I Was Genuinely Shocked, Surprised, And Fascinated By The Estimated Net Worths Of Every Single US President
After deep diving into the net worths of members of monarchies around the globe, I started to get curious about how much US presidents are/were worth.
ABC / Via giphy.com
I was able to find the estimated net worths for all 46 US presidents, from George Washington to Joe Biden. All of them have been adjusted to today's numbers to keep things even.
Notably, many among the first 18 presidents acquired their wealth through land ownership, which was largely worked and made profitable by enslaved people, or an inheritance that included enslaved people.
1.George Washington, America's first president, was reportedly worth $525 million. His wealth came from not only his salaries from his tenure as a military general and president, but also Mount Vernon, the plantation he inherited from his brother.
2.John Adams was worth an alleged $21.5 million. Most of his wealth actually came from his wife, Abigail, who came from a well-off family. Before becoming president, Adams had a successful law practice.
3.Thomas Jefferson was allegedly worth $212 million. As a teen, Jefferson inherited a significant amount of land from his father, which he later expanded into his Monticello estate. Despite his wealth, Jefferson was reportedly in debt at the time of his death.
4.James Madison was worth a reported $101 million. Like several of his presidential predecessors, Madison's family owned land, which Madison later built his Montpelier estate on. Madison's net worth declined later in life after his plantation began to struggle and his son went into debt.
5.James Monroe reportedly had an estimated net worth of $27 million. During Monroe's time as president, he allegedly didn't pay close attention to his finances, and left office in debt.
6.John Quincy Adams was allegedly worth $23.6 million. Part of that included the home he inherited from John Adams, his father. Adams's wife also came from a wealthy family.
7.Andrew Jackson was worth a reported $119 million. Jackson was born poor, but amassed wealth through both his law practice and his wife Rachel's inheritance.
8.Martin Van Buren, one of only two people to serve as secretary of state, vice president, and president, was worth an estimated $26 million. Some of his wealth came from his pre-presidential career as an attorney.
9.William Henry Harrison was reportedly worth $6.2 million. Harrison's wife came from a wealthy family. He later inherited land from his father that he eventually sold to his brother. Harrison was yet another president who died in debt, with Congress even creating a special pension for his widow.
10.John Tyler was worth an alleged $58.4 million. Tyler inherited a successful tobacco plantation from his family. When his first wife, Letitia, died during his tenure as president, he also inherited her fortune.
11.James K. Polk was reportedly worth $10 million. Before becoming president, Polk earned high salaries during his stints as speaker of the house and governor of Tennessee. Polk and his wife also each inherited money from their families to contribute to their net worth.
12.Zachary Taylor was worth an alleged $7.2 million. Most of this was tied up in land ownership, with Taylor purchasing property in Mississippi, Kentucky, and Louisiana.
13.Millard Fillmore, who worked as an indentured servant as a child, was reportedly worth $4.1 million. Before becoming president, Fillmore worked as a lawyer and helped found the University at Buffalo, where he served as chancellor from 1846 to 1874.
14.Franklin Pierce allegedly was worth about $2 million. Like many presidents before him, Pierce and his wife came from money: His father was a lawyer, while his wife's father was the former president of Bowdoin College.
15.James Buchanan was reportedly worth less than $1 million. Buchanan did not come from wealth, but worked as an attorney before entering politics, where he held positions ranging from state representative to secretary of state before being elected president.
16.Abraham Lincoln was also allegedly worth about $1.36 million. Lincoln famously grew up in a log cabin, where he worked in manual labor. He also worked as an attorney and unsuccessfully attempted to open a general store before becoming president.
17.Andrew Johnson, who also did not come from money, was worth less than $1 million. Johnson's father died when he was young, leaving his mother to support their family. Before becoming a politician, Johnson worked as a tailor.
18.Although Ulysses S. Grant married the daughter of a wealthy merchant, he was allegedly worth less than $1 million. Grant was actually duped out of most of his money by his son's investing partner. Mark Twain helped Grant publish his memoirs, which allowed his family to remain afloat after his death.
19.Rutherford B. Hayes was reportedly worth about $3.1 million. Before becoming president, he was an attorney, and owned a large estate in Ohio.
20.James Garfield, who was one of seven US presidents born in a log cabin, was allegedly worth less than $1 million. Before entering politics, Garfield worked a series of odd jobs to pay for his schooling.
21.Chester Arthur, who became president after Garfield was assassinated, was also allegedly worth less than $1 million. Although Arthur was a trained lawyer, he spent most of his life working in public service. Despite this, Arthur allegedly was into a life of luxury, and even requested $30,000 from Congress so he could redecorate the White House.
22.Grover Cleveland was worth a reported $28.7 million. Cleveland allegedly used his savings from his years working as an attorney to play the stock market to help amass his fortune.
23.Benjamin Harrison was allegedly worth an estimated $5 million, most of which came from his pre-presidential career as an attorney.
24.And, here's Grover Cleveland again, because he was both the 22nd and 24th US president! As we just chatted about, he was allegedly worth $28.7 million.
25.William McKinley was reportedly worth about $1 million. While serving as the governor of Ohio, McKinley financially struggled. In 1893, he co-signed a loan for a friend who later went bankrupt. While this harmed McKinley financially, it actually boosted public sympathy toward him, and earned him a second term as governor.
26.Theodore Roosevelt was worth an alleged $125 million, most of which came from his trust fund. Roosevelt supposedly depleted his inheritance after a series of bad land deals in the Dakotas, but later recouped his money with his Sagamore Hill estate, which has been called some of the most valuable real estate on Long Island.
27.William Howard Taft was allegedly worth about $3.1 million. He amassed wealth through his career as a lawyer before serving as not only the president, but a Supreme Court Justice.
28.Woodrow Wilson, who spent most of his non-political career in academia, was reportedly worth less than $1 million. Although he was one of the poorest US presidents, Wilson was actually one of the highest paid employees at Princeton University while teaching at the prestigious school.
29.Most of Warren G. Harding's alleged $1 million net worth came from his wife, Florence, whose father was a successful businessman. In fact, Florence's own financial acumen eventually helped Harding's newspaper business flourish.
30.Calvin Coolidge was reportedly worth less than $1 million. Although Coolidge ran a successful law practice for two decades before becoming president, he never amassed a large fortune. After leaving office, his income ramped up when he became a successful author and newspaper columnist.
31.Herbert Hoover was reportedly worth about $75 million. Hoover grew up an orphan, and went on to have a successful career as a mining company executive. He also had extensive holdings in several mining companies. When Hoover became president, he donated his salary to charity.
32.Franklin D. Roosevelt was worth a reported $60 million. Most of his wealth came from his family's fortune. Roosevelt's wife, Eleanor, also inherited money, which added to the couple's net worth.
33.Harry S. Truman is often dubbed the "poorest president" in history, with an alleged net worth of less than $1 million. After working as a farmer and serving in the military, Truman opened a men's clothing store that failed, leaving him nearly bankrupt. Although Truman was rumored to live "a relatively pauper-like existence," he signed a $600,000 contract for his memoirs in the 1950s.
34.Dwight D. Eisenhower was reportedly worth an estimated $8 million, none of which was inherited. Eisenhower served most of his career in the military, then became the president of Columbia University. He also owned a large farm in Pennsylvania.
35.John F. Kennedy was a beneficiary of the Kennedy family trust, which was worth an alleged $1 billion and split among members of his family. The fund was created by his father, who financially prospered in the stock market and real estate ventures. Kennedy's wife, Jackie, was also born into wealth as the heiress to a vast oil fortune.
36.Lyndon B. Johnson was reportedly worth about $98 million. In addition to owning land and a property known as the "Texas White House," Johnson and his wife owned a TV and radio station, and had holdings in livestock and aviation.
37.Richard Nixon was worth an alleged $15 million. Nixon did not inherit any money, and instead made most of his millions after resigning from office through advances for his memoirs and exclusive interviews.
38.Gerald Ford was reportedly worth about $8.2 million. Ford was not born into wealth, and spent his entire career in public service. After leaving office, he was able to command over $1 million a year in speaking fees, and served on the board of several large corporations.
39.Jimmy Carter is worth an alleged $8.2 million. After his father's death, Carter inherited the family's peanut farm. The farm initially struggled, and Carter and his wife had to move into subsidized housing. He later turned the farm into a successful business before taking office. During his presidency, the farm failed, leaving Carter in debt. The Carters was able to rebound in his post-presidential career by publishing over 30 books.
40.Before entering politics, Ronald Reagan, who had a reported net worth of $13 million, was an actor for over two decades. After leaving office, Reagan allegedly made millions for his autobiography, which, according to the New Yorker, was "the largest advance ever paid an author to date" when it sold.
41.George H. W. Bush was reportedly worth $26.6 million, a fortune he inherited from his wealthy family. Bush also ran an offshore drilling company and invested in real estate before being elected president.
42.Bill Clinton, who is worth an alleged $75 million, was not born into wealth. Instead, he built his fortune through speaking engagements. In 2005, Clinton earned a $15 million advance from the sale of his autobiography. In 2014, Hillary Clinton received a $14 million advance for her own memoir.
43.George W. Bush is allegedly worth $40 million. While some of this wealth was inherited, Bush also made money in the oil industry before becoming president. He also owned the Texas Rangers baseball team for a time. Since leaving office, Bush has reportedly made millions off of book deals and speaking fees.
44.Barack Obama is worth a reported $135 million. The majority of Obama's fortune was built after he left office, with a $50 million Netflix production deal. In 2017, Barack and his wife Michelle signed a $65 million book deal for their memoirs.
45.Donald Trump is reportedly worth $3.2 billion. Before becoming president, Trump made a fortune in real estate, which he used to start several other businesses. Although some of his businesses have since failed, Forbes reported that Trump still has a considerable amount in real estate holdings.
46.And finally, Joe Biden is allegedly worth an estimated $8 million. Biden spent nearly all of his career in public service. In the years between his tenures as vice president, then president, Biden earned a reported $17.3 million from book deals and speaking engagements.
