(NewsNation) — How rich are presidential candidates Joe Biden and Donald Trump? The numbers have been debated, as the 2024 election sparks an interest in the net worth of candidates.
Net worth is the value of the assets a person owns minus the liabilities they owe. Here’s a closer look at Biden and Trump’s current net worth, and their worth before and after their time in the White House:
Donald Trump’s net worth
Trump is worth over $6.4 billion, making him among the world’s richest 500 people. Trump’s riches can be attributed to his Truth Social parent company, real estate, clubs and resorts, and other assets.
Truth Social’s parent company rakes in $4.6 billion for Trump. He recently met the requirement to receive up to 36 million additional shares of Trump Media, worth $1.17 billion. Trump’s real estate assets, including Trump Tower, three Florida homes and Trump International Hotel Las Vegas equate to $1.1 billion. His clubs and resorts, including Mar-a-Lago, 10 golf courses across six states, his Miami resort and three European golf properties, have a value of $810 million.
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PALM BEACH, FLORIDA – APRIL 11: A general view of the atmosphere as Haute Living supports our veterans at America First gala at Mar-a-Lago on April 11, 2024 in Palm Beach, Florida. (Photo by Romain Maurice/Getty Images for Haute Living) -
Trump International Golf Course, owned by US President-elect Donald Trump, is pictured from the beach at Doughmore bay, near Doonbeg, on the west coast of Ireland, on December 2, 2016. – Even in Doonbeg, however, the tenure of US President-elect Donald Trump has created tensions, mainly over a proposed 2.8-kilometre long, 4.5-metre high coastal wall the public beach adjoining his property to protect the golf course from winter storms. (Photo by PAUL FAITH / AFP) / TO GO WITH AFP STORY by Douglas Dalby (Photo by PAUL FAITH/AFP via Getty Images) -
Trump International Hotel, located at 1 Central Park West in New York City, is a property owned by The Trump Organization founded by Donald Trump. It is a chain of luxury hotels located in major cities and resort destinations around the world. (Photo by: Deb Cohn-Orbach/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images) -
TOPSHOT – Former US President and 2024 presidential hopeful Donald Trump speaks during a Super Tuesday election night watch party at Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, on March 5, 2024. (Photo by Chandan Khanna / AFP) (Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images) -
The entrance of Trump International Hotel is pictured on March 21, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by ANGELA WEISS / AFP) (Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images) -
WEST PALM BEACH, FL – MARCH 23: A view of the Trump International Golf Club on March 23, 2023 in West Palm Beach, Florida. Trump said on a social media post recently that he expects to be arrested in connection with an investigation into a hush-money payment involving adult film actress Stormy Daniels, and called on his supporters to protest any such move. (Photo by Octavio Jones/Getty Images)
According to Forbes estimates, Trump has $410 million in cash/liquid assets and $100 million in other assets. In a Truth Social post in March, Trump told his supporters he has nearly $500 million in cash.
However, Trump’s legal liabilities put a dent in his net worth with Forbes saying Trump’s legal liabilities come out at -$540 million. In February, a judge ordered Trump to pay a $454 million judgment in a civil fraud lawsuit brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James, ruling Trump inflated the value of his assets. Trump’s lawyers are appealing the ruling.
Trump’s net worth before the presidency
Trump said he got his start in business when his father, a prominent real-estate developer, gave him an alleged $1 million loan.
“My father gave me a small loan of a million dollars,” he told NBC during a 2015 town hall. “A million dollars isn’t very much compared to what I built.”
With the help from his father, Trump became a luxury real estate developer and investor. He also started building his personal brand in the 1980s, publishing books like “The Art of the Deal” and hosting “The Apprentice” on TV before the 2016 presidential election.
Trump dropped off the Forbes 400 List from 1990 to 1995. According to Forbes research, in the 10 years prior to Trump becoming president, he averaged a net worth of $3.13 billion annually. His highest net worth before the 2016 election came in at $4.5 billion in 2015. In that ten-year window, $2 billion marked the lowest annual net worth for Trump.
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New York, N.Y.: Close-up photo of real estate developer Donald Trump taken during an interview at Trump Towers in Manhattan on April 4, 1985. (Photo by J. Michael Dombroski/Newsday RM via Getty Images) -
NEW YORK – DECEMBER 1987: Donald Trump attends one of his book parties at Trump Tower December 1987 in New York City. (Photo by Sonia Moskowitz/Getty Images) -
Donald Trump portrait on 5th Avenue outside of Trump Tower. NYC 1987 -
Donald Trump in his limousine, circa 1987 -
The ”topping-off” ceremony at Trump Tower at 56th Street and Fifth Avenue. -
NEW YORK, NY -May 16: ( MANDATORY CREDIT Bill Tompkins/Getty Images ) Donald Trump, Donald Trumpr, Jr and Ivanka Trump during the Celebrity Apprentice livre season finale on May 16, 2010 in New York City. (Photo by Bill Tompkins/Getty Images)
Trump’s net worth during the presidency
Trump was elected the 45th President of the United States on Nov. 8, 2016. On Jan. 20, 2017, Trump was inaugurated. On Jan. 20, 2021, Trump officially left office.
Bloomberg reports the presidency cost Trump $700 million, pointing to a fallout with brokers and lenders over the Jan. 6 Capitol riots and the impacts of the pandemic on office buildings.
From 2017 to 2021, Trump averaged a net worth of $2.86 billion each year. His highest annual net worth during the presidency was $3.1 billion in 2017, 2018 and 2019. His lowest annual net worth was $2.5 billion in both 2020 and 2021.
Joe Biden’s net worth
The president and first lady earned $620,000 before taxes last year, according to their 2023 tax return released by the White House. As Forbes puts it, the Bidens’ annual income is “about how much the Girl Scouts of Greater New York pay Trump in annual rent for their office” on Wall Street.
While 2023 marked a good financial year for the Bidens, it didn’t make much of a dent in their net worth. Joe and Jill Biden’s fortune now stands at about $10 million.
Biden’s net worth before presidency
Biden served as former President Barack Obama’s vice president from 2009 to 2017. While the current annual salary for vice president is $230,700, Biden was paid about $225,000. Before his time on Pennsylvania Avenue, Biden worked as an attorney who became Delaware’s longest-serving senator.
He graduated from Syracuse University Law School in 1968 and initially took a job with a corporate law firm but soon became a public defender. Biden got his first taste of the political world in 1970 when he won a seat on the New Castle County Council.
At age 29, Biden was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1972, making him one of the youngest people ever elected to the Senate. Biden referred to himself as “one of the poorest members” of Congress. In the years leading up to being vice president, Biden earned around $155,000 each year as a senator and another $20,000 for teaching at Widener University.
When he left public office in 2017, his estimated worth was $2.5 million, with the majority of his net worth coming from his Delaware home and his federal pension, which reportedly guaranteed him an annual income of around $160,000 for life. As the former vice president, Biden worked as a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and started writing books and booking speaking engagements.
In late 2017 and 2018, Biden earned more than $4 million from delivering dozens of speeches. Also in 2017, Biden and his wife signed a book deal valued at a reported $8 million.
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Newly elected Senator Joe Biden (Photo by Fairchild Archive/Penske Media via Getty Images) -
(Original Caption) Washington: United Stated Senator Joseph R. Biden, r. (D-De) seated in the Senate Hearing room -
US Senator Joseph Biden, D-Del., speaks on July 13, 1989 before a House of Representatives panel about flag burning. Biden, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told House members that his bill to outlaw flag burning was the best way to overcome the Supreme Court ruling which protects the action as a form of free speech. Other lawmakers insisted that only a onstitutional amendment would suffice. (Photo by Jerome DELAY / AFP) (Photo by JEROME DELAY/AFP via Getty Images) -
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, UNITED STATES – JULY 1986: Senator Joseph Biden, D-Del., at Senate Judiciary Comm.hearing on nomination of Chief Justice Rehnquist. (Photo by Diana Walker/Getty Images) -
Senator Joseph Biden chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee during the confirmation hearings for Justice David Souter, Washington DC, September 13, 1990. (Photo by Mark Reinstein/Corbis via Getty Images) -
During a press conference, American politician US Senator Joseph Biden announces his intention to run for the Democratic Party nomination’s for President of the United States, Washington DC, June 9, 1987. (Photo by Howard L. Sachs/CNP/Getty Images)
Biden’s net worth during the presidency
The president was reportedly worth $8 million when he landed in the Oval following the 2020 election. His wealth has grown by roughly 25% since his 2021 inauguration, thanks to his presidential salary, real estate and the stock market increasing the value of some of his investments.
According to the Biden’s 2023 tax return, Joe Biden made $400,000 for being president and Jill Biden made $86,000 as a professor at Northern Virginia Community College.
Most of the Bidens’ net worth, an estimated $7 million of their $10 million, comes from their two Delaware homes. The couple’s 4,800-square-foot summer home in Rehoboth Beach is worth an estimated $4.5 million. They bought it in 2017 for $2.7 million. Their colonial-style home in Wilmington is worth around $2.5 million. Forbes says the rest of the Bidens’ wealth is split between pensions and holdings like Biden’s 1967 Corvette Stingray that’s worth $100,000.
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DELAWARE, UNITED STATES – FEBRUARY 1: A view of US President Joe Bidenâs vacation house in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, United States on February 1, 2023. No classified documents were found in an FBI search, conducted from 8.30 a.m. (1330GMT) until noon (1700GMT), of US President Joe Bidenâs vacation house in his home state of Delaware, according to his attorney. (Photo by Celal Gunes/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) -
US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden walk on the beach in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, on October 22, 2023. Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed Sunday after a second aid convoy reached Gaza from Egypt that such assistance will continue, as Israel keeps attacking the Hamas-ruled territory, the White House said. (Photo by Kent NISHIMURA / AFP) (Photo by KENT NISHIMURA/AFP via Getty Images) -
US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden walk on the beach in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, on October 22, 2023. Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed Sunday after a second aid convoy reached Gaza from Egypt that such assistance will continue, as Israel keeps attacking the Hamas-ruled territory, the White House said. (Photo by Kent NISHIMURA / AFP) (Photo by KENT NISHIMURA/AFP via Getty Images) -
US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden walk on the beach in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, on October 22, 2023. Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed Sunday after a second aid convoy reached Gaza from Egypt that such assistance will continue, as Israel keeps attacking the Hamas-ruled territory, the White House said. (Photo by Kent NISHIMURA / AFP) (Photo by KENT NISHIMURA/AFP via Getty Images)
How Trump and Biden’s net worth stack up to past presidents
While Trump is worth more than $6.4 billion and Biden has a $10 million fortune, how do they compare to past commanders-in-chief? A 2023 report featured on Yahoo! Finance places Trump at the top of the list with Biden trailing near the middle.
Other presidents reportedly raked in the following net worth – Mostly due to millions of dollars from public speaking engagements and lucrative book deals, much like Biden:
- Bill Clinton: $120 million
- Barack Obama: $70 million
- George W. Bush: $50 million
- George H.W. Bush: $25 million
- Ronald Reagan: $13 million
- Gerald Ford: $7 million
In terms of 2024 candidates’ net worth, both Trump and Biden ranked in the top five. Trump led the way followed by entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, independent candidate Robert Kennedy Jr, Biden then former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley.