s a mom, and she’s a survivor. The age 31 often feels like a transition point for many women—that space between the "figuring it out" 20s and the "actually doing it" 30s. For Hayley, it seems to be a year of reclamation. She isn't just "Derek Hough’s wife" or "the girl from DWTS." She’s someone who literally rebuilt her own brain and body.
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Quick Stats: Hayley Erbert at a Glance
- Current Age: 31
- Birthday: October 11, 1994
- Birthplace: Topeka, Kansas
- Height: 5'6"
- Major Milestone: Emergency brain surgery at age 29 (2023)
- Family Status: Married Derek Hough in 2023; welcomed daughter Everley in late 2025.
Why People Keep Searching for Her Age
Honestly, I think people search for her age because she’s been around for so long. Because she started at 18 on national TV, it feels like she should be 40 by now. Then you see her on social media, looking as vibrant as she did a decade ago, and it creates this weird cognitive dissonance.
There's also the Derek factor. Since he’s 40, people naturally want to see where they land on the timeline together. They’ve been "Instagram official" since 2017, meaning they’ve been a public unit for nearly nine years.
What’s Next for the 31-Year-Old Star?
She isn't slowing down. Despite the trauma of the last two years, she and Derek are slated for the Symphony of Dance: Encore tour through the summer of 2026.
If you're following her journey, the best way to support her isn't just by tracking her age, but by acknowledging the advocacy work she’s doing now. She’s become an accidental spokesperson for brain health and pregnancy loss. She’s using her platform to normalize the "messy" parts of being a woman in the public eye.
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If you want to keep up with her recovery or her new life as a parent, her Instagram is usually the first place she drops updates. She’s been incredibly transparent about the "good days and bad days," which is refreshing in an industry that usually demands a filtered version of reality.
Next Steps for You:
If you’ve been inspired by her story, consider looking into the signs of a cranial hematoma or supporting organizations that focus on traumatic brain injury (TBI) recovery. Awareness can literally save lives, just as it did for Hayley back in 2023.