The position as President of the United States is considered perhaps the most powerful in the world, yet they are not paid as highly as many would assume. The modern salary for the President is $400,000, which is still considerable but not the millions as some would initially think. George Washington earned $25,000 when he took office, which is equal to $566,000 in today’s money. In fact, in all of American history, the President makes less today than ever before.
The most they’ve ever earned was in 1909 under President Taft. A raise in salary was approved by Congress for the President to make $75,000, which is equal to $1,714,000 today! It was not until later, much later in fact, that the public and Congress agreed this was far too much money. The amount wasn’t changed for some time and was then gradually lowered after the 1960’s. Interestingly, the salary was forgotten for so long that presidents found it difficult to live off of and was not increased until Bill Clinton took office.