Economy

The 10 Richest Presidents in American History

Douglas A. McIntyre

Published: August 13, 2016 9:35 am

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 4:38 am

Hillary Clinton has released her tax returns. She and her husband, former president Bill Clinton, had income of $10.6 million last year and paid $3.24 million in federal income tax. The Clinton’s wealth puts Bill Clinton on the list of the 10 richest in American history.

24/7 Wall St.’s study of the wealth of American presidents is the gold standard on the subject. Earlier this year, our editors looked at the top 10.

What we found:

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.

The net worth of U.S. presidents varies widely. George Washington’s estate was worth more than half a billion in today’s dollars. On the other hand, several presidents went bankrupt.

The fortunes of America’s presidents are often tied to the economy of their time. As the focus of the economy has changed, so has the way the presidents made their money.

It is not surprising then to find that the first few presidents — from Washington’s election to about 75 years later — were large landowners. They generally made money from land, crops, and commodity speculation. This left them also highly vulnerable to poor crop yields, and they could lose most or all of their properties because of a few bad years.

By 1850, the financial history of the presidency entered a new era. Beginning with Millard Fillmore, most presidents were lawyers who spent years in public service. They rarely amassed large fortunes, and their incomes were constituted almost entirely of their salaries.

These American presidents were distinctly middle class, and they often retired without the means to support themselves in any way close to the presidential lifestyle. James Buchanan, Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, and James Garfield had modest net worths when they died.

At the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th, there was another significant change in the economy. Large, professionally organized corporations in the oil, mining, financial, and railroad sectors allowed individuals to amass large fortunes.

John F. Kennedy was wealthy because of the financial empire built by Joseph Kennedy. Herbert Hoover made millions of dollars as the owner of mining companies. Since the early 20th century, the fortunes of many presidents, including Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Kennedy, and both George W. and George H.W. Bush were driven by inherited wealth.

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.

This is 24/7 Wall St.’s list of the richest U.S. presidents:

10. 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.

9. William Jefferson Clinton
> Net Worth: $75 million
> In office: 1993 to 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.

8. 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.

7. 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.

6. 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.
5. 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.

4. 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.

3. 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.

2. 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.

1. 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.