How Senator Bernie Sanders Made His Millions

Bernie Sanders, an American politician born Sept. 8, 1941, is a U.S. Senator from Vermont who has served since 2006. He is the longest-standing independent in Congressional history and has made two bids for the Democratic Party’s nomination for U.S. President: in 2016 and 2020.

Prior to becoming a senator, Sanders represented Vermont as its sole Congressman in the House of Representatives for 16 years. And before his career in Congress, he was the mayor of Burlington, Vermont from 1981-1989.

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Besides his political career, Sanders has also authored a number of books. Here’s more on how Senator Bernie Sanders made his millions.

If you’re thinking Bernie Sanders has tens of millions of dollars in the bank, you’d be mistaken. Instead, the senator has a net worth of $3 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth. Still, that’s enough to qualify him as a millionaire a few times over.

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Bernie Sanders’ salary as a senator is $174,000 per year. His salary has remained unchanged since 2009. Over the past 17 years as senator, he has earned $2.96 million.

Sanders was a representative — also known as a congressman —  for Vermont from 1991 to 2007, or for 16 years. His salary ranged from a low of $125,100 in 1991 to a high of $165,200 in 2007. During that time, he earned $2.44 million overall from his annual salaries.

It’s no secret that Sanders has voiced his distaste for political figures who make big bucks from public speaking appearances, and it’s safe to say that he hasn’t made millions doing so. Even so, Sanders has been paid for public speaking engagements.

However, the reported amount of $1,867.42 he earned for three separate speaking appearances in 2015 pales in comparison to the $675,000 Hillary Clinton was paid by Goldman Sachs for three speeches that same year.

Sanders has raked in $2.5 million in book payments since 2011, according to Forbes. That’s an average of $227,273 per year. It’s evident that writing and selling books has contributed greatly to his current net worth.

But some years must be better than others. According to recent financial disclosure forms, Sanders received $170,000 in royalties from Penguin Random House in 2022. Even so, that royalty amount is close to being a match for the $174,000 Senate salary he earns for representing Vermont. Other examples of his book payment earnings include an additional $170,000 in royalties from Penguin Random House in 2020 and $391,000 in royalties from MacMillan in 2018.