I was wondering how many Senators and Representatives in the United States Congress are worth a million dollars or more? Also on the Supreme Court.
I figured it’s be easy to Google this but I found a lot of information like “45 of our 435 representatives made more than a million last year.” But that doens’t answer my question. You could make less than a million but still have more than a million in the bank making you still a millionaire. Conversely you could make a million and owe three million and still be in deb thus not worth a million
Any idea? I realize it’s probably impossible to get a correct figure, you know I imagine some congressman probabaly hide assets in their kids or wives but I was wondering about that.
Seems like the members of Congress, President and Supreme Court are worth far more than their annual salaries indicate.
As a side question, do you think they are any congressman who survive just on their congressional salary?
I would think most of them are worth at least a million. These days, a decent house (especially a house in the Washington DC area, and maybe another one in the home district for the family), a couple cars, a retirement fund and a college fund can put you over a million. Many politicians were lawyers, and I would expect a middle-aged lawyer to be worth a million.
I agree. A million dollars seems like an extremely low bar for anyone to be in Congress let alone a Senator. You generally need to be at least a successful professional middle-aged person of some influence to win these seats and it would be very difficult for Joe GED from Boise to win a representative seat let alone a Senate one on a shoe-string budget running a campaign out of his split-level ranch house. That is just the reality of inflation and what it takes to survive at that level even just considering personal funds. Senate obligations would bankrupt a typical middle-class family instantly if the job is done strictly based on personal funds.
It is extremely difficult to calculate net worth for anyone of any means whatsoever anyway. I can’t even do it for myself because their isn’t one number. I know the things I supposedly own (but the bank does mostly) and how much they are supposedly worth but wealth doesn’t work that way. Assets including real estate and stock are fluid and ever changing as is the debt associated with it.
There is no way to come up with a number. As an exercise related to this, try to find out the Clinton’s net worth before the first inauguration. It wasn’t that impressive yet no one has ever figured it out yet despite the best minds available trying to do it.
These are the 2006 financial disclosure statements, but I’m not sure if these include Congresspeople voted out of office in the Democratic majority winning election of '06. The 2007 Financial Disclosure Reports have not all been filed.
In this 2004 article it was stated that 123 (just over 1/4) of Reps earned more than $1 million the previous year (the richest- Rockefeller and Kennedy and others- being those whose income came from inherited wealth).
Slight aside, but I’ve always wondered why, in interest of campaign finance reform, the actual states don’t purchase state owned houses in D.C. for their senators and Representatives.
Fortune 535 Listing of HR and Senate in order from wealthiest (Jane Harman- D-CA- $409 million) to poorest (Alcee Hastings D-FL- *negative]$4.7 million).
I have never heard of that idea before but it does sound interesting. I have no idea how it would play out though. Would they all live close together like in a wacky subdivision with niche cul de sacs of alliances. Would states try to intentionally upgrade or downgrade their congressional quarters in competition with other states? Would Mississippi present a row of battered mobile homes or a row of gorgeous antebellum mansions (judging by their college campuses, I would guess the latter)? Would Hawaii host a small pineapple plantation in a greenhouse (seasonal) on the front lawn of theirs?
Addendum to above: I’m sure the info exist in already distilled form on the net, but I cut and pasted the second link above into Excel just as a matter of curiosity. Numbers of Congress people (both Senators and Reps) by class of wealth:
$100 million+/6
$50 million-$100 million/4
$10 million-$50 million/35
$5 million-$10 million/34
$2 million-$5 million/78
$1 million-$2 million/70
$500,000 to $1 million/106
$250,000 to $500,000/72
$100,000 to $250,000/48
$0 to $100,000/50
0/8
$0 to less than 100,000 in debt/8
$100,000 to 500,000 in debt/6
$500,000 to $1 million in debt/1
$4.7 million in debt/1
(I’ve made an error somewhere along the line so it’s about 2 off, but…)
By this, 237 of the 535 members of Congress (45%) have net worths of $1 million or more.
Congressional pay is currently $169,000+, so about 70% of Congress has a net worth of more than twice their yearly income.
Thanks I always wonder because I have seen Hillary Clintons wealth in property estimated from $800,000 to $9,000,000 depending on who’s estimating the property’s worth.