Presidential Salaries Through the Years

Only Five Pay Raises Since George Washington Was in the White House

George W. Bush standing in front of flag and advisors smiling — President George W. Bush delivers the 2007 State of the Union address. Pool / Getty Images News

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Updated on January 19, 2021

The president of the United States is now paid $400,000 a year. Unlike members of Congress, the president does not get an automatic pay raise or cost-of-living adjustment every year.

The president's salary is set by Congress, and lawmakers have seen fit to raise the pay for the most powerful position in the world precisely five times since George Washington became the nation's first president in 1789.

The most recent salary hike was effective in 2001 when President George W. Bush became the first commander-in-chief to make the $400,000 salary—double the amount his predecessor, President Bill Clinton, was paid a year.

Presidents don't have the power to raise their own salaries. In fact, this point is specifically covered in the U.S. Constitution which states that:

"The President shall, at stated times receive for his services, a compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the period for which he shall have been elected ..."

Washington tried to decline his presidential salary, but since it is required by the Constitution he accepted it. Likewise, President Donald Trump pledged to work without a salary, but since he was legally required to accept it has instead given the quarterly pay back to various government agencies since he has been in office.

Here's a look at presidential salaries through the years, a list of which presidents were paid how much, starting with the current rate of pay.

$400,000

President George W. Bush, who took office in January of 2001, became the first president to earn the current pay rate of $400,000. The president's $400,000 salary took effect in 2001 and remains the current pay rate for president.

The current president also gets a budget of $50,000 for expenses, $100,000 for a nontaxable travel account, and $19,000 for entertainment.

Receiving the $400,000 salary were:

George W. Bush
Barack Obama
Donald Trump
Joe Biden

$200,000

Richard Nixon sits at a desk with papers in hand — Hulton Archive / Getty Images

President Richard Nixon, who took office in January of 1969, was the first president to be paid $200,000 a year for his service in the White House. The salary of $200,000 for president went into effect in 1969 and continued through 2000. That would be $1.4 million in 2019 dollars the first year the pay went into effect.

Earning $200,000 a year were:

Richard Nixon
Gerald Ford
Jimmy Carter
Ronald Reagan
George H.W. Bush
Bill Clinton

$100,000

Dewey Defeats Truman Newspaper — Underwood Archives / Contributor

President Harry Truman began his second term in 1949 by getting a 33 percent pay raise. He was the first president to earn six figures, going from the $75,000 that presidents had been paid since 1909 to $100,000. The salary of $100,000 went into effect in 1949 and continued through 1969. The 1949 pay would be $1.08 million in 2019 dollars.

Earning $100,000 a year were:

Harry Truman
Dwight Eisenhower
John F. Kennedy
Lyndon Johnson

$75,000

Franklin D. Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt in Hyde Park, New York. (1906). (Picture courtesy the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library)

American presidents were paid $75,000 beginning in 1909 with the term of William Howard Taft and continuing through Truman's first term. The 1909 pay would be $2.1 million in 2019 dollars.

Earning $75,000 were:

William Howard Taft
Woodrow Wilson
Warren Harding
Calvin Coolidge
Herbert Hoover
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Harry S. Truman

$50,000

Theodore Roosevelt looking at papers at his desk — Hulton Archive / Getty Images

American presidents were paid $50,000 beginning in 1873 with the second term of Ulysses S. Grant and continuing through Theodore Roosevelt. The 1873 pay would be $1.07 million in 2019 dollars.

Earning $50,000 were:

Ulysses S. Grant
Rutherford B. Hayes
James Garfield
Chester Arthur
Grover Cleveland
Benjamin Harrison
Grover Cleveland
William McKinley
Theodore Roosevelt

$25,000

Portrait of Abraham Lincoln — President Abraham Lincoln.
Hulton Archive/Getty Images

The first American presidents earned $25,000. Adjusting for 2019 dollars, Washington's salary would be $729,429.

Those earning $25,000 were:

George 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
Andrew Johnson
Ulysses S. Grant

View Article Sources

"3 U.S.C. §102: Compensation of the President." U.S. Government Publishing Office, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2011-title3/html/USCODE-2011-title3-chap2-sec102.htm.
"Presidential and Vice Presidential Salaries Exclusive of Perquisites." University of Michigan, http://www-personal.umich.edu/~graceyor/govdocs/fedprssal.html.

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Murse, Tom. "Presidential Salaries Through the Years." ThoughtCo, Jul. 20, 2021, thoughtco.com/presidential-salaries-through-the-years-3368133. Murse, Tom. (2021, July 20). Presidential Salaries Through the Years. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/presidential-salaries-through-the-years-3368133 Murse, Tom. "Presidential Salaries Through the Years." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/presidential-salaries-through-the-years-3368133 (accessed June 5, 2023).