The Net Worth Of The American Presidents: Washington To Obama

George Washington, the nation’s first president, was also one of the wealthiest men to hold the office. His Virginia plantation, Mount Vernon, consisted of five separate farms on 8,000 acres of prime farmland. As president, Washington earned significantly more than his successors — his salary was 2% of the total 1789 U.S. budget.

Read the Net Worth of the American Presidents.

Our 16th president, Abraham Lincoln, was not one of America’s wealthiest — and any opportunity to earn money after his term in office was cut short. He was born in a log cabin and served as an attorney for 17 years before becoming president. He owned a single-family home in Springfield, Illinois.

Editor’s Note: This article was first published on May 17, 2010. The net worth of any of the presidents on this list who are no longer living cannot change, except as measured by inflation. We have examined the net worth for the presidents who are still earning a significant income. Presidents Obama, George W. Bush and Clinton have made millions from book royalties and speaking fees. While Presidents Carter and George H. W. Bush amassed large fortunes throughout their lives, their net worth does not appear to have changed in recent years.

– The Editors (2/11/2016)

24/7 Wall St. examined the finances of all 43 presidents. For comparison purposes, we provided net worth figures for each president in 2010 dollars. Because a number of presidents, particularly in the early 19th century, made and lost huge fortunes in a matter of a few years, we only provided each president’s net worth at its peak.

In the case of each president we have taken into account hard assets such as land, estimated lifetime savings based on work history, inheritance, homes, and money paid for services, including such diverse incomes as salary as collector of customs at the Port of New York to Fortune 500 board memberships. We have also taken into account royalties on books, along with ownership of companies and yields from family estates.

The net worth of the presidents varies widely. George Washington was worth over half a billion in today’s dollars, while several presidents went bankrupt.

The fortunes of American presidents are tied to the economy of their times. For the first 75 years after Washington’s election, presidents generally made money on land, crops, and commodity speculation. A president who owned hundreds or thousands of acres could lose most or all of his property after a few years of poor crop yields. Wealthy Americans occasionally lost all of their money through land speculation — leveraging the value of one piece of land to buy additional property. Since there was no reliable national banking system and almost no liquidity in the value of private companies, land was the asset likely to provide the greatest yield, if the property yielded enough to support the costs of operating the farm or plantation.

Because there was no central banking system and no commodities regulatory framework, markets were subject to panics.

The Panic of 1819 was caused by the deep indebtedness of the federal government and a rapid drop in the price of cotton. The immature banking system was forced to foreclose many farms. The value of the foreclosed properties was often low because land without a landowners meant land without crop yields.

Poor wheat crops, a drop in cotton prices, and a collapsing land bubble created by speculation triggered the Panic of 1837. The crisis caused a multi-year period of deflation and depression. The sharp fluctuations in the fortunes of the first 14 presidents were the result of these economic times.

Beginning with Millard Fillmore in 1850, most presidents were lawyers who spent years in public service. They rarely amassed large fortunes, and their salaries were most often their main source of income. From Fillmore to Garfield, these American presidents were distinctly middle class. They often retired without the money to support themselves in a fashion anywhere close to the one they were accustomed to as presidents. Buchanan, Lincoln, Johnson, Grant, Hayes, and Garfield had almost no net worth at all.

The rise of inherited wealth in the early 20th century contributed to the fortunes of many presidents, including Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and both of the Bushes. The other significant change to the economy was the advent of large professionally organized corporations. These corporations produced much of the oil, mining, financial, and railroad fortunes amassed at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th. The Kennedys were wealthy because of the financial empire built by Joseph Kennedy. Herbert Hoover made millions of dollars as the owner of mining companies.

The stigma of making money from being a retired president also began to disappear. Calvin Coolidge earned a large income from his newspaper column. Gerald Ford, who had almost no money when he was a congressman made a small fortune from serving on the boards of large companies. Clinton made millions of dollars from writing his autobiography.

24/7 Wall St. analyzed the finances of the presidents based on historical sources. Most media evaluations provided a range of the net worth of presidents, where the highest figure was often several times the lowest estimate. Most sources offered no hard figures at all. Additionally, many of these efforts have focused on the analysis of recent commanders-in-chief executives. That is because it is much easier to calculate figures in a world where assets and incomes are a matter of public record.

One of the most important conclusions of this analysis is that the presidency has little to do with wealth. Several presidents had huge net worths before taking office. Many lost most of their fortunes after leaving office. Some never had any money at all.

The following is the net worth of all forty-three presidents.

Images	President (Term)	Estimated Net Worth	Historical Points of Interest
	1st George Washington (1789-1797)	$525 million	His Virginia plantation, “Mount Vernon,” consisted of five separate farms on 8,000 acres of prime farmland, run by over 300 slaves. His wife, Martha Washington, inherited significant property from her father. Washington made significantly more than subsequent presidents: his salary was two percent of the total U.S. budget in 1789.
	2nd John Adams (1797-1801)	$19 million	Adams received a modest inheritance from his father. His wife, Abigail Adams, was a member of the Quincys, a prestigious Massachusetts family. Adams owned a handsome estate in Quincy, Massachusetts, known as “Peacefield,” a working farm, covering approximately 40 acres. He also had a thriving law practice.
	3rd Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809)	$212 million	Jefferson was left 3,000 acres and several dozen slaves by his father. “Monticello,” his home on a 5,000 acre plantation in Virginia, was one of the architectural wonders of its time. He made significant money in various political positions before becoming president, but was mired in debt towards the end of his life.
	4th James Madison (1809-1817)	$101 million	Madison was the largest landowner in Orange County, Virginia, with land holding consisting of 5,000 acres and the “Montpelier” estate. He made significant money as secretary of state and president. Madison lost money at the end of his life due to the steady financial collapse of his plantation.
	5th James Monroe (1817-1825)	$27 million	Monroe’s wife, Elizabeth, was the daughter of wealthy British officer. He made significant money during eight years as president, but entered retirement severely in debt and was forced to sell Highland plantation, which included 3500 acres.
	6th John Quincy Adams (1825-1829)	$21 million	Adams inherited most of his father’s land. His wife was the daughter of a wealthy merchant. He devoted most of his adult life to public service, notably after leaving office.
	7th Andrew Jackson (1829-1837)	$119 million	While he was considered to be in touch with the average middle class American, Jackson quietly became one of the wealthiest presidents of the 1800’s. “Old Hickory” married into wealth and made money in the military. His homestead ”The Hermitage” included 1,050 acres of prime real estate. Over the course of his life, he owned as many as 300 slaves. Jackson entered significant debt later in life.
	8th Martin Van Buren (1837-1841)	$26 million	Van Buren made substantial income as an attorney. He was one of only two men to serve as secretary of state, vice president, and president. He owned the 225-acre “Lindenwald” estate in upstate New York.
	9th William Henry Harrison (1841)	$5 million	Harrison married into money – wife’s father was prominent judge and landowner. When Harrison’s mother died, he inherited 3,000 acres near Charles City, Virginia, which he later sold to his brother. He also owned “Grouseland” mansion and property, in Vincennes, Indiana. Despite his assets, Harrison died penniless, causing Congress to create a special pension for his widow.
	10th John Tyler (1841-1845)	$51 million	Tyler Inherited 1,000-acre tobacco plantation. His first wife, Letitia, was wealthy. Tyler bought “Sherwood Manor,” a 1,600 acre estate, previously owned by William Henry Harrison. He became indebted during the Civil War and died poor.
	11th James Knox Polk (1845-1849)	$10 million	Like his wife, Sarah Childress, Polk’s father was a wealthy plantation owner and speculator. Polk made significant sums as speaker of the house and governor of Tennessee, and owned 920 acres in Coffeeville, Mississippi, as well as 25 slaves.

Images	President (Term)	Estimated Net Worth	Historical Points of Interest
	12th Zachary Taylor (1849-1850)	$6 million	Taylor inherited significant amounts of land from his family, which at one point included property in Mississippi, Kentucky, and Louisiana. He made substantial money in land speculation, the leasing of warehouses, and investments in bank and utility stocks. Taylor owned a sizeable plantation in Mississippi and a home in Baton Rouge.
	13th Millard Fillmore (1850-1853)	$4 million	Neither Fillmore nor his wife had significant inheritance. He founded a college that is the current State University of New York at Buffalo, and his primary holding was a house in nearby East Aurora, NY.
	14th Franklin Pierce (1853-1857)	$2 million	Pierce’s father was frontier farmer, and his wife was well-to-do aristocrat. He served as attorney for 16 years and held property in concord, NH.
	15th James Buchanan (1857-1861)	less than $1 million	Born in log cabin in Pennsylvania, Buchanan was one of 11 children. He was the only president never to marry. He worked for nine years as attorney, and spent 16 years in public office, including four years as secretary of state.
	16th Abraham Lincoln (1861-1865)	less than $1 million	To the log cabin born. Lincoln served as an attorney for 17 years before his presidency. He owned a single-family home in Springfield, Illinois.
	17th Andrew Johnson (1865-1869)	less than $1 million	Johnson’s father was a tailor, and his wife was a shoemaker. He served the public for 20 years, including as  Governor of Tennessee and U.S. Senator. Johnson owned a small house in Greenville, TN.
	18th Ulysses Simpson Grant (1869-1877)	less than $1 million	Grant’s father was a tanner, and his wife was the daughter of a wealthy merchant. He lost his entire fortune when swindled by his investing partner. Grant owned a modest home in Galena, Illinois. Although he died with little money, his autobiography kept family afloat.
	19th Rutherford Birchard Hayes, (1877-1881)	$3 million	Hayes’ father was a shopkeeper. He was an attorney for 15 years and owned “Spiegel Grove,” a 10,000 square foot home that sat on 25 acres in Fremont, Ohio. Hayes also served as Governor of Ohio and was a member of the House.
	20th James Abram Garfield (1881)	less than $1 million	Garfield was born in a log cabin in Ohio. He spent 18 years in the House of Representatives. Garfield owned “Lawnfield,” a home and small property in Mentor, Ohio. He died penniless.
	21st Chester Alan Arthur (1881-1885)	less than $1 million	The son of an Irish preacher, Arthur’s wife came a from military family. He made substantial sums as Collector for the Port of New York. His townhouse in New York was well-appointed with furniture commission from Tiffany.
	22nd and 24th Grover Cleveland (1885-1889, 1893-1897)	$25 million	Cleveland’s father was a bookseller and preacher, and his wife was the daughter of wealthy lawyer. Cleveland served as an attorney for twelve years, and also made significant sums on sale of his estate outside of Washington, D.C.  He bought “Westland Mansion” near Princeton, New Jersey.

Images	President (Term)	Estimated Net Worth	Historical Points of Interest
	23rd Benjamin Harrison (1889-1893)	$5 million	Harrison had no significant inheritance of his own or from his wife’s family. He was a highly paid attorney for 18 years, and served as attorney for Republic of Venezuela. Harrison owned large Victorian home in Indianapolis, Indiana.
	25th William McKinley (1897-1901)	$1 million	Mckinley had no significant inheritance. Served 30 years in public office, including local prosecutor and member of the House of Representatives. Went bankrupt during depression of 1893 while he was Governor of Ohio.
	26th Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909)	$125 million	Born to a prominent and wealthy family, Roosevelt received a significant trust fund. He lost most of his money on a ranching venture in the Dakotas and had to work as an author to pay bills. Roosevelt spent most of his adult years in public service. His 235-acre estate, “Sagamore Hill,” sits on some of the most valuable real estate on Long Island.
	27th William Howard Taft (1909-1913)	$3 million	Taft’s wife’s father was a law partner of former president, Rutherford B. Hayes. Taft was president of the American Bar Association, an active attorney for nearly two decades, and only president to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.
	28th Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921)	less than $1 million	Wilson received modest compensation as head of Princeton and Governor of New Jersey. He never served in any position that provided him with a reasonable income. Wilson had a stroke in office and died five years later.
	29th Warren Gamaliel Harding (1921-1923)	$1 million	Harding obtained wealth through marriage to his wife Mabel, daughter of a prominent banker. He owned the Marion Daily Star and a small home in Marion, Ohio. Most of Harding’s net worth came from his newspaper ownership.
	30th Calvin Coolidge (1923-1929)	less than $1 million	Coolidge’s father was prosperous farmer and storekeeper. “Silent Cal” Spent five years as an attorney, and almost two decades in public office, which included time as Governor of Massachusetts. His net worth derived primarily from his home, “The Beeches,” in Northampton, Massachusetts, the advance from his autobiography, and the money he made from his newspaper column.
	31st Herbert Clark Hoover (1929-1933)	$75 million	An orphan, Hoover was raised by his uncle, a doctor. He made a fortune as a mining company executive, had a very large salary for 17 years and had extensive holdings in mining companies. Hoover donated his presidential salary to charity. He also owned “Hoover House” in Monterey, California.
	32nd Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1933-1945)	$60 million	Roosevelt had wealth through inheritance and marriage. He owned the 800-acre “Springwood” estate as well as properties in Georgia, Maine, and New York. In 1919, his mother had to bail him out of financial difficulty. He spent most of his adult life in public service. Before he was president, Roosevelt was appointed assistant secretary of the navy by Wilson.
	33rd Harry S. Truman (1945-1953)	less than $1 million	Truman was a haberdasher in Missouri and nearly went bankrupt. He served 18 years in Washington, D.C. Despite his modest income, he was able to save some of his presidential salary.

Images	President (Term)	Estimated Net Worth	Historical Points of Interest
	34th Dwight David Eisenhower (1953-1961)	$ 8 million	Eisenhower had no inherited wealth. He served the majority of his career in the military and five years as president of Columbia. Ike owned a large farm near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
	35th John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1961-1963)	Although he never inherited his father’s fortune, the Kennedy family estate was worth nearly $1 billion dollars.	Born into great wealth, Kennedy’s wife was oil heiress. His Father was one of the wealthiest men in America, and was the first chairman of the SEC. Almost all of JFK’s income and property came from trust shared with other family members.
	36th Lyndon Baines Johnson (1963-1969)	$98 Million	Johnson’s father lost all of the family’s money when LBJ was a boy. Over time, he accumulated 1,500 acres in Blanco County, Texas, which included his home, called the “Texas White House.” He and his wife owned a radio and television station in Austin, TX, and had a variety of other moderate holdings, including livestock and private aircraft.
	37th Richard Milhous Nixon (1969-1974)	$15 million	Nixon was born without any inheritance, and was a public servant for most of his life including a term as a Senator from California. “Tricky Dick” made significant sums from series of interviews with David Frost and book advances. He sold his New York townhouse to the Syrian ambassador to the U.S. and purchased a large home in Saddle River, NJ. At various times, Nixon also owned real estate in California and Florida.
	38th Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. (1974-1977)	$7 million	Ford had no inheritance, and he spent virtually his entire adult life in public service. Over the course of his lifetime, he owned properties in Michigan, Rancho Mirage, and Beaver Creek, Colorado. After he left the White House in 1976, he made nearly $1 million a year from book advances and from serving on the boards of several prominent American companies.
	39th James Earl Carter, 1977-1981	$7 million	Jimmy Carter, born to a prominent Georgia businessman, was a peanut farmer for almost two decades. Upon his death, Carter inherited very little of his father’s fortune, forcing Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, to live in subsidized housing for a year, the only president to have ever done so. Carter left office deeply in debt but made substantial sums of money from book deals. To date, the Carters have published nearly 30 books. Carter also owns 2,500 acres with his family in Georgia.
	40th Ronald Wilson Reagan, 1981-89 (Republican)	$13 million	Reagan had no inheritance, but his first wife, an actress, had her own money. He was a movie and television actor for over two decades. “The Gipper” owned several pieces of real estate over his lifetime, including 688-acre property near Santa Barbara, California. Reagan was highly paid for his autobiography and as a GE spokesman.
	41st George Herbert Walker Bush (1989-1993)	$23 million	George H. W. Bush was the son of Prescott Bush, a Connecticut Senator and successful businessman. Aided by friends in the financial community, he made a number of successful investments. One of his major assets is his 100+ acre estate in Kennebunkport, Maine. The property was worth $2.2 million in 1990, and 24/7 Wall St. estimates its current value to be more than $5 million.
	42nd William Jefferson Clinton (1993- 2001)	$70 million	Unlike several presidents, Bill Clinton did not inherit any wealth and gained little net worth during his 20 plus years of public service. After his time in the White House, however, he earned a substantial income as an author and public speaker. In 2005, Clinton earned a $15 million advance on his book “My Life.” In March 2014, the former president was paid $500,000 alone to speak in London to Bank of America. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, whose assets are shared by her husband, has also contributed to the family fortune since leaving office. In 2014, she received a $14 million advance for her autobiography “Hard Choices.” Mrs. Clinton receives similar speaking fees as her husband, albeit at a lesser volume since she began to dedicate more time to her 2016 presidential campaign. According to Mrs. Clinton’s personal financial disclosure with the Federal Election Commission, in just one month in 2014, Mr. Clinton earned more than $1.9 million for just six speeches.
	43rd George W. Bush (2001-2008)	$35 million	Born into a wealthy family, George W. Bush made millions in the oil business. He also made a good deal of money on his investment in the Texas Rangers — approximately $15 million — when the baseball team was sold in 1998. He has continued to increase his wealth since leaving office. We estimate that Bush has made nearly $26 million in speaking fees since leaving the White House. In addition, Bush received a $7 million advance for his memoir “Decision Points,” published in 2010. The book is currently the best-selling presidential memoir ever written. In 2014, Bush published a biography of his father titled “41: A Portrait of my Father”, that will likely add to his net worth in the future. In 2009, the former president and his wife purchased an 8,500 square foot house in the upscale Dallas neighborhood of Preston Hollow, now worth approximately $2.6 million according to housing website Zillow. In 2010, they purchased and tore down a home in an adjacent lot.
	44th Barack Hussein Obama (2008-present)	$7 million	Barack Obama receives a salary of $400,000 a year as the current president. The president’s annual income actually dropped steadily since he entered office. In 2009, the president earned $3.3 million in income after taxes. That figure fell to less than $600,000 in 2012, and fell again in 2013, when the Obamas reported income of $503,183. This is primarily due to revenue declining from his prior book deals, “The Audacity of Hope” and “Dreams from My Father.” Obama is paying 5.625% interest on the 30-year mortgage on his Chicago home, which is worth between $500,000 and $1 million, according to financial forms disclosed by the White House last year. While he admitted he would save money if he refinanced his mortgage, he said, “when you’re president you have to be a little careful about these transactions.”

Michael B. Sauter, Ashley C. Allen, and Douglas A. McIntyre