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.
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
More From GOBankingRates
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.
Share this article:
Related Content

Social Security: How Big Is Senator Lindsey Graham's Social Security Check?
November 09, 2023
6 min Read

Grant Cardone Asks How Politicians Making $100K Suddenly Become Multimillionaires
October 21, 2023
6 min Read


Trump's Donor Money Just Plummeted by $101 Million -- What Happens to Election Funds If They Go Negative?
September 24, 2023
6 min Read

Donald Trump's Election Money To Be Seized 'If Obtained by Fraud' -- Where Do Frozen Campaign Funds Go?
September 22, 2023
6 min Read






Sign Up For Our Free Newsletter!
Get advice on achieving your financial goals and stay up to date on the day's top financial stories.
By clicking the 'Subscribe Now' button, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can click on the 'unsubscribe' link in the email at anytime.
Thank you for signing up!


Sending you timely financial stories that you can bank on.
Sign up for our daily newsletter for the latest financial news and trending topics.
For our full Privacy Policy, click here.