He has continued acting as an adult, usually billed as Rick Schroder, notably in the Western miniseries Lonesome Dove (1989) and on the police drama series NYPD Blue (1998–2001).

The following year, Schroder appeared in the Disney feature film The Last Flight of Noah's Ark, with Elliott Gould.

[7] In 1988, a year after Silver Spoons ended, Schroder starred in a prime time CBS TV movie based on a true story, the drama Too Young the Hero, as 12-year-old Calvin Graham who passes for 17 to enlist in World War II.

[8] He also appeared as the guest timekeeper in Wrestlemania 2 for a match between Hulk Hogan and King Kong Bundy.

After graduating from high school, Schroder enrolled in Mesa State College in Grand Junction, Colorado.

[11][12] Schroder made his directorial debut in 2004 with the feature film Black Cloud, a drama also written by him about a Navajo boxer.

[16] He also directed and starred in the music video for "Whiskey Lullaby",[17] a song by Brad Paisley and Alison Krauss.

[28][34] He is an avid hunter and fisherman, having learned to shoot at the age of 10 from actor William Holden on the set of The Earthling.

[40][41] In November 2020, Schroder contributed $150,000 towards the $2 million bail fund for Kyle Rittenhouse, a 17-year old charged and later acquitted in the shooting deaths of two people during the August 2020 unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

[42][43][44][45] In May 2021, Schroder created controversy when he uploaded a video to social media that showed him harassing a Costco employee regarding the company's policy and California mandate[46] requiring face masks or coverings to be worn inside stores during the COVID-19 pandemic.