List of United States Presidents by net worth
The wealth of Presidents of the United States has varied considerably.
Most U.S. Presidents before 1845 were extremely wealthy, including Andrew Jackson, who was born into poverty,[1] and George Washington, the richest of the period, but by no means were all early Presidents rich. Many of these early presidents were landowners, and some of them owned plantations, including their own slaves.[2][3] At the time of his death, Washington’s land, slaves, house, horses and personal belongings were worth about $525,000, estimated to be the equivalent of $524 million in 2012.[4] However, this is not only an adjustment for inflation, but land value. In fact, $525,000 in 1800 dollars is only about $8 million dollars when adjusted for 2015 dollars. [5] Since property values have increased well past inflation, George Washington did not actually ever control the equivalent of 525 million dollars in liquid wealth. JFK was perhaps richer in terms of liquid wealth.
The Presidents of the late 19th century and of the 1920s were generally not very wealthy, despite the widespread belief that their economic policies benefited the wealthy the most.[6][7][8] Many of these were born into poor or middle-class families and did not move up the economic ladder significantly during their lifetimes, even though a number of them served as generals in the U.S. Army.[9]
U.S. presidents since 1929 (when Herbert Hoover took office) have generally been wealthier than before; all except Harry Truman were millionaires. These presidents have often received income from autobiographies and other writing;[10] other than John F. Kennedy, all presidents beginning with Calvin Coolidge have written autobiographies. In addition, many presidents received considerable income from public speaking after retirement, such as Bill Clinton.[11]
As indicated in the table, four of the five richest U.S. presidents since 1929 were Democrats. The poorest U.S. president since 1929 (Harry Truman) was also a Democrat.[12]
The figures in the table below are all from 24/7 Wall St.'s 2010 valuation of each president's peak net worth. To allow direct comparison, all of the figures have been adjusted for inflation to 2010 dollars.
Name | Net worth (in millions of 2010 U.S. dollars)[12] | Political party[12] | Years in office | Lifespan |
---|---|---|---|---|
George Washington | 525 | None | 1789–1797 | 1732–1799 |
Thomas Jefferson | 212 | Democratic-Republican | 1801–1809 | 1743–1826 |
John F. Kennedy | [13]–1,000[12] | 125Democratic | 1961–1963 | 1917–1963 |
Theodore Roosevelt | 125 | Republican | 1901–1909 | 1858–1919 |
Andrew Jackson | 119 | Democratic | 1829–1837 | 1767–1845 |
James Madison | 101 | Democratic-Republican | 1809–1817 | 1751–1836 |
Lyndon Johnson | 98 | Democratic | 1963–1969 | 1908–1973 |
Herbert Hoover | 75 | Republican | 1929–1933 | 1874–1964 |
Franklin D. Roosevelt | 60 | Democratic | 1933–1945 | 1882–1945 |
Bill Clinton | 55 | Democratic | 1993–2001 | 1946–present |
John Tyler | 51 | Whig | 1841–1845 | 1790–1862 |
James Monroe | 27 | Democratic-Republican | 1817–1825 | 1758–1831 |
Martin Van Buren | 26 | Democratic | 1837–1841 | 1782–1862 |
Grover Cleveland | 25 | Democratic | 1885–1889 1893–1897 |
1837–1908 |
George H. W. Bush | 23 | Republican | 1989–1993 | 1924–present |
John Quincy Adams | 21 | Democratic-Republican | 1825–1829 | 1767–1848 |
George W. Bush | 20 | Republican | 2001–2009 | 1946–present |
John Adams | 19 | Federalist | 1797–1801 | 1735–1826 |
Richard Nixon | 15 | Republican | 1969–1974 | 1913–1994 |
Ronald Reagan | 13 | Republican | 1981–1989 | 1911–2004 |
James K. Polk | 10 | Democratic | 1845–1849 | 1795–1849 |
Dwight Eisenhower | 8 | Republican | 1953–1961 | 1890–1969 |
Barack Obama | 7 | Democratic | 2009–present | 1961–present |
Gerald Ford | 7 | Republican | 1974–1977 | 1913–2006 |
Jimmy Carter | 7 | Democratic | 1977–1981 | 1924–present |
Zachary Taylor | 6 | Whig | 1849–1850 | 1784–1850 |
William Henry Harrison | 5 | Whig | 1841–1841 | 1773–1841 |
Benjamin Harrison | 5 | Republican | 1889–1893 | 1833–1901 |
Millard Fillmore | 4 | Whig | 1850–1853 | 1800–1874 |
Rutherford B. Hayes | 3 | Republican | 1877–1881 | 1822–1893 |
William Howard Taft | 3 | Republican | 1909–1913 | 1857–1930 |
Franklin Pierce | 2 | Democratic | 1853–1857 | 1804–1869 |
William McKinley | 1 | Republican | 1897–1901 | 1843–1901 |
Warren G. Harding | 1 | Republican | 1921–1923 | 1865–1923 |
James Buchanan | <1 | Democratic | 1857–1861 | 1791–1868 |
Abraham Lincoln | <1 | Republican | 1861–1865 | 1809–1865 |
Andrew Johnson | <1 | National Union/Democratic | 1865–1869 | 1808–1875 |
Ulysses S. Grant | <1 | Republican | 1869–1877 | 1822–1885 |
James Garfield | <1 | Republican | 1881–1881 | 1831–1881 |
Chester A. Arthur | <1 | Republican | 1881–1885 | 1829–1886 |
Woodrow Wilson | <1 | Democratic | 1913–1921 | 1856–1924 |
Calvin Coolidge | <1 | Republican | 1923–1929 | 1872–1933 |
Harry S. Truman | <1 | Democratic | 1945–1953 | 1884–1972 |
References
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- ↑ David Post, The Wealth of Presidents, The Georgetowner, February 7, 2012 (accessed January 20, 2015)
- ↑ http://www.westegg.com/inflation/infl.cgi
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- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ http://247wallst.com/2010/05/17/the-net-worth-of-the-american-presidents-washington-to-obama/