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In a February 2022 ranking from 24/7 Wall St., Donald Trump tops the list of the 10 richest U.S. presidents, followed by George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. The figures are estimates of each president’s peak wealth—not audited balance sheets or a like-for-like measure of what each person owned while in office. The ranking adjusts its estimates for inflation to December 2021 dollars.
How the ranking measures presidential wealth
24/7 Wall St. ranked presidents by estimated peak wealth: the highest estimated value of a person’s assets at any point, which may have been before, during, or after the presidency. Its February 2022 estimates consider more than presidential salary, including real estate and land, inheritance, lifetime savings, royalties, company ownership, and income from family estates. The publisher says it adjusted values using the December 2021 Research Consumer Price Index. Read the 24/7 Wall St. ranking and its methodology.
That approach cannot make centuries of personal finances fully comparable. For early presidents, estimates rely on historical estates, land, inheritance, and debts rather than modern financial disclosures. Those estates could also include wealth derived from enslaved people, who were treated as property in historical valuations. That was a human atrocity, not a neutral asset category.
The figures below are therefore best read as one publisher’s dated estimates, not definitive current net worth figures. A separate ranking by DaveManuel, which describes its values as approximate and based on 2022–2023 dollars, reports a different estimate for Trump. Its page says it was last updated in January 2026. The differing figures illustrate why estimates from different publishers and dates should not be combined into one supposedly definitive ranking. See DaveManuel’s ranking and its stated basis.
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The 10 richest U.S. presidents in the 2022 ranking
The amounts in this table are the peak-wealth estimates reported by 24/7 Wall St. in February 2022, with its stated inflation adjustment to December 2021 dollars.
| Rank | President | Estimated peak wealth | Reported sources of wealth |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Donald Trump | $2.3 billion | Business interests and other assets; the publisher notes that public estimates and financial disclosures differ from Trump’s own claims. |
| 2 | George Washington | $599 million | Land and Mount Vernon’s five farms, Martha Washington’s inherited property, and presidential salary. |
| 3 | Thomas Jefferson | $241.7 million | Inherited land, Monticello, and income from public service; he also carried substantial debt late in life. |
| 4 | Theodore Roosevelt | $142.5 million | Inherited trust wealth, writing income, and Sagamore Hill real estate; a ranching venture lost money. |
| 5 | Andrew Jackson | $135.3 million | Marriage, military earnings, and the Hermitage estate; Jackson enslaved people. |
| 6 | James Madison | $115.7 million | Land and Montpelier, public salaries, and plantation finances that later brought losses. |
| 7 | Lyndon B. Johnson | $111.5 million | The Johnson family’s radio and television business, Texas land, livestock, and aircraft; the publisher attributes much of the family wealth to Lady Bird Johnson’s business. |
| 8 | Herbert Hoover | $84.7 million | Mining engineering and consulting, plus silver-mine ownership; he donated his presidential salary to charity. |
| 9 | Bill Clinton | $77.4 million | Post-presidency books and speaking engagements, as well as Hillary Clinton’s contribution to the couple’s finances. |
| 10 | Barack Obama | $70 million | Book royalties, presidential salary, investments, later book advances, and speaking fees for Barack and Michelle Obama. |
Each amount and wealth description comes from the 24/7 Wall St. estimate set; they are not audited personal balance sheets. For Trump in particular, the publisher says precise net worth is difficult to establish because media estimates and financial disclosures vary.
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Why presidential net-worth lists disagree
Different dates and inflation bases
A president’s estimated wealth can look different depending on the year an estimate was published and the dollar year used to express it. A TIME republication of an earlier 24/7 Wall St. ranking gives figures for deceased presidents in 2010 dollars, while values for living presidents reflect more recent earnings. It put Washington at $525 million and Jefferson at $212 million—below the 2022 ranking’s estimates, but in a different estimate set and dollar-year basis. That difference alone does not establish that either historical figure changed. See TIME’s 2014 republication and its stated dollar basis.
Different definitions of wealth
Peak wealth is not the same as wealth at inauguration, during a term, at death, or today. Estimates also depend on how publishers account for inherited and trust assets, family wealth, debts, and assets whose value is difficult to reconstruct. DaveManuel notes that presidents before the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 did not have the same disclosure framework as later officeholders; earlier estimates draw on historical documents and scholarship. Inflation conversions can also vary by era and asset type.
Quick Recap
What the ranking does—and does not—tell you
- It is a dated comparison, not a live net-worth tracker. The Trump figure is the publisher’s 2022 estimate, not a current valuation.
- It ranks estimated peak wealth, not salary or wealth accumulated in office. Several presidents’ fortunes drew on inheritance, land, or business income.
- Historical estimates carry special limits. Records are less directly comparable across centuries, and some estate valuations include wealth produced through enslavement.
- There is no single audited ranking covering every president. Treat the order and amounts as estimates tied to a specific publisher, date, and method.
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