While it's no stretch to imagine that the President of the United States has a vast net worth, it’s easy to overlook the substantial wealth of other elected individuals.
Since 2009, the salary for senators and house representatives has been $174,000 per year. However, some members of Congress are worth significantly more, with their private wealth not always sitting comfortably alongside their political priorities...
Click or scroll through our gallery to discover who the richest members of Congress are, according to data compiled by Business Insider in December 2021.
Representative Ralph Norman had spent more than four decades as an executive at the Warren Norman Company, which his father founded in 1948. The business has grown over the decades to become one of the largest developers of office parks, commercial buildings, and residential subdivisions in northern South Carolina.
Elected to Congress in 2017, Norman's real estate holdings make up a significant portion of his net worth, while one of his IRAs is valued at a minimum of $5 million.
Not only one of the wealthiest but also one of the youngest members of Congress, 33-year-old Sara Jacobs ran to represent her native San Diego in the House in 2020.
Nearly all of her hefty net worth is courtesy of a trust fund set-up by her grandfather Irwin M. Jacobs, who was the co-founder of semiconductor firm Qualcomm.
Jacobs' election campaign centered heavily on making government more transparent and ethical, including a requirement that all legislators put investments, such as hers, into blind trusts. This would mean they have little control over the funds while serving in Congress, reducing the potential for conflicts of interest.
Another relative newcomer, representative John Rose joined the House in 2019. His wealth is partly from his role as owner and president of Boson Software, LLC, a nationwide IT training business.
It's actually his second training company; he also co-founded Transcender Corp. in 1992, which he sold just eight years later for $60 million.
Rose has also disclosed more than $600,000 in stocks, along with full ownership of Rose Farm, which is worth at least $5 million.
Fred Upton's wealth mostly comes from family businesses. The representative’s grandfather Frederick and great-uncle Louis started the Upton Machine Co. in 1911 to sell their revolutionary product, the electric wringer washer.
Today, the company is better known as global appliance brand Whirlpool, and is still headquartered in the congressman's district. With Upton announcing in April that he will not be seeking re-election, he and his wife Amey can certainly look forward to a luxurious retirement.
After earning his MBA, Dean Phillips joined his family's business, Phillips Distilling, before going on to become the chairman of gelato company Talenti until it was sold in 2014. Phillips is now co-owner of Penny's Coffee, a small business with two locations in the Twin Cities.
While he does hold around $300,000 worth of stock in Facebook and Apple – not to mention $1 million in the SPDR S&P 500 Trust ETF – the congressional newcomer placed his assets in a blind trust approved by the House Committee on Ethics in summer 2021.
After working as an aerospace engineer for Rockwell International, Kevin Hern dabbled with a variety of entrepreneurial pursuits.
He purchased a McDonald's store in 1997 and expanded his franchisee business to eventually own 24 restaurants; he also held a variety of leadership positions within McDonald's, including roles on the National Leadership Team and Franchise Relations Team.
Much of his wealth is in trusts although he does have extensive stock holdings, trading $13 million in 2021 alone. He is one of many lawmakers accused of violating the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act of 2012. This requires members of congress to disclose stock trades, including those made by their familes, within a certain timeline. Those who violate the Act may face a fine.
Another newcomer to the House, North Carolina's Triad region elected Kathy Manning in 2020. Before launching her political career, Manning was a partner at a major law firm, later starting her own immigration law practice, Manning & Associates PLLC.
Investing her earnings has clearly paid off but Manning's wealth is also tied to stock holdings. She and her husband Randall Kaplan traded $626,000 worth of stock in 2021 but failed to properly disclose the transactions in accordance with the STOCK Act.
Critics say the couple bought or sold shares in tech firms including the likes of Meta, Amazon, and Netflix, which could have been impacted by legislation under discussion in Congress at the time.
Representative Ro Khanna's estimated $27 million net worth is from 2019, with his 2020 disclosures having been deemed "uniquely complicated and lengthy" by Business Insider.
Regardless, his fortune has undoubtedly shifted following stock trading worth $52 million in 2021, making him the second most active trader in Congress. His wife Ritu Ahuja Khanna is to thank for much of his wealth: her hefty trust fund is the result of her father Monte Ahuja's business successes with investment firm Mura Holdings and automotive transmission parts company Transtar.
Ro Khanna has previously sparked outrage for buying defense contractor stocks while sitting on the House's Armed Services Committee. In February 2022, he said he supports a ban on legislators trading stock but added that it would be "unfair" for the rule to extend to their spouses.
House member Donald Beyer bought the family car dealership from his parents in 1986, and the business has since expanded across northern Virginia. Selling Subarus, Volvos, Volkswagens, and more under his name has provided an ample additional income on top of his congressional salary.
Seemingly aware that not every American shares his good fortune, Beyer has voiced concern over the country's ever-widening wealth and income inequality, calling it "the biggest challenge" that the US faces.
Although he was elected in 2018 and assumed office the following year, that wasn't actually representative David Trone's first bid to enter Congress. The Cheverly native unsuccessfully ran in a different Maryland district in 2016, spending $13.4 million of his personal money on his campaign.
However, there was plenty of cash left for the co-owner of beverage retailer Total Wine & More, which he founded in 1991 with his brother Robert. In addition to the big bucks he's made from his booze-based business, David's wife also holds stock in a number of companies, including Apple and Pepsi.
Newly-elected in 2020, representative Jay Obernolte made his millions as an entrepreneur in the gaming sector. Much of his net worth comes courtesy of FarSight Studios, the video game development company that he founded in 1988.
Prior to his congressional campaign, Obernolte had already played an active role in local and state politics since 2005.
The millions that representative Scott Peters has disclosed can partly be attributed to the Ohio native investing his earnings as an attorney and an environmental litigator.
In addition to that, his wife Lynn Gorguze heads up Cameron Holdings, a private equity firm focused on manufacturing enterprises that was founded by her late father, the former Emerson Electric executive Vincent Gorguze.
As speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi's $223,500 salary is significantly higher than that of her peers. However, it's the investments made by her husband Paul Pelosi that really make up the millions: he owns shares in everything from Facebook and Slack to Netflix and Disney.
Pelosi initially opposed prohibiting lawmakers from trading stock, describing the US as "a free market economy". However, she has since agreed to support the stock-related legislation, which is expected to go up for a vote before midterms in November.
Representative Suzan DelBene made her fortune by launching successful internet start-ups before rising through the ranks of Microsoft, which has its Redmond HQ in her district.
DelBene held the position of vice president for mobile communications marketing before pursuing politics, and now the tech entrepreneur co-chairs a number of organizations, including the Congressional Women’s High Tech Coalition. She's also supported numerous legislative initiatives for digital privacy.
In fall 2021, DelBene denied accusations of STOCK violations from her husband's sale of up to $25 million in Microsoft stock.
The majority of representative Peter Meijer's many millions comes from a trust tied to his family's business, the Meijer grocery chain.
His great-grandfather opened the first store in 1934 and the brand has since expanded across the Midwest under the watch of Peter's father Hank and uncle Doug. Forbes estimates that the fraternal pair are worth a whopping $17 billion as of May 2022, with the Meijer family one of the wealthiest in Michigan.
At 34, Peter Meijer is one of the youngest and wealthiest elected to office. He has publically supported restrictions on Congress members trading stocks, as well as requirements for blind trusts.
Another congressman whose wealth has its roots in the automobile industry, representative Roger Williams inherited the family car dealership, which his father founded back in 1939.
The business has since developed into an automotive empire, which includes several other dealerships, body shops, and more dotted across northern Texas.
Other assets that make up his fortune include mutual funds and stocks, along with real estate investments. Williams came under fire last fall for violating the STOCK Act by failing to disclose stock trades made by his wife that were worth somewhere between $3,000 to $45,000.
Voters in her Sacramento district elected Doris Matsui to replace her husband, representative Bob Matsui, after his death in 2005.
During her decades-long congressional career, Matsui's still-significant personal fortune has paled in comparison to that of her minted peers; during the period of 2014 to 2016, the Los Angeles Times estimated her net worth to be around $703,000.
However, Matsui remarried in 2020, tying the knot with Roger Sant, the billionaire co-founder of electric power distributor AES Corporation.
Much of representative Trey Hollingsworth’s fortune comes from his stake in his father Joe's business, Hollingsworth Capital Partners, which refurbishes factories and other empty industrial buildings throughout the country. Prior to running for office, Hollingsworth also opened an aluminum remanufacturing plant in Indiana.
His estimated net worth of $74.6 million is likely understated: in 2021 alone, he traded stocks worth $3.5 million according to MarketWatch.
In 2018, the then-president Donald Trump criticized senator Richard Blumenthal's military record on Twitter – and it wasn't the first time the two had locked horns.
Blumenthal is undoubtedly a high achiever, graduating from Harvard and Yale Law School, as well as studying at the University of Cambridge in England for a year. A successful lawyer, he was Attorney General of Connecticut for 20 years, serving from 1991 to 2011.
However, his huge fortune is largely thanks to his marriage to Cynthia Malkin, a real estate investor and heiress to the Malkin property empire – Trump’s direct business competitor. The Malkins had part-ownership in the Empire State Building when Trump tried (and failed) to take over the property in the 1990s.
Prior to his political career, senator Mitt Romney made millions in his roles at consulting firm Bain & Company and its spin-off, private equity business Bain Capital.
While he was CEO, the investment management company had stakes in major US brands, including office supplier Staples, pizza chain Domino's Pizza, and mattress maker Sealy. When he ran for the presidency in 2012, his net worth was estimated to be as high as $250 million.
Mark Warner has a net worth just shy of $100 million, making him one of the richest men in Congress.
Born in 1954, he was the first in his family to graduate from college and worked part-time on Capitol Hill to pay for his tuition. Warner founded and directed Columbia Capital, a venture capital firm specializing in investments in telecommunications companies, and later co-founded cell service provider Nextel. It was here that he made the millions that would later fund his various successful political campaigns.
At 88 years old, Democrat Dianne Feinstein is currently the oldest sitting senator, as well as the wealthiest female in Congress.
The granddaughter of Jewish migrants from Russia, Feinstein climbed up the political ladder in her home city of San Francisco, and is noted for her tireless campaigning about gun laws. She was elected as mayor in 1978 and served for a decade before becoming one of the first female Jewish senators in 1992, a position she still holds today.
While Feinstein has had a huge stake (believed to be at least $25 million) in San Francisco's Carlton Hotel, it’s the wealth of her late third husband Richard C. Blum, who was chairman and president of Blum Capital, that has truly catapulted her to the top of the list.
Having already dabbled in other business ventures, Vern Buchanan made a chunk of his vast fortune in the automotive industry, buying his first dealership in Ocala, Florida, in 1992. His chain has since expanded and helped him generate a huge amount of wealth, although some of his dealerships were the subject of investigation in relation to his first campaign’s finances.
Others also questioned the close-to $7 million in pandemic funds that three of his car dealerships applied for through the Paycheck Protection Program, which was created by Congress. Buchanan's disclosed assets have previously included loans for a yacht and a plane.
Before his career in politics began, representative Darrell Issa used his knack for electrical engineering to make some serious money.
In the 1980s, he headed up several companies, including Steal Stopper, which manufactured car alarms, and Directed Electronics, which sells car security products.
The businessman-turned-politician has also used his wealth to start companies in the property industry, and has come under criticism for pursuing federal money for highway and other construction projects that are in close proximity to his numerous commerical real estate holdings.
Michael McCaul's wealth is based on the fortune of his wife. Linda McCaul is the daughter of Lowry Mays who is the founder of Clear Channel Communications (now iHeartMedia), which is currently the largest owner of radio stations in the USA.
McCaul is thought to be the second wealthiest member of congress and was number one among legislators playing the stock market in 2021, trading a staggering $66.7 million according to Marketwatch.
In 2020, the nation's richest senator had an estimated net worth of $200,327,223. However, this figure is likely to be even higher following the sale of Rick Scott's shares in RV accessories company Valterra Products Holdings LLC last spring.
While the details have not been made public, it's estimated that Scott and his wife made somewhere between $15 million and $75 million as a result of the sale.
Outside of that, Scott made most of his fortune as CEO of Columbia/HCA, an extensive healthcare organization. While never personally charged, federal agents discovered in 2010 that the company had committed Medicare fraud during his tenure and issued a $1.7 billion fine.
Now discover how much these former presidents made after they left the White House.