How much US presidents have been paid since George Washington

U.S. President Donald Trump departs the White House on May 22, 2025 in Washington, DC. Trump is traveling to his Trump National Golf Club in Virginia where he is holding a dinner for the top investors in his $TRUMP cryptocurrency. — Trump is one of three presidents who donated their presidential salaries.
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Can you put a price tag on being the president of the United States of America?
The founding fathers had to in 1789 — how does $25,000 a year sound?
Now, the president makes $400,000, though Trump has donated his.

How much do you get paid to be the leader of the free world?

Since 2001, the president of the United States has been paid $400,000 a year. Compare that to 1789, when the US elected its first president, and the presidential salary was $25,000 a year.

While that may sound like a fraction of today’s paycheck, the salary’s value has actually decreased by about half when adjusted for inflation.

In the 237 years since, the president has only received a handful of raises, although, of course, the office comes with plenty of other perks.

Here’s how the president’s annual compensation has changed since America’s founding.

For the first 84 years of the United States’ existence, the president earned $25,000 a year.

Portrait of George Washington at age 64 renouncing his third term as president, by Gilbert Stuart (American, 1755-1828) (oil on canvas from the White House Collection), 1779.
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When Washington was elected in 1789, the task fell to Congress to decide what the presidential compensation should be.

In 2026 dollars, that $25,000 salary would be equal to approximately $949,000, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ consumer price index.

In all, Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, James K. Polk, Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Abraham Lincoln, and Andrew Johnson all made $25,000.

The first change came in 1873, when Ulysses S. Grant was the president. The annual salary was raised to $50,000.

General Ulysses Simpson Grant, later the 18th President of the United States.
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By 1873, that $25,000 had depreciated to about $696,000 in today’s money. A sizable bump to $50,000 a year made the salary worth almost $1.4 million in 2026 dollars.

Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, Chester A. Arthur, Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, and Theodore Roosevelt all made $50,000.

That lasted for 36 years, until 1909, during William Howard Taft’s term. It was raised to $75,000.

circa 1910: American Republican politician and the 27th President of the United States, William Howard Taft (1857 - 1930). — circa 1910: American Republican politician and the 27th President of the United States, William Howard Taft (1857 – 1930).
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The $50,000 salary lasted for about three decades. In 1909, it was raised to $75,000, or about $2.75 million in 2026 dollars.

Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Harry Truman (during his first term) all earned $75,000.

Another 40 years passed before it was raised again in 1949 during Harry S. Truman’s second term, when it reached $100,000.

4/1946: President Harry S. Truman seated at his desk holding a pencil.
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By 1949, that $75,000 had depreciated in value to about $1 million in 2026 dollars. So Congress voted to raise it to $100,000, or about $1.4 million in today’s currency.

Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon B. Johnson all made $100,000 a year.

In 1969, Congress raised the salary to $200,000.

President Richard Nixon greets former President Lyndon B. Johnson (left) at the White House here. President and Mrs. Nixon gave an informal luncheon honoring the former President on his 61st birthday.
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In 1969, the $100,000 salary was worth around $910,000 in today’s money, whereas the $200,000 salary was worth around $1.8 million.

Lyndon B. Johnson was president at the time, but the raise didn’t go into effect until Richard Nixon took office.

Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and Bill Clinton earned $200,000 a year.

Three decades later, in 2001, George W. Bush became the first president to be paid $400,000 annually. It hasn’t been raised since.

Former first lady Laura Bush and former President George W. Bush greet President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump outside of Blair House December 04, 2018 in Washington, DC.
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In 1999, Congress voted to raise the salary to $400,000 starting in 2001. That amount would be worth around $762,000 today.

There hasn’t been a raise since then: Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden have all made $400,000.

Before he took office in 2017, Trump said he would not take home the presidential salary, and during his first term, he donated the payments to federal agencies, including the National Park Service and the Department of Transportation.

Trump said he would forgo his salary during his second term. The White House has not publicly said where the payments have gone.

Other presidents have taken a similar approach — Hoover and Kennedy donated their salaries to charities.

Since 1949, the president has also received a $50,000 expense account.

President Donald Trump receives a DoorDash delivery of McDonald's from Sharon Simmons before he speaks to the press during an event outside the Oval Office of the White House on April 13, 2026 in Washington, DC. — President Donald Trump receives a DoorDash delivery of McDonald’s from Sharon Simmons before he speaks to the press during an event outside the Oval Office of the White House on April 13, 2026 in Washington, DC.
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In 1949, Congress passed an act that raised compensation to $100,000 and established a $50,000 expense account.

The $50,000 covers expenses related to the president’s official duties, such as dry-cleaning and hosting social gatherings. Unused funds revert to the US Treasury.

They’ve also had a $100,000 travel budget and a $19,000 allowance for entertainment expenses.

US President Joe Biden rides his bicycle along the beach while on vacation in Kiawah Island, South Carolina, on August 14, 2022.
NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images

The $100,000 travel budget has been in effect since 1978 — before that, it was $40,000.

When you leave office, that doesn’t mean the paychecks stop coming.

Former U.S. President Barack Obama stands on stage with daughter Sasha Obama during the dedication ceremony for the opening of the Barack Obama Presidential Center in John Lewis Plaza on June 18, 2026 in Chicago, Illinois.
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Since 1958, presidents have received a pension equal to the “salary of a Cabinet-level secretary.” For example, Obama’s presidential pension is $253,100 annually.

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