Joe Biden | Celebrity Net Worth 2026

Biography & Early Wealth Journey

Biden was first elected to the Senate in 1972 at age 29, making him one of the youngest people ever elected to the chamber. Over the following decades, he became particularly prominent on the Senate Judiciary and Foreign Relations committees. His first two presidential campaigns, in 1988 and 2008, ended during the primary process, but the second led to his selection as Obama's running mate.

Biden returned to electoral politics in 2020 and defeated incumbent President Donald Trump. His presidency included the American Rescue Plan, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act, while his administration also confronted the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, high inflation, increased migration at the southern border, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and the Israel-Hamas war.

Biden initially sought reelection in 2024 but withdrew from the race in July and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris. Harris subsequently lost the general election to Trump. Biden completed his term on January 20, 2025, ending a political career in elected federal office that had begun more than 50 years earlier.

Presidential Salary and Retirement Income

Primary Income Streams & Multi-Million Contracts

As president of the United States, Joe Biden earned a statutory salary of $400,000 per year. The presidency also comes with a $50,000 annual expense allowance, along with separate travel and entertainment accounts for official purposes. These allowances are not equivalent to additional personal salary.

Before becoming president, Biden earned a salary as vice president from 2009 through 2017 and, before that, a Senate salary for more than three decades.

After leaving the presidency, Biden became eligible for benefits under the Former Presidents Act. The former-president pension is tied to the salary of a Cabinet secretary. His decades of Senate service also generated a separate federal retirement pension. In 2025, his presidential and congressional pensions were reported to total roughly $417,000 per year.

Joe Biden's Financial History

Real Estate, Luxury Assets & Personal Investments

For much of his Senate career, Biden was far less wealthy than many of his colleagues. He frequently described himself as "Middle-Class Joe," and financial disclosures showed that his principal asset for many years was his Delaware home. He used mortgages, home-equity borrowing, and loans against life insurance policies at various points during his career.

Biden's financial situation changed dramatically after he left the vice presidency in January 2017. No longer limited to a government salary, Joe and Jill Biden began earning substantial amounts from books, speaking engagements, and other professional activities.

The couple reported roughly $11 million in income in 2017 and $4.6 million in 2018. Their 2017 publishing agreement with Flatiron Books covered three books and was reported to be worth around $8 million. Biden also delivered paid speeches and conducted a nationwide ticketed tour connected to his memoir "Promise Me, Dad."

By the time Biden returned to campaigning for president, that post-vice-presidential period had transformed the family's finances.

Wealth Trajectory & Future Earnings Projections

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Books and Speaking Income

Books and speeches have represented Biden's largest source of private-sector earnings.

Following the Obama administration, Biden signed a three-book agreement with Flatiron Books. His 2017 memoir, "Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose," chronicled the period surrounding the illness and death of his son Beau Biden. The accompanying American Promise Tour turned the book into a live-event business as well, with Biden appearing at theaters around the country.

During 2017 and 2018, Biden collected five- and six-figure fees for numerous speaking engagements in addition to his publishing income.

After leaving the presidency, Biden returned to Creative Artists Agency, which had represented him during his previous period outside government.

In 2025, Biden reached another major publishing deal with Little, Brown and Company for a memoir about his presidency. The advance was reported to be around $10 million. A book advance is gross publishing income rather than take-home earnings and remains subject to taxes, commissions, and other expenses.

In 2026, the publisher announced the memoir under the title "Promise Me, America," describing it as Biden's account of his presidency and the political decisions surrounding his 2024 reelection campaign.

Tax Returns and Income

Biden released decades of tax returns during his political career. His jointly filed returns with Jill show how sharply the couple's income rose after leaving the vice presidency before settling back toward the level of government salaries during his presidency.

Their reported adjusted gross income from 2016 through 2023 was:

• 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

That comes to more than $19.3 million in combined adjusted gross income over the eight-year period.

The final tax return publicly released during Biden's presidency covered 2023. Joe and Jill reported $619,976 in adjusted gross income and paid $146,629 in federal income tax, for an effective federal rate of 23.7%.

Joe's $400,000 presidential salary and Jill's $85,985 salary from Northern Virginia Community College accounted for most of their employment income. They also received Social Security benefits, pensions, interest, annuity income, and comparatively modest book royalties.

Jill taught her final class at Northern Virginia Community College in December 2024, ending a 15-year tenure at the school.

Assets and Debt

Federal financial disclosures offer only a partial view of Biden's finances because assets are generally reported in broad value ranges and personal residences are not treated like ordinary investment assets.

Biden's 2023 presidential financial disclosure listed financial assets worth between roughly $1 million and $2.6 million, excluding the full market value of the family's personal real estate. Those holdings included bank accounts, retirement accounts, pensions, annuities, and other financial assets.

The same disclosure showed liabilities of roughly $350,000 to $850,000. These included a mortgage carrying a reported balance between $250,001 and $500,000 and a home-equity loan with a balance between $100,001 and $250,000.

Biden's relationship with debt goes back decades. From 1983 through 2015, he periodically borrowed against the cash value of life insurance policies, and he refinanced his Delaware real estate multiple times during his Senate and vice-presidential years.

His finances became considerably more liquid after the large book and speaking earnings he and Jill generated beginning in 2017.

Early Life

Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was born on November 20, 1942, in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He was raised alongside three siblings in a Catholic family. His father experienced financial difficulties while Biden was young, and the family eventually moved to Delaware, where his father worked as a used-car salesman.

Biden attended Archmere Academy before enrolling at the University of Delaware, where he studied history and political science and graduated in 1965.

He later attended Syracuse University College of Law and received his law degree in 1968. After law school, Biden worked as a law clerk, practiced as a public defender, and joined a law firm.

Senate Career

Biden entered elected office on the New Castle County Council in 1970. Two years later, he challenged incumbent Republican Senator J. Caleb Boggs in Delaware's U.S. Senate race.

Biden won the 1972 election at age 29. Weeks later, before he took office, his wife Neilia and their infant daughter Naomi were killed in a car crash. His sons Beau and Hunter Biden were injured.

Biden was sworn into the Senate from his sons' hospital room in January 1973. He subsequently commuted by train between Delaware and Washington for much of his Senate career.

Over six terms, Biden became a senior figure on both the Judiciary Committee and Foreign Relations Committee. He chaired the Judiciary Committee during several major Supreme Court confirmation battles and later chaired the Foreign Relations Committee.

Biden sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988 but withdrew after controversy surrounding speeches in which he had used language from British politician Neil Kinnock without proper attribution.

(Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Vice Presidency

Biden ran for president again in 2008 but failed to gain significant traction against Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

After securing the nomination, Obama chose Biden as his vice-presidential running mate. The pair won the 2008 election and were reelected in 2012.

As vice president, Biden took on significant roles in foreign policy, congressional negotiations, and implementation of the administration's response to the financial crisis. He also became one of Obama's closest political advisers.

Biden considered running for president in 2016 but ultimately declined following Beau Biden's death from brain cancer.

2020 Election and Presidency

Biden entered the 2020 presidential race and won the Democratic nomination after a crowded primary campaign. He selected Kamala Harris as his running mate and defeated Donald Trump in the November election.

Biden was sworn in as the 46th president on January 20, 2021.

His administration entered office during the COVID-19 pandemic and passed the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan. Biden subsequently signed a major bipartisan infrastructure law, the CHIPS and Science Act to encourage domestic semiconductor manufacturing, and the Inflation Reduction Act, which included climate, health-care, and tax provisions.

He nominated Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, making her the first Black woman to serve on the court.

Foreign policy dominated significant portions of his presidency. Biden completed the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan in 2021, an evacuation marked by chaos and criticism. After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, his administration became a major supplier of military and financial assistance to Ukraine and worked to strengthen NATO. His administration was also deeply involved diplomatically and militarily after Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023 and the subsequent war in Gaza.

Domestically, Biden's presidency coincided with a sharp post-pandemic rise in inflation followed by declining inflation later in his term. Immigration and conditions at the southern border became another major political challenge.

2024 Election and Leaving Office

Biden announced his reelection campaign in 2023. During 2024, however, concerns about his age and ability to serve another term increasingly dominated discussion of his candidacy.

A poorly received debate performance against Trump in June intensified pressure from Democratic elected officials, donors, and other allies. On July 21, 2024, Biden ended his campaign and endorsed Kamala Harris for the Democratic nomination.

Harris lost the November election to Trump. Biden remained president through the end of his term and left office on January 20, 2025.

Post-Presidency

Within weeks of leaving the White House, Biden signed again with Creative Artists Agency, positioning himself for speaking, publishing, and other opportunities.

His most significant announced commercial project became his presidential memoir. Little, Brown acquired the book in a deal reported at around $10 million, and the title "Promise Me, America" was announced in 2026.

Biden has also remained involved in discussions surrounding his presidential legacy and plans for a presidential library.

Real Estate

Joe and Jill Biden own two substantial properties in Delaware.

In 1996, Biden paid approximately $350,000 for four acres of secluded lakefront land in Greenville, an affluent community outside Wilmington. He subsequently constructed a roughly 6,850-square-foot Colonial-style residence on the property. A separate cottage was later added.

During Biden's vice presidency, the Secret Service reportedly rented the cottage for approximately $2,200 per month while providing protection at the residence.

In 2017, after leaving the vice presidency and beginning his highly lucrative book-and-speaking period, Joe and Jill paid $2.74 million for a vacation home near Rehoboth Beach. The roughly 4,800-square-foot property has six bedrooms and sits near Cape Henlopen State Park.

The Bidens also rented a large home in McLean, Virginia, after leaving the vice presidency, reportedly paying around $20,000 per month before returning to Delaware as their primary base.

(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Marriages and Children

Biden married Neilia Hunter in 1966. They had three children: Beau, Hunter, and Naomi. In December 1972, shortly after Biden won his first Senate election, Neilia and 13-month-old Naomi were killed in an automobile accident. Beau and Hunter survived the crash.

Biden met Jill Jacobs on a blind date in 1975. They married in 1977 and had a daughter, Ashley, in 1981.

Beau Biden served as Delaware's attorney general and as a member of the Delaware Army National Guard. He died of brain cancer in 2015 at age 46.

In May 2025, Joe Biden disclosed that he had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer that had metastasized to his bones. His medical team described the cancer as hormone-sensitive. He subsequently received hormone treatment and radiation therapy.

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