How Much White House Staffs Have Been Paid for the Past 18 Years

The White House employs hundreds of staffers every year to fulfill roles ranging from staff assistant, which is typically among the lowest-paid positions, to counsel to the president, which is usually among the highest-paid White House roles. Even though these government salaries are never extremely high — in 2020, the highest-paid White House staffer earned $183,000 — with hundreds of people on the payroll, the total staffing costs range from $35 million to upwards of $47 million under any given presidency.

Find Out: How Much Does the President Make?

GOBankingRates found the total White House payroll under every president from 2003 to 2020 and adjusted all figures to 2020 dollars to account for inflation. Keep reading to find out which president’s staff cost the most.

2003: George W. Bush

• Number of staffers: 435
• Payroll total: $28,620,231
  
• Payroll total (2020 dollars): $40,477,251
  
• Year-over-year change in payroll total (2020 dollars): N/A
• Average salary (2020 dollars): $93,052
• Median salary (2020 dollars): $73,684
  

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2004: George W. Bush

• Number of staffers: 431
• Payroll total: $28,909,236
  
• Payroll total (2020 dollars): $39,825,419
  
• Year-over-year change in payroll total (2020 dollars): -2%
• Average salary (2020 dollars): $92,403
  
• Median salary (2020 dollars): $74,008
  

Find Out: All the Ways the Biden Family Has Made Money Over the Past 20 Years

2005: George W. Bush

• Number of staffers: 407
• Payroll total: $26,284,243
  
• Payroll total (2020 dollars): $35,022,643
  
• Year-over-year change in payroll total (2020 dollars): -12%
• Average salary (2020 dollars): $86,050
  
• Median salary (2020 dollars): $66,623

See the List: The Richest and Poorest US Presidents

2006: George W. Bush

• Number of staffers: 432
• Payroll total: $28,478,230
  
• Payroll total (2020 dollars): $36,760,225
  
• Year-over-year change in payroll total (2020 dollars): 5%
• Average salary (2020 dollars): $86,090
  
• Median salary (2020 dollars): $66,735

Read More: How Obama, Biden and Other Elected Officials Have Made Millions by Being in Office

2007: George W. Bush

• Number of staffers: 442
• Payroll total: $30,613,450
  
• Payroll total (2020 dollars): $38,422,063
  
• Year-over-year change in payroll total (2020 dollars): 5%
• Average salary (2020 dollars): $87,722
  
• Median salary (2020 dollars): $66,644

See: 10 Rich Politicians Who Caught COVID-19

2008: George W. Bush

• Number of staffers: 447
• Payroll total: $33,193,021
  
• Payroll total (2020 dollars): $40,119,212
  
• Year-over-year change in payroll total (2020 dollars): 4%
• Average salary (2020 dollars): $89,752
  
• Median salary (2020 dollars): $66,960

Keep Reading: The Trumps, Clintons and More: The Wealthiest Presidential Families

2009: Barack Obama

• Number of staffers: 487
• Payroll total: $39,147,222
  
• Payroll total (2020 dollars): $47,484,781
  
• Year-over-year change in payroll total (2020 dollars): 18%
• Average salary (2020 dollars): $97,504
  
• Median salary (2020 dollars): $78,844

Making Big Bucks: Barack Obama’s Net Worth as His Memoir Debuts

2010: Barack Obama

• Number of staffers: 469
• Payroll total: $38,796,307
  
• Payroll total (2020 dollars): $46,299,685
  
• Year-over-year change in payroll total (2020 dollars): -2%
• Average salary (2020 dollars): $98,720
  
• Median salary (2020 dollars): $79,123

Check Out: How Much Is President-Elect Joe Biden Worth?

2011: Barack Obama

• Number of staffers: 454
• Payroll total: $37,121,463
  
• Payroll total (2020 dollars): $42,945,337
  
• Year-over-year change in payroll total (2020 dollars): -7%
• Average salary (2020 dollars): $94,593
  
• Median salary (2020 dollars): $79,958

Find Out: Biden’s COVID Team Meets with Fauci — How Much Will It Cost to Prevent the Next Pandemic?

2012: Barack Obama

• Number of staffers: 468
• Payroll total: $37,834,589
  
• Payroll total (2020 dollars): $42,882,903
  
• Year-over-year change in payroll total (2020 dollars): 0%
• Average salary (2020 dollars): $91,630
  
• Median salary (2020 dollars): $74,430

See the Top Names: The 5 Richest Members of Congress Are Worth a Whopping $773M

2013: Barack Obama

• Number of staffers: 460
• Payroll total: $37,859,780
  
• Payroll total (2020 dollars): $42,291,980
  
• Year-over-year change in payroll total (2020 dollars): -1%
• Average salary (2020 dollars): $91,939
  
• Median salary (2020 dollars): $78,195

Read: The Richest Politician in Every State

2014: Barack Obama

• Number of staffers: 456
• Payroll total: $37,776,925
  
• Payroll total (2020 dollars): $41,525,798
  
• Year-over-year change in payroll total (2020 dollars): -2%
• Average salary (2020 dollars): $91,065
  
• Median salary (2020 dollars): $77,716

Take a Look: Is Your Representative One of the 10 Poorest People in Congress?

2015: Barack Obama

• Number of staffers: 474
• Payroll total: $40,225,595
  
• Payroll total (2020 dollars): $44,165,045
  
• Year-over-year change in payroll total (2020 dollars): 6%
• Average salary (2020 dollars): $93,175
  
• Median salary (2020 dollars): $77,624

Find Out: These Are the Wealthiest Congressional Districts Across America

2016: Barack Obama

• Number of staffers: 472
• Payroll total: $39,753,551
  
• Payroll total (2020 dollars): $43,103,021
  
• Year-over-year change in payroll total (2020 dollars): -2%
• Average salary (2020 dollars): $91,320
  
• Median salary (2020 dollars): $79,206

Learn More: Biden’s Budget Chief Pick Sparks Bipartisan Outrage

2017: Donald Trump

• Number of staffers: 377
• Payroll total: $35,766,744
  
• Payroll total (2020 dollars): $37,971,377
  
• Year-over-year change in payroll total (2020 dollars): -12%
• Average salary (2020 dollars): $100,720
  
• Median salary (2020 dollars): $94,486

Find Out: All The Ways the Trumps Have Made Money Over the Past 20 Years

2018: Donald Trump

• Number of staffers: 374
• Payroll total: $35,248,194
  
• Payroll total (2020 dollars): $38,528,660
  
• Year-over-year change in payroll total (2020 dollars): 1%
• Average salary (2020 dollars): $97,671
  
• Median salary (2020 dollars): $87,500

You’re Fired! How Much These Former Trump Staffers Made

2019: Donald Trump

• Number of staffers: 418
• Payroll total: $41,284,244
  
• Payroll total (2020 dollars): $42,022,544
  
• Year-over-year change in payroll total (2020 dollars): 9%
• Average salary (2020 dollars): $100,532
  
• Median salary (2020 dollars): $94,052

Keep Reading: How Much Is President Donald Trump Worth?

2020: Donald Trump

• Number of staffers: 412
• Payroll total: $39,740,636
  
• Year-over-year change in payroll total: -5%
• Average salary: $97,643
  
• Median salary: $86,200

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Methodology: GOBankingRates reviewed the White House’s Annual Report to Congress on White House Staff every year from 2003 to 2020 to analyze the White House’s payroll over the past 18 years. For each year, GOBankingRates found: (1) the total number of staff retained by the White House, (2) the total annual payroll amount for all staff paid on a yearly basis (this exclude four staffers retained on a per diem basis in 2006 and 2007), (3) the total annual payroll adjusted for inflation to 2020 dollars, (4) the year-over-year change in the total annual payroll in 2020 dollars, (5) the average salary paid to White House staffers, (5) the average salary paid to White House staffers adjusted for inflation to 2020 dollars, (6) the year-over-year change in the average salary paid to White House staffers in 2020 dollars, (7) the median salary paid to White House staffers, (8) the median salary paid to White House staffers adjusted for inflation to 2020 dollars, and (8) the median salary paid to White House staffers in 2020 dollars. Annual Reports to Congress for 2017-2020 were sourced from the current White House website, 2012-2016 reports were sourced from the archived White House site under Barack Obama, 2011 was sourced from the Los Angeles Times archives, 2010 was sourced from FedSmith, 2009 was sourced from Public Intelligence, and 2003-2008 reports were sourced from Dan Froomkin’s archived releases on The Washington Post. All inflation calculations were performed through the U.S. Inflation Calculator, which uses CPI data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. All data was gathered on and up to date as of Dec. 17-18, 2020.

About the Author

Gabrielle Olya

Gabrielle joined GOBankingRates in 2017 and brings with her a decade of experience in the journalism industry. Before joining the team, she was a staff writer-reporter for People Magazine and People.com. Her work has also appeared on E! Online, Us Weekly, Patch, Sweety High and Discover Los Angeles, and she has been featured on “Good Morning America” as a celebrity news expert. 

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