When Washington was elected in 1789, the onus fell to Congress to decide what presidential compensation should be.
In 2026 dollars, that $25,000 salary would equal about $949,000, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index.
In total, Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, James K. Polk, Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson all earned $25,000.
