Published at Open the Books Substack

Donald Trump’s efforts to downsize the administrative state have had mixed results so far, but his own White House payroll suggests he is trying to lead by example.

 

The Trump administration spent just $44.1 million paying 404 employees in 2025, making it the least costly payroll since at least 2009 when adjusting for inflation.

 

However, 35 of Trump’s top staffers made at least $195,000. Only one staffer earned that much in the Biden White House in 2024, and nobody earned that much in the final year of Trump’s first term.

 

Trump’s White House spent a total of $198.6 million on payroll during the four years of his first term, or an average of $49.7 million per year. The smallest annual figure was the $46.4 million he spent in 2018. When he left office in 2020, his White House was spending $50.5 million on payroll.

 

The new dollar total is also a 29% reduction from the White House payroll in 2024, when Joe Biden spent $62.2 million. The White House employed 565 people that year, the most since Richard Nixon was president. In total, White House payroll cost taxpayers $230.1 million during the four years Biden was in office, or an average of $57.5 million per year.

 

President Obama never spent less than $51 million on the White House payroll during his eight years in office.

 

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