Biden’s Final Numbers
Summary The final numbers for Joe Biden’s full term are nearly all in. Here’s our rundown of various statistical measures during his presidency: Inflation roared back, shrinking the value of workers’ paychecks. Consumer prices rose 21.5%. Gasoline alone rose 31%. After adjusting for inflation, private-sector average weekly earnings shrank 4%. The economy regained millions of jobs lost during the coronavirus pandemic and around 6 million more. Unemployment averaged 4.1%, well below the historical average. The economy grew by at least 2.5% each year, with real gross domestic product growth of 2.8% in 2024. The percentage and number of Americans who lacked health insurance went down by 0.6 percentage points, or 1.2 million people, when measuring those who were uninsured for an entire year. The nationwide violent crime and property crime rates declined. The murder rate dropped by 1.7 points. All three major U.S. stock indexes set new records. The S&P 500 climbed 57.8%. After-tax corporate profits continued to set records. Consumer confidence sank to a historic low, when inflation surged, and then rose. But it was still lower when Biden left office than when his term began. Apprehensions of those trying to cross the southern border illegally were 107% higher in Biden’s last year compared with the year before he took office. The monthly average for refugee admissions was 157% higher than during his predecessor’s time in office. The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services went up by nearly 40%. Home prices rose 37.4%. The homeownership rate fluctuated slightly. The number of people receiving federal food assistance increased only slightly. The median household income, when factoring in inflation, went up by $2,150. The official poverty rate declined, but the alternative, supplemental measure increased, after pandemic stimulus payments ended. The federal publicly held debt went up by one-third. Crude oil, natural gas, natural gas plant liquids, biofuels, solar and wind all set domestic production records in Biden’s last year in office. Analysis We’ve been publishing quarterly “numbers” articles about how the country has fared under the president since Barack Obama’s second term. We last posted an update for President Joe Biden in October 2024, weeks before Election Day, and a look at what President Donald Trump inherited on Jan. 20. But it takes some time for many of the final figures to be gathered, revised and released. We’re nearly at that point now. The headline measure during Biden’s term — and a defining issue during the 2024 election — was the increase in inflation, particularly in 2022. Economists told us then that COVID-19 stimulus spending under Biden contributed to the rise in prices, though the root cause was the economic fallout from the pandemic, which created issues with supply, demand and labor, not just in the U.S. but around the world. Sanctions on Russian oil, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, further contributed. Other economic measures showed a country recovering from the pandemic, with employment hitting its pre-pandemic level and growing by millions more, and economic growth rebounding from 2020’s dip. Some statistics are a continuation of what occurred under Trump’s first term: The stock market and after-tax corporate profits again set records, for example. Other figures moved in the opposite direction than they did under Biden’s predecessor: Refugee admissions more than doubled, and the number of people lacking health insurance declined. The statistics below may be good, bad or neutral in the eye of the beholder, and we leave those judgments to the reader. Opinions also differ on how much credit or blame a president should get for what happens while he is in office. We expect some of these figures to be revised by the government, and we’ll update them again, as we did for Obama and Trump. We’ll launch our second “Trump’s Numbers” series in January, one year after Trump’s second term began. Wages and Inflation During Biden’s four years in office, wages went up but prices went up faster. CPI — The Consumer Price Index rose 21.5% under Biden — ending a long period of low inflation. Prices rose only 7.8% during the previous four years, for comparison. The worst spike came during the 12 months ending in June 2022, which saw a 9.1% increase in the CPI (before seasonal adjustment). The Bureau of Labor Statistics said that was the biggest such increase in over 40 years — since the 12 months ending in November 1981. Inflation cooled slowly for the remainder of Biden’s term, as the Federal Reserve ratcheted up interest rates. The CPI rose 3% in his final 12 months. Gasoline Prices — Inflation was advertised in foot-high letters on street corners everywhere as the price of gasoline shot up to a record high during Biden’s time. The week before he took office the national average price of regular gasoline at the pump was $2.38 per gallon, still rising from the $1.78 low point during the pandemic recession (which lasted from February to April 2020), according to figures from the Energy Information Administration. From there it shot up to the highest ever recorded — just over $5 per gallon in the week ending June 13, 2022 — as world oil markets were disrupted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The week he left office the price was down to $3.11, still 73 cents (or 31%) higher than when he came in. Wages — Paychecks grew larger also, but inflation ate up all the gain and more, leaving workers’ purchasing power worse off than before. The average weekly earnings of all private-sector workers rose 16.7%, not nearly enough to compensate for rising prices. In “real” (inflation-adjusted) terms, weekly earnings fell 4%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That reversed nearly half the gains of the previous four years, when real weekly earnings increased 8.6% Those figures apply to all private-sector workers, including executives and professionals. But the story was similar for rank-and-file production and nonsupervisory workers — who make up 81% of the entire private-sector workforce. For them, the drop in real weekly earnings under Biden was 2%, following a 9.5% increase over the previous four years. Jobs and Unemployment Employment — During Biden’s