People love to ask about Bernie Sanders’ net worth, but pinning down the number isn’t so simple. Depending on where you look, estimates range from about $2 million to nearly $3 million. That’s because members of Congress don’t report exact totals—just broad ranges of assets.
What we do know is that Sanders’ money comes from steady Senate paychecks, strong book sales, and a few homes in Vermont and Washington, D.C. In this piece, we’ll break down what’s known, what’s guesswork, and what it all says about Sanders’ financial life.
What Is Bernie Sanders’ Net Worth?
If you Google “Bernie Sanders net worth,” you’ll see numbers all over the map—$2 million, $2.5 million, $3 million. Here’s the reality: there is no single, official dollar figure the U.S. Senate publishes for a member’s overall wealth, and disclosures come in asset ranges, not precise values. That makes any one number an estimate.
Two trustworthy anchors help frame the discussion:
- Forbes estimated Sanders’ fortune at about $2.5 million back in 2019, attributing it mainly to real estate, investments, government pensions, and—importantly—book earnings that surged after his 2016 presidential bid.
- OpenSecrets, which used to aggregate congressional financial disclosures into minimum/maximum “net worth” estimates, shows older data (through 2018) and cautions that disclosure forms list broad ranges. Translation: calculating an exact net worth is inherently squishy.
Since then, two things have mattered most for Sanders’ finances: a steady Senate salary and recurring book royalties. Senators have earned $174,000 per year throughout 2023, 2024 and 2025, per the Senate’s own salary table and Congressional Research Service reporting. And Business Insider’s read of his annual disclosures shows he continued pulling in six-figure book royalties in recent years (more on that below).
So, while outlets will still say “around $2–3 million,” responsible coverage should flag that as an educated estimate, not a precise ledger balance. It also depends on whether you include the market value of his homes (primary residences aren’t reflected in the Senate’s asset totals), which is one reason public estimates drift upward.
2024 Net Worth
Let’s unpack what we can verify about 2024.
Members file an annual Public Financial Disclosure (PFD) in the spring for the prior calendar year. Sanders filed his 2025 annual report (covering calendar year 2024). While the Senate’s e-filing portal hosts the forms, a convenient public index confirming Sanders’ 2025 filing date and document appears on LegiStorm’s listing, which links to the PDFs. These PFDs report assets and liabilities in broad ranges and list outside income like royalties.
What do we learn from reputable outlets that review those filings?
- Book royalties: Business Insider reports Sanders earned $148,750 in book royalties for 2024, citing his 2025 financial disclosure. That’s a meaningful, recurring stream. BI also notes a quirk of ethics rules: while lawmakers generally face an outside earned-income cap, book income is exempt.
- Salary: Senators earned $174,000 in 2024. That’s public, flat, and not subject to market swings.
Can we turn those documents into a precise 2024 net worth? Not cleanly. The disclosure reports use ranges (for example, “$100,001–$250,000” for a given account), and they exclude the value of a primary residence—a big piece of wealth for most Americans. You’ll see various websites tout a single figure (often “~$3 million”) based on adding older Forbes estimates with assumed home appreciation, but those are third-party estimates, not official tallies. (For what it’s worth, Forbes still describes the couple as being “worth an estimated $2.5 million,” a figure that dates to its 2019 methodology and is often repeated in updates.)
Bottom line for 2024: the best verified datapoints are (1) he drew the standard Senate salary, and (2) he continued to earn six-figure book royalties. Any total “Bernie Sanders net worth” number you see for 2024 is an estimate with caveats, especially because the PFD system itself discourages precision.
2023 Net Worth
The same limits apply to 2023.
Sanders filed his 2024 annual disclosure (covering calendar year 2023). Again, PFDs list ranges and identify outside income. Business Insider reported that Sanders’ book royalties for 2023 (reflecting 2022 earnings) were about $170,000, and that he has regularly collected significant publishing income since 2016; additionally, Forbes has tallied $2.5 million in cumulative book payments from 2011–2022 across his disclosures. These are solid, document-based figures—even if they don’t, by themselves, produce a single “net worth” number.
Again, salary for 2023 was $174,000. Add in pensions/retirement accounts and the value of homes (if you include housing), and you get the familiar “low-to-mid seven figures” estimate that reputable outlets stick with. But, to be exact, Congress doesn’t publish a full, market-value net-worth total, and disclosure ranges prevent a precise calculation.
How Does Bernie Sanders Make His Money?
Let’s look at the main sources of income for Bernie Sanders.
1) Government salary
Sanders has earned the standard Senate salary of $174,000 for years. The Senate’s official salary table confirms that figure for 2023–2025; CRS elaborates on how member pay has been frozen since 2009.
2) Book advances and royalties
This is Sanders’ most important supplement to his government salary. Business Insider’s reads of his disclosures show $148,750 in royalties for 2024, and roughly $170,000 for 2022 royalties (reported in 2023). Forbes has separately totaled book-related income at about $2.5 million from 2011 through 2022. Lawmakers face an outside income cap, but book earnings are exempt, which is why you see bestseller-level payments for politicians who write. C
3) Investments/retirement accounts
Disclosures typically show cash accounts and retirement/annuity holdings in bands (e.g., $50k–$100k; $100k–$250k). The exact allocations for a given year are public in his PFDs but reported in ranges, limiting precision. (LegiStorm’s index confirms the 2024 and 2025 filings; the underlying PDFs list the accounts.)
4) Real estate
Media coverage and biographical sources have long noted that the Sanders family owns a home in Burlington, Vermont, a Washington, D.C., rowhouse, and a summer home in North Hero, Vermont—the same “three houses” that became a 2020 talking point. The Associated Press’s 2020 reporting is a commonly cited, neutral source for that characterization; encyclopedia-style biographies echo the same three properties. (As of 2024–2025, outlets continue to reference that three-home portfolio.) Importantly, primary residence value isn’t included in Senate asset totals, which is why public “net worth” estimates that do include housing are higher than a disclosure-only tally.
5) Not from campaign funds
A recurring misconception: campaign money is not personal income. The Federal Election Commission is unambiguous—converting campaign funds to personal use is prohibited. Campaign committees can pay campaign expenses (and, under 2024 rule changes, certain security costs), but they cannot be treated like a personal piggy bank.
A Profile On Bernie Sanders
| Attribute | Details |
| Full Name | Bernard Sanders |
| Date of Birth | September 8, 1941 |
| Nationality | American (born in Brooklyn, New York, to Jewish immigrant parents) |
| Occupation | U.S. Senator from Vermont (Independent, caucuses with Democrats) |
| Primary Industry | Politics, Public Policy, Social Advocacy |
| Estimated Net Worth | Estimated between $2–3 million (2025, based on Forbes estimates and financial disclosures) |
| Marital Status | Married to Jane O’Meara Sanders (since 1988); previously divorced from Deborah Shiling |
| Notable Income Sources | U.S. Senate salary ($174,000/year), book royalties (millions cumulatively since 2016), retirement accounts, and real estate holdings |
| Residence | Burlington, Vermont; Washington, D.C.; and a vacation home in North Hero, Vermont |
| Known For | Progressive politics, Medicare for All, labor rights, 2016 & 2020 presidential campaigns, author of several bestselling books |
Bernie Sanders’ Recent History
Two threads define Sanders’ latest chapter:
1) Reelection and committee role shift – Sanders won re-election in November 2024 with about 63% of the vote, securing a fourth term. With the Senate’s shift in control in 2025, he moved from chair to ranking member of the Senate HELP Committee (Health, Education, Labor and Pensions), where he continues to press on drug prices, teacher pay, and health costs.
2) The “Fighting Oligarchy” tour – In early 2025, Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez drew huge crowds in cities like Los Angeles (tens of thousands; coverage pegged the crowd around 36,000) and Nampa, Idaho (local reporting cited 12,000+). The tour amplified his long-running message around corporate power and working-class economics. Sanders has also signaled that this may be his final Senate term, telling Politico in December 2024 that the term ending in 2031 is “likely” his last—while emphasizing that he intends to keep pushing his agenda hard.
What Can We Learn From Bernie Sanders’ Approach To Business?
Yes, he’s a senator, not a CEO. But there are practical money lessons in how Sanders has structured his financial life:
1) Turn expertise into royalties.
Sanders’ biggest non-salary income stream is intellectual property—books that sell. His disclosures consistently show six-figure royalty income, with Business Insider reporting $148,750 in 2024 and roughly $170,000 in 2022. That’s a clear case of monetizing content at scale—a lesson many public figures (and professionals with a following) can apply.
2) Keep investments simple and compliant.
Congressional disclosures for Sanders read like a low-complexity portfolio: cash accounts, retirement/annuity products, and few (if any) flashy stock moves. While not investment advice, that kind of plain-vanilla, low-drama allocation is common among public officials who want to avoid conflicts and ethics headaches. The form’s range reporting is annoying for number-crunchers, but it also naturally discourages speculative behavior that would be hard to explain. (You can verify the accounts in the PFDs; the LegiStorm index lists the filings.)
3) Separate politics from personal finance.
Campaign dollars aren’t personal cash. The FEC prohibition on personal use protects public trust and keeps politician finances cleaner. For everyday readers, that’s a reminder to set bright-line boundaries between business money and personal spending.
4) Housing matters—but disclosure math may ignore it.
Like many Americans, Sanders’ homes likely represent a big chunk of family wealth—yet the primary residence doesn’t count toward the asset totals on congressional forms. When you see one outlet quoting a lower “net worth” and another quoting a higher one, it’s often this home-value inclusion gap. (AP and reference sources have long described the Burlington home, a D.C. rowhouse, and a Lake Champlain summer place.)5) Income regularity beats one-off windfalls.
A stable government salary plus recurring royalties is a more predictable financial engine than rare, high-risk swing trades. The predictable base (salary) funds the life; the scalable upside (books) adds torque in good years and retreats in slow ones—exactly what Sanders’ 2017–2024 royalty pattern shows.
The safest, most accurate way to talk about Bernie Sanders net worth in 2024–2025 is to say low-to-mid seven figures, anchored by a 2019 Forbes estimate around $2.5 million, with subsequent years showing sustained six-figure book income and the standard $174,000 Senate salary. Anyone claiming a precise dollar amount is glossing over how congressional disclosure really works (ranges, exclusions, and no official “net worth” printout).
If you’re interested in business, why not head here to find out how Ryan Reynolds makes all his millions?
