The annual salary awarded to the President of the United States is $400,000. But, as we will explore shortly, this hasn’t always been the case. The salary might seem low to many, considering the responsibilities of the office. However, one should not ignore the awesome wealth-generating power of the position.
When President Obama took office, he was estimated to have a net worth of around $4.6 million in 2007. According to Business Insider, by 2022, that figure had risen to more than $70 million through speaking engagements, board appointments, and other projects. President Bill Clinton saw a similar increase in wealth. When Clinton began his first term, The Washington Post estimated Clinton’s net worth to be around $700,000. More than three decades later, that figure stands somewhere around $150 million.
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How has the presidential salary evolved over time?
The first eighteen men to serve as president, from George Washington to Ulysses S. Grant, earned $25,000.
The inflation calculator, in 2013 dollars, suggests that the value of this salary in today’s dollars, in real terms, fell from $840,365 in 1788 to $623,270 in 1873, when Congress enacted the first raise in history for the commander-in-chief.
Who is the first president to get a raise?
The annual salary rose to $50,000 in 1873, making Ulysses S Grant the first president to receive a raise in office. Presidents from Ulysses S Grant to Theodore Roosevelt earned this income, and over time, the value, in today’s dollars, increased from $1.2 million to $1.6 million between 1873 and 1909.
The salary of the president increases in value for the second time
The next increase came in 1909 when Congress approved a salary of $75,000. Presidents William H. Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Harry S. Truman all earned this annual salary, which fell in value from $1.6 million to $931,000 in 1948 when President Truman was elected.
In 1949, Congress raised the annual salary to $100,000, making Harry Truman the second president to receive a salary bump while in office. Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon B. Johnson would also make $100,000, which by the time Johnson took office had fallen from a value of $1.2 million to $859,600.
The next increase, which was enacted in 1969, was the largest to that point, doubling to $200,000. Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald R. Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and Bill Clinton all earned this salary, which was worth $1.5 million in 1970, but would fall to the lowest level so far, in today’s dollars, by 1999, $359,147.
In 2000, Congress again doubled the president’s salary, so Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden earned $400,000. However, in 2000, this salary was the equivalent of $694,936 today, while today, it is more like $408,000 because of how inflation has eaten away at the value of the dollar.
