The richest and poorest U.S. presidents

No. 10 richest: John Fitzgerald Kennedy

> Net worth: $1 billion (never inherited his father’s fortune)
> In office: 1961 to 1963
> 35th president




John F. Kennedy was born into wealth. His father was one of the wealthiest men in America and the first chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. His wife--Jacqueline--was an oil heiress. Almost all of JFK’s income and property came from a trust shared with other family members

No. 9 richest: William Jefferson Clinton

> Net Worth: $75 million
> In office: 1993 – 2001
> 42nd president



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.

No. 8 richest: Franklin Delano Roosevelt

> Net worth: $60 million
> In office: 1933 to 1945
> 32nd president



Roosevelt’s wealth came 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 President Wilson.

No. 7 richest: Herbert Clark Hoover

> Net worth: $75 million
> In office: 1929 to 1933
> 31st president




An orphan, Hoover was raised by his uncle, a doctor. Hoover made a fortune as a mining company executive. He had a generous 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, Calif.

No. 6 richest: Lyndon Baines Johnson

> Net worth: $98 million
> In office: 1963 to 1969
> 36th president



Johnson’s father lost all the family’s money when LBJ was a boy. Over time, the 36th president had 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, Texas, and they had a variety of other moderate holdings, including livestock and private aircraft.

No. 5 richest: James Madison

> Net worth: $101 million
> In office: 1809 to 1817
> 4th president




Madison was the largest landowner in Orange County, Virginia. His land holding consisted of 5,000 acres and the Montpelier estate. He made significant wealth as Secretary of State and president. Madison lost money at the end of his life due to the steady financial collapse of his plantation.

No. 4 richest: Andrew Jackson

> Net worth: $119 million
> In office: 1829 to 1837
> 7th president


While he was considered to be in touch with the average middle-class American, Jackson quietly became one of the wealthiest presidents of the 1800s. “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 considerable debt later in life.

No. 3 richest: Theodore Roosevelt

> Net worth: $125 million
> In office: 1901 to 1909
> 26th president




Born to a prominent and wealthy family, Roosevelt received a sizable trust fund. He lost most of his money on a ranching venture in the Dakotas and had to work as an author to pay the bills. Roosevelt spent most of his adult years in public service. His 235-acre estate, Sagamore Hill, now sits on some of the most valuable real estate in Long Island.

No. 2 richest: Thomas Jefferson

> Net worth: $212 million
> In office: 1801 to 1809
> 3rd president


Jefferson was left 3,000 acres and several dozen slaves by his father. Monticello, Jefferson's home on a 5,000-acre plantation in Virginia, was one of the architectural wonders of its time. He made considerable money in various political positions before becoming president, but he was mired in debt towards the end of his life.

No. 1 richest: George Washington

> Net worth: $525 million
> In office: 1789 to 1797
> 1st president


Washington's Virginia plantation, Mount Vernon, consisted of five separate farms on 8,000 acres of prime farmland run by more than 300 slaves. His wife, Martha, inherited significant property from her father. As president, Washington earned well more than subsequent presidents: his salary was 2% of the total U.S. budget in 1789.

No. 8 poorest: Thomas Jefferson

> Net worth: $212 million
> In office: 1801 to 1809
> 3rd president


Despite an ostentatious lifestyle - or perhaps because of it - Jefferson owed money to various creditors throughout his life. He inherited debt from his father-in-law as a result of unusual estate planning and was a creditor to many unreliable debtors. His main source of income, "Monticello," proved inadequate to cover his debts. Poor management of his estate and price fluctuations of commodities cost Jefferson dearly.
Toward the end of his life, he was so severely in debt that he petitioned the state of Virginia to auction off his land; the state refused. After he died, his estate was was auctioned off, and his surviving daughter was forced to rely on charity.

No. 7 poorest: James Madison

> Net worth: $101 million
> In office: 1809 to 1817
> 4th president



At his "Montpelier" plantation, Madison suffered similar difficulties to Jefferson. While his various agriculture businesses were occasionally profitable, in the end they lost him money. His stepson, a gambler, racked up debts. Madison absorbed these obligations and was forced to sell half of Montpelier to pay them off. Although he may have wanted to free his slaves, his financial troubles prevented him from doing so, and he was forced to sell some of them to pay off debts.
Some historians suggest that he had his memoirs published posthumously in order to better provide for his family.

No. 6 poorest: James Monroe

<Net worth: $27 million
> In office: 1817-1825
> 5th President



Monroe ran his plantation into the ground. At the end of his life, he petitioned Congress to relieve some of his family's debt and was granted $30,000. It turned out to be insufficient and he was forced to sell his home in Paris and his 3,500 acre "Ash Lawn" estate.
On Monroe's misfortune, John Quincy Adams wrote “Mr. Monroe is a very remarkable instance of a man whose life has been a continued series of the most extraordinary good fortune, who has never met with any known disaster, has gone through a splendid career of public service, has received more pecuniary reward from the public than any other man since the existence of the nation, and is now dying, at the age of seventy-two, in wretchedness and beggary.”

No. 5 poorest: William Henry Harrison

> Net worth: $5 million
> In office: 1841
> 9th president



While serving as the ambassador to Colombia in 1829-1830, Harrison was forced to manage his farm from abroad. When he returned to the states, he discovered that bad weather had destroyed his crops. At the same time, his creditors were all demanding payment. On top of his own heavy obligations, his sons also owed substantial amounts.
Harrison spent much of the time after his return to America trying to get his finances in order, and was forced to sell off most of his land. By the time he reached the White House, he was still reportedly in debt. His untimely death, only one month after entering office, may have been the only thing that prevented him from reaching total insolvency.

No. 4 poorest: Abraham Lincoln

> Net worth: Less than $1 million
> In office: 1861-1865
> 16th president



An ambitious but poor young man, Lincoln's early life left him in financial ruin. When he was in his 20s he bought a general store with a friend and business associate - an investment he would later regret. Before the store went bankrupt Lincoln sold his share in the venture. However, his partner died shortly afterward and Lincoln was forced to absorb his debts. He was taken to court by the store's creditors and lost ownership of his only remaining assets: a horse and some surveying equipment.
His later career as an attorney eventually brought Lincoln out of complete poverty.

No. 3 poorest: Ulysses S. Grant

> Net worth: Less than $1 million
> In office: 1869-1877
> 18th president



His brief, illustrious career as our nation's highest-ranking general notwithstanding, Grant never earned a great deal of money and often lived well beyond his means. This was especially the case after his presidency, when he and his wife traveled the world, dining with foreign dignitaries and staying in expensive hotels.
In 1881, Grant's son, Buck, convinced his father to enter an investment partnership with an associate of his, Ferdinand Ward, for $100,000. Ward mismanaged and embezzled Grant's assets, and when the firm of Ward and Grant went bankrupt, the former was sent to prison, and Grant was left with hundreds of thousands in debt. He went bankrupt, and was only able to save his family further financial hardships by selling his civil war memoirs for nearly half a million dollars - published shortly after his death.

No. 2 poorest: William McKinley

> Net worth: $1 million
> In office: 1897-1901
> 25th president



While McKinley spent most of his life in relative financial stability, the depression of 1893 bankrupted an investment he had made with a friend in a tin plate company. His final debts reached an estimated $130,000 and McKinley was forced to file for bankruptcy.
In order to pay off his debts, McKinley solicited some of his friends to help him manage his estate and sell off his property. Instead, his friends exercised various connections and raised the sum of money on their own, much to McKinley's perpetual shame.

No. 1 poorest: Harry S. Truman

> Net worth: less than $1 million
> In office: 1945-1953
> 33rd president



One of the saddest cases of presidential hardship, Truman, was relatively poor throughout his life. He borrowed against his meager future inheritance and invested in a zinc mining operation, which failed and lost him most of his investment. Truman later performed various menial jobs, which barely kept his family afloat. However, the real financial disaster occurred when the clothing store he owned with a friend went bankrupt in the wake of extreme deflation. Truman lost his $30,000 investment, but never declared bankruptcy, despite urgings from friends and family to do so.
Truman continued to pay debts throughout his early career, and was still thousands of dollars in debt when he began his tenure as a senator. It was Truman's sad financial state that inspired the doubling of the presidential salary, which he received after the fact. Truman and his wife were the first two official recipients of Medicare when Lyndon Johnson signed the program into law.


Primary season is now underway, and in less than a year the United States electorate will vote for the nation’s 45th president. Most of the leading candidates among both Republicans and Democrats represent either a first, or a significant change from the status quo. On the Democratic side, Sen. Bernie Sanders would become the first openly socialist president, while former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would be the first woman to take the highest office.
While Donald Trump would certainly not be the first wealthy white man to assume the presidency, he does represent a significant departure from the model of an American commander in chief, given his complete lack of political background. Trump would become the first president without any experience in an elected office since Dwight D. Eisenhower, and the first president to have never been a government employee -- either as an elected official or a member of the military. With an estimated net worth of $4.5 billion, he would also become the wealthiest president ever by a considerable margin -- even when accounting for inflation.
Presidents in the 19th century were regularly middle class or even poor. They were far wealthier in the 20th century. Each of the last four presidents, including President Barack Obama, is a millionaire.

Current presidential candidates are also far richer than the average American. Though President Bill Clinton likes to point out that he was the poorest president elected in the 20th century, his great success as a public speaker after his term in office has made him among the wealthiest presidents of all time. After resigning from office, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has enjoyed similar success, amassing a fortune from book deals and speaking engagements.

Secretary Clinton received an estimated $14 million advance on her book in 2014, and she has earned hundreds of thousands of dollars for each speaking engagement -- figures that rival her husband’s. In all, the couple’s net worth is estimated by 24/7 Wall St. to be $75 million, making it one of the wealthiest presidential estates in history.

In 2010, 24/7 Wall St. published The Net worth of Every American President, from Washington to Obama. Each year, we have updated our figures to reflect the earnings of the still-living presidents. One thing remains clear: these days, it pays to be president, especially after leaving office.

In this year’s updated list, the only currently living president who is counted among of the wealthiest of all time is Clinton.
 
Obama is not one of the richest presidents. Obama receives a salary of $400,000 a year as president, which, while several times the average U.S. citizen’s annual earnings, does not come close to the salaries of today’s top executive. The president’s annual income has actually dropped steadily since he entered office. In 2009, the president earned $5.5 million. That figure fell to less than $1 million in 2012 and fell again to just over $500,000 in 2013. This is primarily due to a decline in revenue from his prior book deals. 24/7 Wall St. estimates the president’s net worth to be unchanged at $7.5 million.

The net worth figures for the 10 wealthiest presidents are in 2010 dollars. Because several of the presidents, particularly in the early 19th century, made and lost huge fortunes in a matter of a few years, the net worth of each president is for the peak time. The exception to the 2010 rule are the presidents who are still living and have more recent earnings. In the case of each president, we have taken into account hard assets such as land, estimated lifetime savings based on work history, inheritance, and homes. We also considered wages earned for services as varied as collector of customs at the Port of New York to royalties on books, as well as ownership of companies and yields from family estates.