President Donald Trump is the first billionaire to be elected president, but he has created history for other reasons as well. During his first tenure, the millionaire notoriously donated his presidential salary, as has been the case with previous presidents (see below). He will do the same for his second, according to news reports.
How much does Trump get paid as president? What is the salary of US presidents? For additional details, continue reading.
The pay of the US president was first debated and ultimately increased in a 1999 House hearing before a subcommittee on government management, information, and technology. The presidential pay at the time, when Bill Clinton was president, was $200,000 and had remained unchanged since 1969, when it was $100,000.
Stephen Horn, the subcommittee’s chairman and a former representative from 1993 to 2003 in California, stated the following in hearing records from the May 24, 1999, meeting posted on govinfo.gov: “I’m sure that to most Americans a salary of that amount seems like a lot of money. It is. However, it is to pay for one of the most difficult, demanding and important jobs on the face of the Earth.”
Though it didn’t go into effect until 2001, following Clinton’s term, discussions to raise the U.S. presidential salary did occur in 1999. The pay of the president had increased from $200,000 to $400,000. According to the Constitution, the president’s pay cannot be altered while he is in office.
Since there are 52 weeks in a year, we split the $400,000 annual presidential pay by 52 to arrive at $7,692.30 per week. After dividing that sum by 40, we arrived at $192.30 per hour, or $7,692.30 per week in a 40-hour work week. This excludes the additional costs designated for a president, including entertainment and travel.
Fun fact –
The average American working a full time job works 262 days a year,
With an average salary of $60,000 annually.The average Congressman/woman works 150 days per year,
With an annual salary of $174,000 with free healthcare.The President of the United States fucks… pic.twitter.com/zb9EE2NJOK
— Travis Matthew (@Matthewtravis08) June 19, 2025
Donald Trump earns $400,000 a year as president, similar to prior presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden. From 2017 to 2021, he served as the 45th president of the United States, earning the same salary.
The annual pay for presidents was set at $25,000 when George Washington assumed office in 1789. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ website’s CPI inflation calculator indicates that $25,000 in January 1925 would be equivalent to almost $459,000 in January 2025. (The calculator has been around since 1913.)
Presidential worth before and after Office:
📈 Barack Obama: $1.3M to $70M
📈 George Bush: $20M to $40M
📈 Bill Clinton: $1.3M to $241.5M
📈 George H.W. Bush: $4M to $23M
📉 Donald Trump: $3B to $2.3BSource: AOL
— World of Statistics (@stats_feed) August 22, 2024
During his tenure as the 45th president of the United States, Donald Trump donated his $400,000 salary. However, according to a 2020 USA TODAY Fact Check story on Trump and his salary, Trump deducts $1 annually from his paychecks because presidents are obligated by story II, Section 1 of the Constitution to receive compensation for their service.
According to a 2023 USA TODAY article, the Trump administration said that some of his first-term pay was distributed to federal organizations such the Small Business Administration, the National Park Service, and the Department of Health and Human Services.
