Biden’s net worth is around $10 million, not $41 million

Before he was vice president or president, Joe Biden was one of Congress’ least wealthy members. Now one critic says Biden’s net worth more than quadrupled since before he moved into the White House.

Actor James Woods shared an image on social media that said Biden’s net worth has increased from $9 million in 2019 to $41 million in 2022. Net worth is the value of people’s income and assets minus the debt and other liabilities they owe.

"I’m shocked," Woods, an outspoken supporter of former President Donald Trump, wrote Dec. 10 on X, formerly Twitter. The image Woods shared also questioned Vice President Kamala Harris’ assets, but we focused on the Biden claim.

Financial disclosures, tax filings and news reports show that Biden’s net worth has grown slightly since entering the White House, but nothing on the scale Woods suggests.

Forbes in August wrote that Biden’s net worth was at $10 million, up from about $8 million when he entered the White House in 2020.

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"The increase has nothing to do with family business dealings in far-flung countries," Forbes wrote. "Instead, he is getting richer by doing what a lot of 80-year-old Americans are doing: sitting on real estate. The president owns two homes in Delaware that are worth an estimated $7 million combined, $1.8 million more than they were when he took office."

Much of the Bidens’ current net worth is from the combined value of their two Delaware homes, which include a six-bedroom mansion in Rehoboth Beach that they purchased in 2017, Forbes reported. 

After leaving the vice presidency in 2017, Biden’s income increased substantially. In 2017 alone, Forbes found, Joe and Jill Biden brought in $11.1 million — nearly double their total earnings from 1998 to 2016. In 2018, they brought in another $4.6 million.

Speaking engagements and book deals drove much of that new wealth before 2020.

As president, Biden earns $400,000 a year. His 2022 financial disclosures, published by the White House in May, show he has assets between $1 million and $2.65 million. But these figures represented little change from 2021, his first full year as president.

We rate the claim that Biden’s net worth was $41 million in 2022 False.