This Independence Day, Americans celebrate the founding of our country, and the people who founded it. This includes several of the men who would become president: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, John Adams, and of course, George Washington. These individuals who made our country what it is today also happened to be some of the wealthiest who have ever served in office, and could afford the arguably modest salary for a position of its importance. But over the years, this has not always been the case.Â
Since 2001, the annual salary for the position of President of the United States has been fixed at $400,000. That figure, which is set by Congress, has been raised only five times since the birth of our nation (there are no automatic raises or cost-of-living bumps). Fringe benefits for a modern-day president include a $100,000 nontaxable travel account, $100,000 to redecorate the White House, and $50,000 in annual expenses, among other extras. (Here’s a complete list of the best perks of being the U.S. president.)
That doesn’t mean that earlier chief executives exactly suffered financially. George Washington’s annual salary of $25,000 was equivalent to over $700,000 in today’s dollars. In any case, in America’s early days, presidents tended to be well-off before they took office – at least in part because only property-owning white men were allowed to vote, and they tended to elect the wealthy. While there have been some middle-class presidents in the intervening years, many contemporary commanders-in-chief are also in quite good financial shape, having earned (or inherited) extravagant wealth before taking office. (Read a quick family history of every U.S. president.)
To identify the net worth of every US president from Washington to Biden, 24/7 Wall St. drew on a number of historical and contemporary sources, then adjusted the figures for inflation, as of 2023 using the Consumer Price Index drawn from the St. Louis Federal Reserve Economic Data.
Click here to see the the net worth of every American president from Washington to Biden
Because a number of presidents, particularly in the early 19th century, made and lost huge fortunes in a matter of a few years, we’ve provided each president’s net worth at its peak.
Source: Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons
1st. George Washington
> Est. peak net worth: $708.5 million
> In office: 1789-1797
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Source: Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons
2nd. John Adams
> Est. peak net worth: $28.7 million
> In office: 1797-1801
Source: Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons
3rd. Thomas Jefferson
> Est. peak net worth: $241.7 million
> In office: 1801-1809
Source: John Vanderlyn / Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons
4th. James Madison
> Est. peak net worth: $136.7 million
> In office: 1809-1817
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Source: National Archives / Getty Images
5th. James Monroe
> Est. peak net worth: $31 million
> In office: 1817-1825
6th. John Quincy Adams
> Est. peak net worth: $27.1 million
> In office: 1825-1829
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Source: Hulton Archive / Getty Images
7th. Andrew Jackson
> Est. peak net worth: $160.1 million
> In office: 1829-1837
Source: Hulton Archive / Getty Images
8th. Martin Van Buren
> Est. peak net worth: $34.2 million
> In office: 1837-1841
Source: Kean Collection / Archive Photos via Getty Images
9th. William Henry Harrison
> Est. peak net worth: $7.1 million
> In office: March – April 1841
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Source: Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons
10th. John Tyler
> Est. peak net worth: $69.6 million
> In office: 1841-1845
Source: iip-photo-archive / Flickr/Public Domain
11th. James Knox Polk
> Est. peak net worth: $13.0 million
> In office: 1845-1849
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Source: National Archives / Getty Images
12th. Zachary Taylor
> Est. peak net worth: $8.2 million
> In office: 1849-1850
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13th. Millard Fillmore
> Est. peak net worth: $4.7 million
> In office: 1850-1853
14th. Franklin Pierce
> Est. peak net worth: $2.4 million
> In office: 1853-1857
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15th. James Buchanan
> Est. peak net worth: less than $1 million
> In office: 1857-1861
Source: Rischgitz / Hulton Archive via Getty Images
16th. Abraham Lincoln
> Est. peak net worth: less than $1 million
> In office: 1861-1865
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Source: 37467370@N08 / Flickr
17th. Andrew Johnson
> Est. peak net worth: less than $1 million
> In office: 1865-1869
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Source: iip-photo-archive / Public Domain / Flickr
18th. Ulysses Simpson Grant
> Est. peak net worth: less than $1 million
> In office: 1869-1877
Source: iip-photo-archive / Flickr
19th. Rutherford Birchard Hayes
> Est. peak net worth: $3.5 million
> In office: 1877-1881
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Source: Hulton Archive / Getty Images
20th. James Abram Garfield
> Est. peak net worth: less than $1 million
> In office: 1881-1881
Source: National Archives / Getty Images
21st. Chester Alan Arthur
> Est. peak net worth: less than $1 million
> In office: 1881-1885
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Source: iip-photo-archive / Flickr
22nd, 24th. Grover Cleveland
> Est. peak net worth: $33.1 million
> In office: 1885-1889, 1893-1897
Source: Hulton Archive / Getty Images
23rd. Benjamin Harrison
> Est. peak net worth: $7.1 million
> In office: 1889-1893
25th. William McKinley
> Est. peak net worth: $1 million
> In office: 1897-1901
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Source: Hulton Archive / Hulton Archive via Getty Images
26th. Theodore Roosevelt
> Est. peak net worth: $168.6 million
> In office: 1901-1909
Source: Harris & Ewing / Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons
27th. William Howard Taft
> Est. peak net worth: $3.6 million
> In office: 1909-1913
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Source: Tony Essex / Getty Images
28th. Woodrow Wilson
> Est. peak net worth: less than $1 million
> In office: 1913-1921
Source: Hulton Archive / Archive Photos via Getty Images
29th. Warren Gamaliel Harding
> Est. peak net worth: $1 million
> In office: 1921-1923
Source: Library of Congress / Archive Photos via Getty Images
30th. Calvin Coolidge
> Est. peak net worth: less than $1 million
> In office: 1923-1929
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Source: Topical Press Agency / Hulton Archive via Getty Images
31st. Herbert Clark Hoover
> Est. peak net worth: $100.1 million
> In office: 1929-1933
Source: Hulton Archive / Hulton Archive via Getty Images
32nd. Franklin Delano Roosevelt
> Est. peak net worth: $80.6 million
> In office: 1933-1945
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Source: Fotosearch / Archive Photos via Getty Images
33rd. Harry S. Truman
> Est. peak net worth: less than $1 million
> In office: 1945-1953
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Source: Topical Press Agency / Getty Images
34th. Dwight David Eisenhower
> Est. peak net worth: $10.6 million
> In office: 1953-1961
Source: Central Press / Hulton Archive via Getty Images
35th. John Fitzgerald Kennedy
> Est. peak net worth: $1.3 billion
> In office: 1961-1963
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Source: Keystone / Hulton Archive via Getty Images
36th. Lyndon Baines Johnson
> Est. peak net worth: $131.9 million
> In office: 1963-1969
Source: Washington Bureau / Archive Photos via Getty Images
37th. Richard Milhous Nixon
> Est. peak net worth: $20.1 million
> In office: 1969-1974
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Source: Keystone / Getty Images
38th. Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr.
> Est. peak net worth: $9.5 million
> In office: 1974-1977
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Source: Central Press / Getty Images
39th. James Earl Carter
> Est. peak net worth: $9.5 million
> In office: 1977-1981
Source: Keystone / Hulton Archive via Getty Images
40th. Ronald Wilson Reagan
> Est. peak net worth: $16.6 million
> In office: 1981-1989
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Source: Fotosearch / Archive Photos via Getty Images
41st. George Herbert Walker Bush
> Est. peak net worth: $30.8 million
> In office: 1989-1993
Source: Jeff Fusco / Getty Images News via Getty Images
42nd. William Jefferson Clinton
> Est. peak net worth: $285.8 million
> In office: 1993-2001
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Source: Pool / Getty Images News via Getty Images
43rd. George W. Bush
> Est. peak net worth: $46.1 million
> In office: 2001-2008
Source: Bill Pugliano / Getty Images News via Getty Images
44th. Barack Hussein Obama
> Est. peak net worth: $80 million
> In office: 2008-2017
Source: Alex Wong / Getty Images News via Getty Images
45th. Donald John Trump
> Est. peak net worth: $3.7 billion
> In office: 2017- 2021
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Source: Photo by Theo Wargo / Getty Images for Global Citizen
46th. Joseph Robinette Biden Jr.
> Est. peak net worth: $9.1 million
> In office: 2021-
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