Joe Biden Net Worth 2026: Books, Pensions and Life After the White House

Joe Biden’s net worth is about $10 million, according to Forbes, which last updated its estimate on June 22, 2024. Forbes had reached the same figure in August 2023 and said the number had largely stalled out during his presidency. We could not find a newer Forbes calculation as of October 2026.

Joe Biden: quick facts

Net worth

$10 Million

Salary / earnings

$251 Thousand per year

Source of wealth

Books, speeches, real estate

Profession

Former U.S. President, politician, author

Nationality

American

Place of birth

Scranton, Pennsylvania, United States

Date of birth

November 20, 1942 (age 83)

That estimate was made before Biden left the White House in January 2025. Since then he has sold a presidential memoir to Hachette Book Group for an advance reported at about $10 million, signed again with the talent agency CAA, and started drawing a presidential pension. His true net worth today may therefore be higher than Forbes’ last figure, but no updated estimate has been published.

For most of his 36 years in the Senate, Biden was one of the least wealthy members of Congress. Most of his fortune was built in a short window: the two years after he left the vice presidency in 2017, when he and his wife Jill earned more than $15 million from books, speeches and a University of Pennsylvania post.

Joe Biden at a glance

• Net worth: about $10 million (Forbes, June 2024; latest available Forbes estimate)
• Born: November 20, 1942, in Scranton, Pennsylvania
• Profession: former U.S. president (46th, 2021–2025), vice president (2009–2017), U.S. senator from Delaware (1973–2009), lawyer and author
• Biggest payday: a presidential memoir sold to Hachette in July 2025 for an advance reported at about $10 million
• Peak earning year: 2017, when he and Jill Biden reported about $11.1 million in income
• Main assets: two Delaware homes, which Forbes valued at about $7 million combined in 2024
• Awards: Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction (2017)
• Spouse: Jill Biden (married 1977); his first wife, Neilia, died in 1972

His net worth by year is charted at the end of this article.

Where Joe Biden’s money comes from

Source	Details	Estimate
Real estate	Main home in the Wilmington area and a beach house in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware	About $7 million combined (Forbes, 2024)
Books	Promises to Keep (2007), Promise Me, Dad (2017) and the upcoming Promise Me, America (2026)	Presidential memoir advance reported at about $10 million
Speaking	Paid speeches and a book tour, 2017–2019; new speaking work through CAA after 2025	Millions of dollars in 2017–2018, per tax returns
Pensions	Presidential pension plus federal retirement from Senate and vice presidential service	Up to about $417,000 a year (National Taxpayers Union Foundation estimate)
Cash and investments	Bank accounts, annuity funds, life insurance policies and retirement plans	Roughly $1 million to $2.6 million (2025 disclosure ranges)
University of Pennsylvania	Benjamin Franklin Presidential Practice Professor, 2017–2019	About $911,000 over three years

Salaries and income by period

Biden spent nearly five decades on a government paycheck. Public salaries set by law, plus tax returns he released voluntarily, give an unusually clear picture of what he earned.

Period	Role or source	Pay or income
1973	U.S. senator (starting salary)	$42,500 a year
2008	U.S. senator (final full year)	$169,300 a year
2009–2017	Vice president	About $230,000 a year
2017	Books, speeches, Penn and other income (with Jill Biden)	About $11.1 million
2018	Books, speeches, Penn, pensions and Social Security (with Jill Biden)	About $4.6 million
2019	Mostly writing, speaking and Penn before the campaign	About $1 million
2021–2025	President	$400,000 a year plus a $50,000 expense allowance
2023	Total household income reported on tax return	About $620,000
2025 onward	Presidential pension (Former Presidents Act)	$250,600 a year

The 2017–2019 figures are household totals reported by Forbes from the Bidens’ tax returns. Together they come to about $16.7 million.

Early life

Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was born on November 20, 1942, in Scranton, Pennsylvania. His father, Joseph Sr., had done well early in life but faced financial setbacks, and later worked as a used-car salesman.

When Biden was about 10, the family moved to Claymont, Delaware, in search of steadier work. He went to Archmere Academy, graduated from the University of Delaware in 1965 and earned his law degree from Syracuse University in 1968.

He worked briefly as a lawyer in Wilmington and was elected to the New Castle County Council in 1970. Two years later, at age 29, he won a long-shot race for the U.S. Senate.

Senate years (1973–2009)

Biden was sworn in to the Senate in January 1973, weeks after his first wife, Neilia, and infant daughter, Naomi, were killed in a car crash. His sons Beau and Hunter were injured but survived. He famously commuted by Amtrak between Wilmington and Washington for decades.

He served 36 years in the Senate and chaired both the Judiciary and Foreign Relations committees. His salary rose from $42,500 in 1973 to $169,300 by 2008.

Throughout this period his finances were modest by Washington standards. Disclosure-based rankings at the time regularly placed him among the least wealthy senators. Forbes later noted that until he became vice president, the family lived mainly on his Senate pay and Jill Biden’s teaching salary.

His first memoir, Promises to Keep, came out in 2007, during his second run for president.

Vice presidency (2009–2017)

Biden served two terms as vice president under Barack Obama, earning about $230,000 a year. Jill Biden kept teaching English at Northern Virginia Community College, which made her the first second lady to hold a paid job outside the White House.

His son Beau Biden died of brain cancer in 2015. In January 2017, days before leaving office, Obama awarded Biden the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction.

Books, speeches and Penn: the 2017–2019 windfall

Leaving the vice presidency changed Biden’s finances quickly. Tax returns released in 2019 showed that he and Jill Biden earned about $11.1 million in 2017 and $4.6 million in 2018.

Book deals

The Bidens signed with Flatiron Books for a deal that Publishers Weekly reported at about $8 million, covering books by both of them. His memoir Promise Me, Dad (2017), about Beau’s final year, became a No. 1 New York Times bestseller. Jill Biden’s memoir, Where the Light Enters, followed in 2019.

Speaking and the book tour

Biden signed with the talent agency CAA after leaving office in 2017. His “American Promise” book tour sold more than 85,000 tickets, according to CBS News. Speaking fees varied widely; Forbes found examples ranging from about $8,000 to $190,000 for a single event.

About $10 million of the 2017 income flowed through two S corporations, CelticCapri Corp. (his) and Giacoppa Corp. (Jill’s), which handled book and speaking income. The structure drew press scrutiny in 2019 because it reduced the payroll-type taxes the couple paid; the Bidens’ representatives said they complied with the law.

University of Pennsylvania

In 2017 Penn named Biden its Benjamin Franklin Presidential Practice Professor and opened the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in Washington. The role mostly involved occasional campus appearances rather than regular teaching.

• 2017: about $371,000
• 2018: about $405,000
• 2019: about $135,000, before he took unpaid leave in April 2019 to run for president

By the end of 2019, Forbes estimated the couple’s net worth at about $9 million. That included about $4 million in Delaware homes, about $4 million in cash and investments, and a federal pension it valued at more than $1 million.

Presidency (2021–2025)

Biden won the 2020 election and was sworn in as the 46th president on January 20, 2021. The job pays $400,000 a year, plus a $50,000 annual expense allowance.

Unlike his post-vice-presidency years, his presidency did not grow his wealth much. Forbes estimated him at about $8 million when he took office and about $10 million in 2023 and 2024. It said most of the gain came from rising home values, not new income.

The Bidens reported household income of about $620,000 in 2023 and paid about $147,000 in federal income tax, an effective rate of about 24%. Jill Biden earned about $86,000 that year from her community college teaching job.

Biden withdrew from the 2024 race in July 2024 and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris. He left office on January 20, 2025, when Donald Trump was sworn in for his second term.

Financial disclosures

Federal disclosures report assets only in broad value ranges and leave out personal homes, so they cannot give an exact net worth. Still, they show the shape of Biden’s finances.

His termination report, certified in January 2025 as he left office, listed:

• Cash: several bank and credit union accounts, the largest valued at $500,001 to $1 million
• Annuity funds: nine variable annuity funds, each valued at $15,001 to $50,000
• Life insurance: six whole life policies
• Retirement: an IRA and a University of Pennsylvania retirement plan
• Books: rights to Promises to Keep and Promise Me, Dad, listed as “value not readily ascertainable”

The same report listed several debts:

• A TD Bank mortgage from 2013 of $250,001 to $500,000
• An M&T Bank home equity loan from 2022 of $100,001 to $250,000
• A smaller bank loan and loans against life insurance policies

Forbes had first reported the home equity line of credit in 2024, noting it was for up to $250,000. Biden’s CelticCapri Corp. was described in the filing as dormant apart from potential royalties.

Post-presidency: book deal, CAA and speaking

Return to CAA

In early February 2025, about two weeks after leaving office, Biden signed again with Creative Artists Agency. CAA co-chairman Richard Lovett called him “one of America’s most respected and influential voices in national and global affairs.” The agency did not say what kinds of deals it would pursue.

Speaking fees

Biden’s post-presidency speaking business has drawn mixed reports. The New York Post reported in April 2025, citing unnamed sources, that he was seeking around $300,000 per speech and had found few takers. In September 2025 The Wall Street Journal reported fees in the $300,000 to $500,000 range and said bookings were fewer than he had expected. Biden’s team has not published a list of paid events, so his speaking income since 2025 is not known.

Presidential memoir

In July 2025, The Wall Street Journal reported that Biden had sold his memoir of his presidency to Hachette Book Group for an advance in the range of $10 million. Hachette’s Little, Brown and Company announced in July 2026 that the book, Promise Me, America, will be published on November 17, 2026, after the midterm elections.

Book advances are usually paid in installments, and agent fees and taxes come out of the total. How much of the advance has been paid so far is not public.

Presidential pension and benefits

Under the Former Presidents Act, Biden receives a lifetime pension equal to the pay of a Cabinet secretary, which was $250,600 in 2025. Former presidents also receive federally funded office space, staff allowances and lifetime Secret Service protection.

The National Taxpayers Union Foundation estimated in January 2026 that his total federal pensions could reach about $417,000 a year if he also claims his civil service retirement from Senate and vice presidential service, worth up to about $166,000. It noted that it was not clear whether he would claim all of these benefits.

Presidential library

In September 2025 Biden chose Delaware for his presidential center. The library foundation is a separate nonprofit and its money is not part of his personal wealth. The New York Times reported in December 2025 that it had raised only a small fraction of the roughly $200 million aides hope to raise; it started with about $4 million left over from his 2021 inauguration.

Real estate

Real estate is the largest part of Biden’s net worth. Forbes estimated in 2024 that his two Delaware homes accounted for about two-thirds of his wealth.

Property	Year	Reported price
“The Station,” former du Pont estate in Wilmington	Bought 1974, sold 1996	Bought for $185,000; sold for $1.2 million
Wilmington-area home on about 4 acres (built after buying the lot)	Mid-1990s	Lot about $350,000; home valued at about $2.5 million (Forbes, 2024)
Rehoboth Beach vacation home	2017	About $2.7 million; valued at about $4.5 million (Forbes, 2024)
McLean, Virginia (rented, never owned)	2017–2019	About $19,800 a month in rent

The Wilmington home, a house of nearly 7,000 square feet near a lake, has been the family’s main residence for decades. The Rehoboth Beach house, in the North Shores neighborhood, was bought in June 2017 with income from his first post-vice-presidency year.

Personal life

Biden married Neilia Hunter in 1966. She and their daughter Naomi died in a 1972 car crash. In 1977 he married Jill Jacobs, an educator who later earned a doctorate in education. They have a daughter, Ashley.

His son Beau, a former Delaware attorney general, died in 2015. His son Hunter faced federal tax and gun charges; Biden pardoned him in December 2024. House Republicans investigated the family’s business dealings in 2023 and 2024, but the House never voted on articles of impeachment.

In May 2025 Biden’s office announced that he had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer that had spread to the bone. He completed a course of radiation therapy in fall 2025 and said in September 2026 that the treatment had “worked as intended.”

Philanthropy

The Bidens’ giving has risen and fallen with their income:

• After leaving the vice presidency, they gave more than $1 million to charity, including two family foundations, according to Forbes.
• In 2023 they gave about $20,000 to 17 organizations, including the Beau Biden Foundation and several churches.
• Biden helped set up the Biden Cancer Initiative after Beau’s death and supported the Beau Biden Foundation, which works to protect children from abuse.

How Joe Biden compares

President	Estimated net worth	Main source	Reported memoir advance
Donald Trump	About $6.8 billion (Forbes, Oct. 15, 2026)	Real estate, crypto, Trump Media	None reported for a post-presidency memoir
Bill Clinton	About $120 million (widely reported estimate)	Speeches, books, consulting	About $15 million (My Life, 2004)
Barack Obama	About $70 million (widely reported estimate)	Books, Netflix and Spotify deals, speeches	About $60 million (joint deal with Michelle Obama, 2017)
George W. Bush	About $40 million (widely reported estimate)	Speeches, books, earlier business career	About $7 million (Decision Points, 2010)
Joe Biden	About $10 million (Forbes, June 2024)	Real estate, books, speeches	About $10 million (2025)

Only Trump’s figure comes from a current Forbes calculation; the Clinton, Obama and Bush figures are widely reported estimates that are not regularly updated. Memoir advances are as reported by the press at the time. Biden remains one of the least wealthy recent presidents, largely because he spent his career in public office and earned big outside income for only a few years. Browse more profiles on our politicians page or the full net worth index.

Frequently asked questions

How much is Joe Biden worth?

About $10 million, according to Forbes’ latest estimate from June 2024. That figure predates his roughly $10 million memoir deal in 2025.

How did Joe Biden make most of his money?

Mostly from books, speeches and a University of Pennsylvania role after he left the vice presidency. He and Jill Biden reported more than $15 million in income in 2017 and 2018.

How much was Joe Biden’s book deal?

The Wall Street Journal reported in July 2025 that Hachette paid an advance in the range of $10 million for his presidential memoir, Promise Me, America, due November 17, 2026.

How much is Joe Biden’s presidential pension?

The Former Presidents Act pension was $250,600 a year in 2025. Including possible Senate and vice presidential retirement, the National Taxpayers Union Foundation put his total at up to about $417,000 a year.

How many homes does Joe Biden own?

Two, both in Delaware: his main home near Wilmington and a beach house in Rehoboth Beach. Forbes valued them at about $7 million combined in 2024.

Is Joe Biden richer than Barack Obama?

No. Widely reported estimates put Obama at about $70 million, roughly seven times Forbes’ $10 million estimate for Biden.

Sources: Forbes (net worth estimates 2019, 2021, 2023 and 2024; tax return analyses), U.S. Office of Government Ethics (2025 termination financial disclosure), The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, CBS News, Hachette Book Group, National Taxpayers Union Foundation, Fox News, Wikipedia. All net worth figures are estimates.