What is Joe Biden's Net Worth and Salary?
Joe Biden is an American politician who has a net worth of $9 million. Joe Biden served as a Senator from Delaware from 1973 to 2009. He then served as the 47th Vice President of the United States under President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2017. In 2020, he became the Democratic nominee for the U.S. presidential election, running against Donald Trump. In November 2020, he defeated Donald Trump in a landslide victory (both electorally and in the popular vote) to become America's 46th President.
In April 2023, Biden announced his intention to run for a second term as president in 2024.
Presidential Salary
According to Title 3 of the US code, as President of the United States, Joe Biden earns a base salary of $400,000. He is also entitled to a $50,000 annual expense account, a $100,000 nontaxable travel account, and a $19,000 annual entertainment stipend. Before moving into the White House, the Bidens were granted $100,000 to be used for redecorating.
Joe Biden's Financial History
For many years before becoming VP, he would frequently refer to himself as one of the "poorest" members of Congress, or "middle-class Joe," with a net worth of less than $500,000. Financial disclosures going back to 1998 show Joe and his wife Jill had an average annual income in the neighborhood of $215,000 a year until 2009 when they got a $55,000 boost from pensions and Social Security payments. By the time the Bidens reached their final years as VP and Second Lady, their total income had risen to about $390,000 per year.
When his term as Vice President ended, Joe Biden's last financial disclosure pegged his net worth at $1.5 million.
In the years after leaving the White House, he earned significant income, mainly from speeches and book royalties, peaking in 2017 with an income of $11 million. Between 2016 and 2019 alone, Joe and Jill earned a shade under $17 million.
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Early Life
Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was born on November 20th, 1942, in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Raised alongside three siblings in a Catholic family, Joe's family fell on hard times when he was young. During the 50s, his father couldn't find work in the midst of an economic decline in Scranton. Eventually, the family had to move to Delaware, where Joe's father became a used car salesman.
During his high school years, Joe Biden joined the football team and was elected class president. He also played college football when he attended the University of Delaware while double-majoring in history and political science. He graduated in 1965 with a bachelor's degree.
Joe moved on to the Syracuse University College of Law, where he earned a law degree in 1968. During this time, he was famously accused of plagiarism. As a student, Biden was able to defer his draft during the Vietnam era. When he graduated and became eligible once more, Joe received a medical deferment for asthma despite being an athlete all of his life.
Political Career
After college, Biden worked as a law clerk before acting as a public defender and starting his own law firm. He first became involved in politics in 1969 when he ran for a seat on the New Castle County Council, winning the election and setting his sights on the US Senate almost immediately.
He won the 1972 US Senate election in Delaware despite being the clear underdog. At age thirty, he was one of the youngest senators in US history. After a long stint in the US Senate, Joe set his sights on the ultimate prize: the Presidency. In 1987, he ran for the Democratic nomination, although he ran into trouble when he was accused of plagiarizing a speech. Further controversy eventually led to Biden withdrawing from the race.
In 2008, Biden tried to gain the Democratic nomination again. Although his campaign had many bright points, Biden's comments about Barack Obama and Indian people proved to be major blunders. He also had trouble raising funds and was never a serious contender against either Hillary Clinton or Obama. In the end, though, Barack Obama made him vice president. In 2008, he gave up his position in the Senate to serve in Obama's administration. In 2020, Joe Biden became the Democratic nominee for US president.
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Income From Speeches
After leaving the White House, Joe and Jill have earned at least $15 million from speaking engagements and book deals. Biden has become an in-demand public speaker, often earning hundreds of thousands of dollars for a single speech. For example, he earned $190,000 in 2018 for one speech at Drew University in New Jersey. In total, he gave 40 speeches from 2017 to 2018, receiving 5-figure or 6-figure paydays each time.
Income From Book Deals
After Biden left the office of the Vice Presidency, he and his wife signed a $10-million, three-book deal. After writing Promise Me, Dad (a book about his son's death), Joe promoted his book with a tour. He made over 40 stops. Basic tickets cost $25, while VIP tickets (which included a photo with Biden) cost $450.
Salary
According to Joe's tax returns, his earnings have fluctuated over the years. He has made his tax documents available, and the earliest records date from 1998. During this year, he earned a total of $215,432. His income then stayed at around $200,000 until 2009, when it increased by $55,000 per year due to income from social security and pensions.
In 2016, when Joe Biden was preparing to leave office as the vice president, he was earning about $400,000 per year. By 2017, that number had risen dramatically to $11 million. In 2018, things slowed down slightly, and Biden earned a total of $4.6 million.
Jill Biden Salary
Jill Biden earns $100,000 per year as a teacher at Northern Virginia Community College.
Tax Returns
According to their joint tax returns, the Bidens earned the following amounts in recent years:
- 2016: $400,000
- 2017: $11 million
- 2018: $4.6 million
- 2019: $944,737
- 2020: $607,336
- 2021: $610,702
- 2022: $579,514
- 2023: $619,976
In a more detailed report on their taxes that was released in April 2024, Joe and Jill earned $619,976 in adjusted gross income in 2023. They paid $146,629 in federal income tax at an effective federal tax rate of 23.7%. They also paid $30,908 in Delaware income tax. Jill paid $3,549 in Virginia income tax. The majority of their income came thanks to Joe's $400,000 Presidential salary, with another $85,985 coming from Jill's teaching job at a Northern Virginia Community College. The remainder of their income, roughly $134,000, came from social security payments. They made $20,000 worth of charitable donations in the year to 17 different charities, including a $5,000 donation to the Beau Biden Foundation.
(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Debt
Financial disclosure forms have revealed Biden's struggle with debt over the years. During those years, Biden's only financial asset was his home in Delaware. He has taken out multiple loans against his house. From 1983 to 2015, Biden borrowed against the cash value of his life insurance policies, which are valued at a maximum of $50,000. Disclosure forms released in 2015 revealed that he took out a mortgage on his home in 2013 and owed between $500,000 to $1 million on the property.
Rental Income
Federal financial disclosures also show that Joe and Jill earned $2,200 per month by renting out their guest house to members of the Secret Service while Biden was vice president. In total, they earned about $170,000 in rental income during this period.
Real Estate
Joe Biden's primary residence is a home in the neighborhood of Greenville in Wilmington, Delaware. The home overlooks a man-made lake that was originally built by wealthy members of the du Pont family. Joe and Jill bought their home in 1997 for $350,000. Similar homes in the area have recently sold for a bit more than $2 million. In 2017, Joe and Jill paid $2.74 million for a six-bedroom vacation home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Between 2018 and 2019, the couple rented a $4 million mansion in McLean, Virginia, paying $20,000 per month.
Marriages and Children
In 1966, Joe Biden married Neilia Hunter. Joe and Neilia had three children together, including Hunter Biden and Beau Biden. Tragically, Neilia and their one-year-old daughter Naomi died in December 1972 in a car crash.
In 1975, Joe and Jill Jacobs were set up on a blind date. They married in June of 1977 and went on to have one child together, a daughter named Ashley. In total, Biden has seven grandchildren.
Tragically, Joe's son Beau Biden died in May 2015 of cancer.
