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.

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.

• 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
  

• 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
  

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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.