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Net worth of United States Senators and Representatives

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Portal:Legislative Branch
Features of Congress

Background
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Sessions
118th Congress
117th116th115th114th113th112th111th110th

Analysis
Lifetime voting recordsNet worth of United States Senators and RepresentativesStaff salaries of United States Senators and RepresentativesNational Journal vote ratings


This page was last updated in 2014. The figures below reflect net worth information up to 2011 for members of the 109th (2005-2007) through the 113th (2013-2014) Congresses. The figures were based on data calculated by OpenSecrets.org in 2012.

How much are your senators and representatives worth?
After heated budget debates, threats of government shutdowns and multiple votes to raise the debt ceiling, Congress has been dealing with fiscal issues on a regular basis. It is no wonder, then, that when the average citizen has the means to take a peek at each members ability to handle his or her personal finance, intrigue abounds.

The latest data calculated by OpenSecrets.org reports on disclosed information from 2012. The latest batch of numbers shows that the 113th Congress had a median net worth of $1,008,767. This is the first time in history that the majority of members are millionaires.[1]

For information on which members saw the highest change during their tenure, please see Ballotpedia's page on the Changes in Net Worth of U.S. Senators and Representatives (Personal Gain Index).

Summary

The data outlined on this page comes from OpenSecrets.org. They obtained the data from personal financial disclosure data that each senator and representative is required to provide for public record. The Center for Responsive Politics, the organization that runs OpenSecrets.org, calculated each net worth by adding all disclosed assets (corporate bonds, stocks, etc.) and subtracted major liabilities (loans, credit card debt, etc.).[2]

Analysis provided on this page includes:

  • The ten wealthiest (and poorest) members of both the House and Senate
  • The net worth of new members of Congress
  • How members' net worth has changed from previous years
  • How much the congressional delegations of each state are worth
  • Breakdown of net worth between House and Senate
  • A complete list of the net worth averages for congressional members since 2004

Average worth

U.S. Congress

Year # of Reports Total Net Worth Average
2011 627 $4,946,090,771 $7,888,502
2010 641 $4,680,278,853 $7,301,527
2009 652 $4,271,710,652 $6,551,703
2008 600 $3,834,468,090 $6,390,780
2007 603 $4,633,904,377 $7,684,750
2006 594 $3,979,189,252 $6,698,972
2005 542 $3,459,576,717 $6,382,983
2004 580 $3,533,674,470 $6,092,542

Note: Report numbers may reflect incoming and outgoing members of congress.

U.S. Senate

Year # of Senate Reports Senate Average
2011 112 $14,013,596
2010 116 $13,224,333
2009 116 $13,229,651
2008 110 $13,835,333
2007 106 $17,170,451
2006 107 $14,106,027
2005 101 $14,553,612
2004 105 $14,455,289

U.S. House of Representatives

Year # of House Reports House Average
2011 512 $6,594,859
2010 525 $5,992,869
2009 536 $5,106,476
2008 490 $4,719,554
2007 497 $5,661,643
2006 487 $5,071,549
2005 441 $4,511,705
2004 475 $4,243,935

Note: Report numbers may reflect incoming and outgoing members of congress.

Democrats

U.S. Senate Democrats

Year # of Senate Reports Senate Average
2012 53 $13,566,333
2011 59 $20,795,450
2010 59 $19,383,524
2009 62 $18,937,920
2008 58 $19,758,117
2007 53 $26,454,480
2006 50 $22,523,538
2005 44 $24,796,538
2004 50 $21,624,612

U.S. House of Representatives Democrats

Year # of House Reports House Average
2012 202 $5,700,168
2011 241 $5,107,874
2010 266 $4,465,875
2009 273 $4,399,028
2008 271 $3,754,728
2007 275 $4,666,911
2006 244 $3,639,139
2005 206 $2,938,156
2004 225 $2,583,214

Note: Report numbers may reflect incoming and outgoing members of congress.

Republicans

U.S. Senate Republicans

Year # of Senate Reports Senate Average
2012 45 $6,956,438
2011 51 $6,358,668
2010 55 $7,054,258
2009 53 $6,799,690
2008 50 $7,472,817
2007 51 $8,155,252
2006 56 $6,834,723
2005 55 $6,858,820
2004 54 $8,080,791

U.S. House of Representatives Republicans

Year # of House Reports House Average
2012 230 $7,614,097
2011 273 $7,859,232
2010 259 $7,561,133
2009 263 $5,840,823
2008 219 $5,913,470
2007 222 $6,893,857
2006 242 $6,535,975
2005 234 $5,915,700
2004 249 $5,761,167

Note: Report numbers may reflect incoming and outgoing members of congress.

Independents

U.S. Senate Independents

Year # of Senate Reports Senate Average
2012 2 $8,096,792
2011 3 $6,099,707
2010 2 $1,205,273
2009 1 $105,003
2008 2 $1,137,522
2007 2 $1,031,270
2006 1 $423,504
2005 2 $816,019
2004 1 $212,006

U.S. House of Representatives Independents

Year # of House Reports House Average
2012 0 N/A
2011 0 N/A
2010 0 N/A
2009 0 N/A
2008 0 N/A
2007 0 N/A
2006 1 $188,504
2005 1 $128,001
2004 1 $115,501

Note: Report numbers may reflect incoming and outgoing members of congress.

Top and bottom

Senators

Mark Warner (D-VA) was the wealthiest senator in 2012, with an estimated net worth of $257,481,658.
Mark Pryor (D-AR) was the least wealthy senator in 2012, with an estimated net worth of $8,500
Top 10 Senators in 2012
Senator Average Net Worth
Mark Warner $257,481,658
Richard Blumenthal $103,803,192
Jay Rockefeller $101,290,514
Dianne Feinstein $68,446,578
James Risch $53,517,527
Bob Corker $49,114,509
John Hoeven $37,115,538
Ron Johnson $24,442,007
Kay Hagan $24,069,791
Mitch McConnell $22,841,026
Bottom 10 Senators in 2012
Senator Average Net Worth
Kirsten Gillibrand $291,002
Deb Fischer $248,001
Saxby Chambliss $243,504
Martin Heinrich $171,007
Patrick Leahy $129,503
Mike Lee (Utah) $111,002
Jeff Flake $83,001
Christopher Murphy $82,502
Debbie Stabenow $32,500
Mark Pryor $8,500
Top 10 Senators in 2011
Senator Average Net Worth
John Kerry $235,976,804
Mark Warner $228,129,609
Herb Kohl $171,257,008
Jay Rockefeller $102,706,012
Richard Blumenthal $100,190,174
Frank R. Lautenberg $87,557,109
Dianne Feinstein $70,725,124
Ron Wyden $38,370,525
Claire McCaskill $21,837,606
Kay R. Hagan $17,833,270
Bottom 10 Senators in 2011
Senator Average Net Worth
Saxby Chambliss $402,006
John Thune $345,008
Deb Fischer $323,501
Roger Wicker $299,508
Susan Collins $205,002
Mike Lee (Utah) $111,002
Jeff Flake $32,500
Mark Kirk $17,501
Jim DeMint $16,001
Marco Rubio -$45,494

Representatives

Darrell Issa (R-CA) was the wealthiest representative in 2012, with an estimated net worth of $464,115,018
David Valadao (R-CA) was the least wealthy representative in 2012, with an estimated net worth of -$12,167,002
Top 10 Representatives in 2012
Representative Average Net Worth
Darrell Issa $464,115,018
Jared Polis $197,945,705
John K. Delaney $154,601,580
Michael McCaul $143,153,910
Scott Peters $112,467,040
Vernon Buchanan $88,802,066
Nancy Pelosi $87,997,030
Diane Black $69,569,042
Tom Rooney $64,314,955
Chris Collins $59,104,518
Bottom 10 Representatives in 2012
Representative Average Net Worth
Sean Duffy -$99,999
Renee Ellmers -$101,498
Bobby Scott -$129,973
Louie Gohmert -$162,501
Rick Crawford -$175,001
Steve Fincher -$472,502
Nydia Velazquez -$510,000
Ruben Hinojosa Sr. -$2,303,473
Alcee Hastings -$4,732,002
David Valadao -$12,167,002
Wealthiest 10 Representatives in 2011
Representative Average Net Worth
Michael McCaul $500,624,461
Darrell Issa $480,325,019
Jared Polis $214,946,679
John K. Delaney $139,025,569
Vernon Buchanan $95,327,629
Nancy Pelosi $94,162,532
Scott Peters $90,349,050
Chellie Pingree $85,844,032
Diane Black $64,744,035
Chris Collins $60,351,517
Bottom 10 Representatives in 2011
Representative Average Net Worth
Louis Gohmert -$87,500
Debbie Wasserman Schultz -$118,494
Douglas L. Lamborn -$118,997
John Conyers, Jr. -$129,001
Nydia Velazquez -$146,999
Renee Ellmers -$168,498
Steve Fincher -$472,502
Ruben Hinojosa Sr. -$2,190,476
Alcee Hastings -$4,732,002
David Valadao -$19,000,002

Previous years

Congressional freshmen

Below are average net worth numbers for first year freshman members for each recent session of Congress.

109th Congress

January 3, 2005 to January 3, 2007

Year[3] Number of Freshmen Reports Average Net Worth Change from previous year
2004 44 $3,133,813 --
2005 45 $3,219,896 2.75%
2006 45 $3,233,137 0.41%
2007 40 $4,209,184 30.19%
2008 40 $3,854,689 -8.42%
2009 39 $6,047,795 56.89%
2010 38 $12,939,172 113.95%

110th Congress

January 3, 2007 to January 3, 2009

Year[3] Number of Freshmen Reports[4] Average Net Worth Change from previous year
2006 58 $5,386,525 --
2007 75 $5,840,167 8.42%
2008 75 $4,719,385 -19.19%
2009 69 $5,058,388 7.18%
2010 68 $5,192,922 2.66%

111th Congress

January 3, 2009 to January 3, 2011

Year[3] Number of Freshmen Reports[4] Average Net Worth Change from previous year
2007 59 $12,876,803 --
2008 72 $10,209,940 -20.71%
2009 81 $9,666,020 -5.33%
2010 79 $8,913,200 -7.79%


113th Congress

January 3, 2013 to January 3, 2015

Year[3] Number of Freshmen Reports[4] Average Net Worth Change from previous year
2011 90 $7,835,242 ----

State averages

2011

Estimate Congressional Averages by State (2011)
State Senate Average Senate Rank Senate Report Count House Average House Rank House Report Count Congressional Average Congressional Rank
AK $1,045,021 44 2 $872,504 43 1 $987,515 47
AL $7,360,029 19 2 $1,649,225 36 7 $2,918,292 32
AR $1,489,503 41 2 $267,505 49 2 $878,504 48
AZ $3,301,081 29 3 $4,710,291 20 9 $4,357,988 25
CA $36,994,314 6 2 $13,487,344 7 60 $14,245,633 11
CT $34,055,238 7 3 $4,810,621 19 5 $15,777,353 10
CO $6,791,773 20 2 $44,918,951 2 5 $34,025,472 1
DE $4,476,637 24 2 $485,015 46 1 $3,146,096 31
FL $1,693,505 37 2 $6,831,237 12 27 $6,476,910 18
GA $6,193,537 21 2 $2,763,447 29 13 $3,220,793 30
HI $2,113,843 34 3 $1,334,757 40 2 $1,802,208 40
IA $9,288,549 16 2 $1,434,839 38 5 $3,678,756 29
ID $27,139,022 8 2 $1,895,563 35 1 $18,724,536 7
IL $671,783 46 2 $2,968,056 28 21 $2,768,380 36
IN $2,451,176 31 3 $1,252,584 41 8 $1,579,473 42
KS $1,285,264 42 2 $367,342 47 3 $734,511 49
KY $14,085,268 11 2 $5,351,390 17 6 $7,534,860 17
LA $1,734,519 36 2 $3,212,840 27 6 $2,843,260 35
MA $82,250,150 1 3 $4,985,001 18 11 $21,541,819 5
MD $1,543,023 39 2 $16,629,790 6 9 $13,886,741 12
ME $10,133,703 13 3 $44,480,020 3 2 $23,872,230 4
MI $826,103 45 2 $2,335,343 32 17 $2,176,476 39
MN $4,555,271 23 2 $613,395 45 9 $1,330,100 44
MO $12,465,308 12 2 $1,995,109 34 10 $3,740,142 27
MS $1,135,519 43 2 $1,602,177 37 3 $1,415,514 43
MT $661,502 47 2 $9,230,505 9 2 $4,946,003 23
NB $4,643,352 22 3 $327,009 48 2 $2,916,815 33
NC $9,992,394 14 2 $4,602,323 22 15 $5,236,449 22
ND $9,348,198 15 3 $46,438,414 1 1 $18,620,752 8
NH $2,115,688 33 2 $2,354,059 31 4 $2,274,602 38
NJ $44,027,806 5 2 $6,250,476 14 11 $12,062,373 14
NM $4,397,869 26 3 $6,993,337 11 3 $5,695,603 21
NV $3,775,436 27 2 $5,377,818 16 4 $4,843,691 24
NY $368,506 49 2 $6,182,855 15 32 $5,840,834 20
OH $7,409,025 18 2 $3,339,310 26 20 $3,709,284 28
OK $7,571,041 17 2 $2,139,021 33 4 $3,949,694 26
OR $20,135,518 10 2 $3,910,103 25 6 $7,966,457 16
PA $1,806,771 35 2 $2,491,321 30 18 $2,422,866 37
RI $4,440,568 25 2 $1,363,505 39 2 $2,902,036 34
SC $1,506,330 40 3 $667,639 44 4 $1,027,078 46
SD $575,012 48 2 N/A N/A 0 $627,513 50
TN $26,977,516 9 2 $10,169,035 8 8 $13,530,731 13
TX $2,872,526 30 3 $17,855,000 5 36 $16,702,502 9
UT $1,578,767 38 2 $906,841 42 3 $1,175,611 45
VA $78,455,068 2 3 $4,419,740 23 10 $21,504,816 6
VT $218,754 50 2 $4,602,548 21 1 $1,680,019 41
WA $2,444,007 32 2 $6,579,204 13 10 $5,890,005 19
WI $65,256,839 3 3 $7,579,123 10 7 $24,882,438 2
WV $55,178,031 4 2 $4,223,358 24 3 $24,605,227 3
WY $3,533,020 28 2 $18,918,517 4 1 $8,661,519 15

2010

2009

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2008

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2007

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2006

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2005

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2004

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Data and methodology

Data

Every year members of congress are required by law to disclose certain financial information regarding personal assets and liabilities. OpenSecrets.org (The Center for Responsive Politics), a self-proclaimed "nonpartisan guide to money's influence on U.S. elections and public policy," tracks the financial information, and posts it publicly under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. That data, currently available for the years 2004 to 2010, is listed in part below in the section Individual data.

Congressional financial disclosure forms use value ranges, rather than precise amounts, when reporting assets and liabilities. OpenSecrets gathers this information to build a range of potential values. For instance, if three assets are listed at a value range of $1,001-$15,000, the total range of assets would be listed as a minimum of $3,003 (3 X $1,001) and a maximum value would be $45,000 (3 X $15,000). OpenSecrets combines all assets and liability to form a total potential range of values, and then provides an average value as the best guess of each individual's net worth.[5]

Analysis

Ballotpedia staff took OpenSecrets predicted net worth averages for all reported members of congress and using statistical software calculated yearly averages and changes for various congressional subsets.

Limitations

OpenSecrets notes some important limitations to the data:[5]

  • Data is not available for a limited number of congressional members.
  • The top range for item valuation is listed as "Over $50 million" on forms. When possible OpenSecrets tried to determine a more accurate figure.
  • The top range for Senate spousal assets is listed as Over $1 million." When possible OpenSecrets tried to determine a more accurate figure.
  • Property (such as personal residences) and non-income producing investments are not required to be reported under ethics laws. However, all mortgages are required to be disclosed.

Individual data

Senate

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House of Representatives

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Former congressional members in the Executive Branch

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See also

External links


Disclaimer: All data relating to the average net worth of individual members of congress from OpenSecrets.org/ The Center for Responsive Politics is posted under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. All other content, including data analysis of net worth change, is posted under Ballotpedia's standard content license.


Footnotes

  1. OpenSecrets, "Millionaires' Club: For First Time, Most Lawmakers are Worth $1 Million-Plus," January 9, 2014
  2. Time.com, "Congress Is Now Mostly A Millionaires' Club," accessed February 18, 2014
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Reports from the financial year before members entered congress are included when available
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named reports
  5. 5.0 5.1 OpenSecrets, "About the Personal Finances Data & CRP's Methodology"