Presidents Ranked by Economic Record, Truman to Biden
Every completed presidency since 1945, ranked by four measurable outcomes: real GDP growth, payroll jobs created, inflation, and real median household income.
How this ranking works
This ranking scores every completed presidency from Harry S. Truman through Joe Biden on four measurable outcomes recorded by federal statistical agencies: average annual real GDP growth (Bureau of Economic Analysis), net change in total nonfarm payroll employment (Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Employment Statistics), average annual Consumer Price Index inflation (Bureau of Labor Statistics), and the change in real median household income (Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, Table H-8). Each president is ranked on each metric, the ranks are averaged, and the average is rescaled to a 100-point score. The score is ordinal and analytical. No official government score for presidential economic performance exists, and we do not pretend otherwise.
The time window for each president runs from inauguration to the end of the term, using calendar-year GDP and CPI averages and month-of-inauguration payroll counts. The Census household income series begins in 1967, so the income metric is scored only for presidents from Nixon forward; earlier presidents are scored on the remaining three metrics. Donald Trump's second term is excluded because it is not complete as of July 2026. His first term (2017-2021) is scored in full, including the pandemic year, because the framework counts what happened on each president's watch, not what each president intended.
The framework pays no attention to which party a president belonged to. It ignores speeches, approval ratings, stock market rhetoric, and campaign promises. It also does not attempt to apportion credit between presidents, Congresses, and the Federal Reserve, a limitation discussed in the contested section below. If a result produces discomfort, the discomfort belongs to the reader, not the data.
1Bill ClintonDemocrat, 1993-200196.3
22.9 million payroll jobs added, the most of any presidency, with 3.9 percent average annual real GDP growth, 2.6 percent average inflation, and roughly a 14 percent rise in real median household income (BLS Current Employment Statistics; BEA; Census Bureau Table H-8).
The receipts: Nonfarm payrolls rose from about 109.7 million in January 1993 to about 132.5 million in January 2001, a net 22.9 million gain, the largest of any presidency (BLS Current Employment Statistics). Real GDP grew an average 3.9 percent a year while the budget moved into surplus, and CPI inflation averaged 2.6 percent (BEA; BLS CPI).
2Lyndon B. JohnsonDemocrat, 1963-196993.8
The fastest sustained growth of the postwar era at 5.3 percent average annual real GDP growth, with payrolls expanding about 3.9 percent per year, the fastest rate since 1945 (BEA; BLS). Inflation was accelerating by 1968, the one blemish on the ledger.
The receipts: Real GDP averaged 5.3 percent annual growth from 1964 through 1968, the fastest of any postwar president (BEA). Payrolls expanded roughly 3.9 percent per year and about 11.9 million jobs were added, but CPI inflation rose from about 1.3 percent in 1964 to 4.7 percent by 1968 as Vietnam and Great Society spending overlapped (BLS).
3John F. KennedyDemocrat, 1961-196391.0
4.3 percent average annual real GDP growth with average inflation near 1.2 percent, the best growth-to-inflation combination in the postwar record, over an abbreviated tenure (BEA; BLS CPI).
The receipts: Over roughly 34 months, real GDP averaged about 4.3 percent annual growth while CPI inflation held near 1.2 percent, the strongest growth-to-inflation combination in the postwar record (BEA; BLS CPI). The abbreviated term limits the total jobs figure but not the rates.
4Ronald ReaganRepublican, 1981-198988.6
16.1 million jobs added and 3.5 percent average annual real GDP growth, while CPI inflation fell from 12.5 percent in 1980 to 4.4 percent in 1988 (BLS; BEA). The severe 1981-82 recession sits inside these averages.
The receipts: About 16.1 million payroll jobs were added and real GDP averaged 3.5 percent annual growth (BLS CES; BEA). CPI inflation, which the Federal Reserve was already breaking, fell from 12.5 percent in 1980 to 4.4 percent in 1988, though the 1981-82 recession pushed unemployment to 10.8 percent inside the term (BLS CPI).
5Joe BidenDemocrat, 2021-202584.2
About 16.7 million jobs added, the most in any single term, and roughly 3.5 percent average annual real GDP growth, offset by average inflation near 5 percent, the highest since Carter, and real median household income that in 2024 was statistically unchanged from 2019 (BLS; BEA; Census Bureau, Income in the United States: 2024).
The receipts: Payrolls rose about 16.7 million from January 2021 to December 2024, the largest single-term gain on record, much of it recovering pandemic losses (BLS CES). Real GDP averaged roughly 3.5 percent, but CPI inflation averaged near 5 percent, and Census reported 2024 real median household income of $83,730, statistically unchanged from 2019 (BEA; BLS CPI; Census Bureau, Income in the United States: 2024).
6Dwight D. EisenhowerRepublican, 1953-196177.5
Average inflation of about 1.4 percent, among the lowest on record, and 3.0 percent average real GDP growth, but three recessions and payroll growth of only about 0.5 percent per year, the weakest job creation rate of the postwar era to that point (BLS; BEA).
The receipts: CPI inflation averaged about 1.4 percent, among the lowest of any presidency, and real GDP averaged 3.0 percent (BLS CPI; BEA). But three recessions in eight years held payroll growth to roughly 0.5 percent per year, the weakest job-creation pace of the postwar era through 1961 (BLS CES).
7Harry S. TrumanDemocrat, 1945-195370.8
Payrolls grew about 2.95 percent per year, among the fastest ever, but average real GDP growth was dragged down by the 1946 demobilization contraction, the largest single-year decline of the postwar era, and inflation averaged over 5 percent with a 14 percent spike in 1947 (BLS; BEA).
The receipts: Payrolls grew roughly 2.95 percent a year and about 8.4 million jobs were added, among the fastest paces on record (BLS CES). But the 1946 demobilization produced the largest single-year real GDP decline of the postwar era, and CPI inflation averaged over 5 percent with a spike near 14 percent in 1947 (BEA; BLS CPI).
8Jimmy CarterDemocrat, 1977-198168.4
10.3 million jobs in four years, roughly 3.45 percent annual payroll growth, and 3.3 percent average real GDP growth, all of it swamped by the worst inflation of any modern presidency, averaging 9.9 percent and peaking at 14.6 percent in early 1980 (BLS CPI; BLS CES).
The receipts: About 10.3 million jobs were added in four years, a faster percentage pace than Reagan's, and real GDP averaged 3.3 percent (BLS CES; BEA). CPI inflation averaged 9.9 percent, the worst of the modern era, peaking at 14.6 percent in March 1980 (BLS CPI).
9Richard NixonRepublican, 1969-197463.7
9.2 million jobs and 2.8 percent average real GDP growth, but average inflation near 6 percent, wage and price controls that failed, and the 1973-74 stagflation beginning on his watch (BLS; BEA).
The receipts: About 9.2 million jobs were added and real GDP averaged 2.8 percent (BLS CES; BEA). But CPI inflation averaged near 6 percent, the August 1971 wage and price controls failed to hold, and the 1973-74 oil-shock stagflation began on his watch (BLS CPI).
10Barack ObamaDemocrat, 2009-201761.2
11.6 million net jobs and 1.4 percent average inflation, but the weakest average real GDP growth of any two-term postwar president at roughly 1.6 percent, with no calendar year above 3 percent (BEA; BLS). Real median household income finished about 4 to 6 percent higher, with all the gains after 2013 (Census Bureau Table H-8).
The receipts: About 11.6 million net jobs were added and CPI inflation averaged 1.4 percent (BLS). But real GDP averaged only 1.6 percent, the weakest of any two-term postwar president, with no calendar year above 3 percent, reflecting the financial crisis he inherited and a slow recovery (BEA; Census Bureau Table H-8).
11George H. W. BushRepublican, 1989-199356.9
2.6 million jobs, about 53,000 per month, 2.3 percent average real GDP growth, 4.2 percent average inflation, and a decline in real median household income across the 1990-91 recession (BLS; BEA; Census Bureau).
The receipts: Only about 2.6 million jobs were added, roughly 53,000 per month, and real GDP averaged 2.3 percent (BLS CES; BEA). CPI inflation averaged 4.2 percent and real median household income fell across the 1990-91 recession (Census Bureau Table H-8).
12Donald Trump (first term)Republican, 2017-202153.5
The only postwar president to leave office with fewer payroll jobs than he inherited, down about 2.7 million, after the 2020 pandemic erased a 6.7 million pre-pandemic gain (BLS CES). Average inflation was low at about 1.9 percent, and real median household income hit a then-record in 2019 before falling in 2020 (BLS CPI; Census Bureau).
The receipts: The term ended with about 2.7 million fewer payroll jobs than it began, the only completed postwar presidency to end in net job loss, after the 2020 pandemic erased a 6.7 million pre-pandemic gain (BLS CES). CPI inflation was low at about 1.9 percent, and real median household income hit a then-record in 2019 before falling in 2020 (BLS CPI; Census Bureau).
13Gerald FordRepublican, 1974-197750.1
Average inflation of about 8.1 percent, second worst of the era, and the 1974-75 recession, partially offset by 2.1 million jobs added during the 1976 recovery (BLS CPI; BLS CES).
The receipts: CPI inflation averaged about 8.1 percent, second worst of the modern era, and the 1974-75 recession was the deepest since the 1930s at the time (BLS CPI). About 2.1 million jobs were added during the 1976 recovery, partly offsetting the downturn (BLS CES).
14George W. BushRepublican, 2001-200946.8
About 1.4 million net jobs over eight years, roughly 14,000 per month, the weakest job creation of any postwar two-term presidency, with real median household income lower at the end of the term than the start and the tenure ending in the deepest recession since the 1930s (BLS CES; Census Bureau Table H-8; NBER).
The receipts: Only about 1.4 million net jobs were added over eight years, roughly 14,000 per month, the weakest job creation of any postwar two-term presidency (BLS CES). Real median household income was lower at the end than the start, and the term ended in the deepest recession since the 1930s (Census Bureau Table H-8; NBER).
Click any entry to open its full scorecard, sub-scores, and the receipts.
Average annual real GDP growth by president
One ruler for fourteen presidencies
This report asks a narrow question. What did the official numbers do while each president held office? Four agencies keep the books. The Bureau of Economic Analysis measures real GDP. The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts payroll jobs and prices. The Census Bureau tracks median household income. None of these series care who is president. That is exactly why they are useful.
The postwar average for annual real GDP growth since 1946 is about 2.9 percent (BEA). Only five completed presidencies beat it clearly: Johnson at 5.3 percent, Kennedy at 4.3, Clinton at 3.9, Reagan and Biden near 3.5 (BEA annual data). Everyone since 2001 except Biden landed below it. That is the single most important fact in this dataset, and it belongs to both parties.
The scoring is deliberately mechanical. Each president gets a rank on GDP growth, a rank on jobs, a rank on inflation, and, from Nixon forward, a rank on real income. Those ranks are averaged and rescaled to 100. No metric is secretly weighted heavier than another, no adjustment is made for the party in power, and no president is credited or debited for intentions. A recession that began under a predecessor still counts if it played out on the incumbent's watch. That rule is uncomfortable in specific cases, and the report keeps it anyway, because a ruler that bends for sympathetic cases is not a ruler.
The jobs ledger
Payroll counts are the cleanest number in politics because BLS surveys roughly 120,000 businesses every month and revises against unemployment insurance records. Clinton presided over 22.9 million added jobs, the most of any presidency (BLS CES). Biden's roughly 16.7 million is the most in a single term, at an average near 485,000 per month early in the term as the economy refilled pandemic losses. Reagan added 16.1 million across eight years.
The bottom of the jobs table surprises people. George W. Bush's eight years produced about 1.4 million net jobs, roughly 14,000 per month, because the 2001 recession, a jobless recovery, and the 2008 collapse bracketed the term (BLS CES). Donald Trump's first term is the only completed postwar presidency that ended with fewer jobs than it began, down about 2.7 million, entirely because of the 2020 pandemic. Before March 2020 the term had added 6.7 million. The framework counts the full term for every president, including the ones hit by shocks they did not create. Truman got no exemption for demobilization. Obama got none for inheriting a financial crisis. Trump gets none for the pandemic.
Percentage pace tells a second story the raw counts hide. Truman added 8.4 million jobs from a much smaller 1945 workforce, a growth rate near 2.95 percent per year that rivals any modern president (BLS CES). Carter's 10.3 million in four years was a faster percentage pace than Reagan's eight-year total, which is one reason Carter does not finish last despite his inflation. And Eisenhower, whose reputation is one of prosperity, actually ran the weakest job-creation rate of the early postwar era, about 0.5 percent a year, because three separate recessions punctuated his two terms (BLS CES; BEA).
Inflation is a tax the table counts
Average annual CPI inflation separates presidencies that felt prosperous from presidencies that did not. Carter's average of 9.9 percent is the worst of the modern era, with a peak of 14.6 percent in March and April 1980 (BLS CPI). Ford averaged about 8.1 percent. Nixon about 6. At the other end, Eisenhower and Obama each averaged near 1.4 percent, and Trump's first term averaged about 1.9 percent, among the lowest on record.
Biden's presidency is the clearest recent case of inflation dragging down an otherwise strong ledger. Growth averaged roughly 3.5 percent and job creation set a single-term record, yet CPI inflation averaged near 5 percent, the highest since Carter, and Census data show real median household income in 2024 was $83,730, statistically unchanged from the pre-pandemic 2019 level (Census Bureau, Income in the United States: 2024). Strong output plus flat real household income is why the same economy generated both good statistics and bad polling. The table records the statistics.
Inflation is scored inverted, so a fuller meter always means lower price increases. That is why Kennedy's 1.2 percent average and Eisenhower's 1.4 percent register near the top of their inflation subscores while Carter's 9.9 percent registers near the floor. The choice is not editorial. It keeps every metric pointing the same direction, so a reader can glance at four meters and know that fuller is better on all four without decoding which ones are bad-when-high.
The surprises the data forces
Three results in this ranking will surprise readers. First, Jimmy Carter ranks in the middle, not the bottom. His economy added 10.3 million jobs in four years, a faster percentage pace than Reagan's, and grew 3.3 percent per year (BLS; BEA). Inflation alone pushed him down. Second, Ronald Reagan ranks fourth, not first. His growth and jobs record was strong but not the best; Johnson, Kennedy, and Clinton all posted better growth, and Clinton created more jobs in the same number of years. Third, George W. Bush ranks last. On every one of the four measures, growth, jobs, income, and even inflation relative to peers with similar growth, his eight years underperformed, and the term ended in the worst downturn since the Depression.
Obama's placement is the mirror-image surprise. His 11.6 million jobs and 1.4 percent inflation are respectable, but his 1.6 percent average GDP growth is the weakest of any two-term postwar president, with no calendar year cracking 3 percent (BEA). A method that ranks growth alongside jobs and inflation cannot rescue that number, so Obama lands tenth even though his inflation subscore is one of the best on the board. The lesson repeats across the table: no single strong metric carries a presidency, because the score is an average of four.
If that ordering produces discomfort, the discomfort belongs to the reader, not the data. The framework pays no attention to which party a president belonged to.
What this ranking does not measure
The second Trump term is excluded because it is incomplete as of July 2026; partial-term data is reported by BEA and BLS but a two-year record cannot be fairly ranked against completed terms. The ranking also does not model the lag between policy and outcome, the actions of the Federal Reserve, which controlled the disinflation credited to the Reagan years and the inflation fight of the Biden years, or global shocks like OPEC, the 2008 crisis, and the pandemic. Those forces are real. They are also unmeasurable at the level of a single ranking, so this table scores outcomes and states its limits plainly.
Nor does the table claim that a good economic score makes a good presidency. A president can preside over strong numbers and fail on every other axis this site measures, from judicial legacy to administration integrity to the fiscal record. Economic outcomes are one lens. This report holds that lens steady and refuses to pretend it is the only one, which is why the site publishes separate rankings for debt, courts, and integrity rather than folding them into one contestable index.
Net change in nonfarm payroll jobs during tenure
How the postwar economy moved beneath fourteen presidents
The long arc bends clearly across these fourteen terms. The two decades after 1945 delivered the fastest growth: Kennedy and Johnson averaged 4.3 and 5.3 percent real GDP growth, rates no president has matched since (BEA). Then the 1970s broke the pattern. The 1973 and 1979 oil shocks fused slow growth with double-digit inflation, and Nixon, Ford, and Carter all carry that stagflation in their ledgers, Carter most of all at 9.9 percent average inflation (BLS CPI).
The 1980s and 1990s brought disinflation and a jobs boom. Reagan added 16.1 million jobs as inflation fell from 12.5 to 4.4 percent, and Clinton then added 22.9 million as the budget reached surplus and inflation held near 2.6 percent (BLS; BEA). That combination, fast job growth with tame prices, is the postwar high-water mark, and it is why Clinton tops the table.
The twenty-first century has been the era of slower trend growth. Every president since 2001 except Biden averaged below the 2.9 percent postwar mean (BEA). George W. Bush's eight years produced only 1.4 million net jobs, Obama's growth never cracked 3 percent in any year, and Trump's first term ended in net job loss after the pandemic (BLS CES). Biden broke the growth streak at roughly 3.5 percent and set a single-term jobs record, but inflation near 5 percent kept real household income flat, so the same numbers that read as a boom on paper read as a squeeze at the checkout (Census Bureau, Income in the United States: 2024). The trend the next completed presidency inherits is slower growth, higher debt service, and a public that now watches prices as closely as it watches jobs.
Average annual CPI inflation by president
Composite economic score by president
What the evidence settles
The measurable record settles several things beyond argument. Clinton's economy created the most jobs of any presidency, 22.9 million. Johnson's posted the fastest sustained growth, 5.3 percent per year. Carter's had the worst inflation, averaging 9.9 percent. George W. Bush's eight years produced the weakest job creation of any two-term postwar presidency, and Trump's first term is the only completed postwar term to end with fewer payroll jobs than it started. These are agency-published counts, not interpretations.
What remains contested
What remains contested is attribution. Presidents inherit business cycles, share power with Congress, and sit alongside a Federal Reserve that sets monetary policy independently. Reasonable analysts argue Reagan should get credit for the Volcker disinflation he endured politically, that Obama's slow growth reflects the crisis he inherited rather than his policy, and that Biden's inflation was substantially global and pandemic-driven. All three arguments have evidence behind them. None of them changes what the numbers were, which is what this table ranks.
Questions people ask
Which president created the most jobs?
Bill Clinton. BLS payroll data show about 22.9 million jobs added from January 1993 to January 2001, the most of any presidency. Joe Biden holds the single-term record at roughly 16.7 million.
Which president had the best GDP growth?
Lyndon Johnson, at 5.3 percent average annual real GDP growth per BEA data, the fastest sustained pace of the postwar era. Kennedy is second at 4.3 percent.
Which president had the worst inflation?
Jimmy Carter. CPI inflation averaged 9.9 percent during his term and peaked at 14.6 percent in early 1980, per BLS data. Ford is second worst at about 8.1 percent.
Why does Reagan rank behind Clinton and Johnson?
Because the score averages four metrics, not one. Reagan added 16.1 million jobs and cut inflation sharply, but his 3.5 percent average GDP growth trailed Johnson, Kennedy, and Clinton, and Clinton created more jobs in the same eight years. Strong but not best on each metric lands Reagan fourth.
Why did Biden's strong numbers still leave voters unhappy?
Because real household income was flat. Growth averaged about 3.5 percent and jobs set a single-term record, but Census reported 2024 real median household income of $83,730, statistically unchanged from 2019, as inflation near 5 percent erased the nominal gains.
Why is Trump's second term not ranked?
It is incomplete as of July 2026. This ranking scores only completed tenures so every president is measured over a full record. His first term is ranked in full, including the pandemic year.
Sources
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Employment Statistics (nonfarm payrolls) https://www.bls.gov/ces/
- Bureau of Economic Analysis, Gross Domestic Product https://www.bea.gov/data/gdp/gross-domestic-product
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index https://www.bls.gov/cpi/
- Census Bureau, Income in the United States: 2024 (P60-286) https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2025/demo/p60-286.html
- Census Bureau, Historical Income Tables: Households (Table H-8) https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/income-poverty/historical-income-households.html
- Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Real Gross Domestic Product (GDPC1) https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GDPC1
- Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Real Median Household Income (MEHOINUSA672N) https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEHOINUSA672N
- Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, All Employees, Total Nonfarm (PAYEMS) https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/PAYEMS
- Hudson Institute, Economic Growth by President https://www.hudson.org/economics/economic-growth-by-president
- National Bureau of Economic Research, US Business Cycle Expansions and Contractions https://www.nber.org/research/data/us-business-cycle-expansions-and-contractions
- Wikipedia compilation of BLS data, Jobs created during U.S. presidential terms https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jobs_created_during_U.S._presidential_terms
- The Balance, U.S. GDP by Year Compared to Recessions and Events https://www.thebalancemoney.com/us-gdp-by-year-3305543
Parker, T. E. (2026). Presidents Ranked by Economic Record, Truman to Biden. US Political Rank. https://uspoliticalrank.com/rankings/presidents-by-economic-record<iframe src="https://uspoliticalrank.com/embed/presidents-by-economic-record" width="100%" height="520" style="border:1px solid #ddd;border-radius:8px" title="Presidents Ranked by Economic Record, Truman to Biden" loading="lazy"></iframe>Keep reading
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