In July 2024, President Joe Biden dropped to fourth place in the global leaders’ pay chart, overtaken by Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese.

Biden earns US$400,000 per year, while Albanese earns the Australian equivalent of around US$403,000 (A$607,520).

While the Australian PM’s pay rises nearly every year, the US presidential salary has remained the same for more than 25 years.

The most recent change to the presidential salary was legislated way back in 1999 when Congress agreed on an increase from US$200,000 to the current figure of US$400,000.

The change took effect from January 2001, making George W. Bush the first president to earn US$400,000.

The 1999 amendment was itself the first presidential pay rise in 30 years.

Before that, the most recent pay rise happened in 1969 when the salary jumped from US$100,000 to $200,000 at the start of Richard Nixon’s presidency – equivalent to over US$1 million today, when calculated in real terms.

Many countries have a system of automatic pay raises for their politicians or alternatively hand the decision to an independent remuneration tribunal. When politicians set their own pay, as happens in the US, decisions about pay raises inevitably become politicised and contentious.

Raising the presidential salary is likely to be unpopular with voters, and few sitting presidents or presidential candidates would be brave enough to advocate for it.

Donald Trump claimed he would donate his presidential salary to charity, though his tax returns have sparked questions about whether or not this actually happened.

If history is anything to go by, it will be a few years at least before Congress enacts the next presidential pay rise.

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