Introduction
The role of First Lady comes with no official salary or statutory responsibilities, but that has not stopped the office that supports the First Lady from growing into an expensive operation within the White House.
Over the years, what was once a limited social and ceremonial role has evolved to include policy staff, speech writers, and a communications team. That expansion hit a high under Jill Biden, whose 2024 office included 24 full-time employees with salaries totaling nearly $2.4 million.
In contrast, Melania Trump, during both her previous and current time in the White House, has maintained a much smaller team. Her current 2025 office, as reported on July 1, 2025, employs just five staffers, costing taxpayers $634,200. The change in salaries alone saves taxpayers a projected $1.7 million this year compared to 2024.
Background
Despite being publicly funded, the Office of the First Lady operates with few formal constraints or oversight. Public Law 95-570, signed into law in 1978, authorizes the President to hire and compensate staff in the White House and Executive Residence, including personnel to support the First Spouse. This law allows access to publicly funded staff, consultants, and support at the President’s discretion, without imposing hard limits.
The only transparency requirement stems from a 1995 law mandating the annual publication of White House staff names, titles, and salaries. No rules govern how large the office can be, or what roles the employees should perform. This has allowed the Office of the First Lady to evolve into a mini-agency, with growing cost, but without corresponding accountability.
Given the most recent White House staff transparency report (available here), Melania Trump has returned the office to a more limited scale, offering a sharp contrast to the expansive approach seen in recent years.
Drastic Growth under Jill Biden
Jill Biden’s office during 2021 and 2022 consisted of just eight and six staff members respectively. However, in 2023, her office more than tripled in size from the previous year with 20 staffers, and quadrupled in size by 2024, totaling 24 full-time staffers. During this time the combined salaries rose from $763,875 in 2022 to nearly $2.4 million in 2024. The office expanded from its traditional social role to include policy specific advisors, multiple communication roles, and speechwriters.
Before this, the largest office of the First Lady was Michelle Obama in 2009 and Laura Bush in 2008 each with 16 personnel. Below is a list comparing the titles of staffers under Jill Biden in 2024 and Melania Trump’s more modest office in 2025:
| Table 1. Titles of Personnel in the Office of the First Lady: 2024 vs. 2025 | |
| 2024 | 2025 |
| Advisor to the Senior Advisor to the First Lady | Special Assistant to the President and Director of Communications for the First Lady |
| Communications Coordinator for the Office of the First Lady | Special Assistant to the President and Director of Operations for the First Lady |
| Communications Director for the First Lady | Special Assistant to the President and Director of Policy for the First Lady |
| Deputy Associate Policy Director for the Office of the First Lady | Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff to the First Lady |
| Deputy Communications Director for the Office of the First Lady | Scheduler to the Office of the First Lady |
| Deputy Policy Director for the Office of the First Lady | |
| Director of Policy and Projects for the First Lady | |
| Executive Director of Joining Forces for the Office of the First Lady | |
| Press Secretary for the First Lady | |
| Senior Advisor for Joining Forces for the Office of the First Lady | |
| Senior Advisor for Women’s Health for the Office of the First Lady | |
| Senior Advisor on Cancer for the Office of the First Lady | |
| Senior Advisor on Foreign Policy for the Office of the First Lady | |
| Senior Advisor on Workforce Development and Education for the Office of the First Lady | |
| Senior Advisor to the First Lady | |
| Senior Policy Advisor for the Office of the First Lady | |
| Senior Presidential Speechwriter for the First Lady | |
| Special Assistant for Policy and Communications for the Office of the First Lady | |
| Speechwriter for the Office of the First Lady | |
| Staff Assistant for Scheduling and Advance for the Office of the First Lady | |
| Trip Director for the Office of the First Lady | |
Melania Trump’s More Modest Office
Dating back to President Trump’s 2017–2021 tenure, Melania Trump’s office never exceeded more than eight full-time personnel. In 2025, she currently has five full-time personnel, and had as few as three back in 2018. While Melania Trump pays her personnel more than Jill Biden, her total payroll remains significantly lower. In 2025, Melania Trump’s office will cost taxpayers $634,200 compared to Jill Biden’s office cost of $2,398,819 in 2024. Below is a table highlighting the average combined annual cost of each First Lady’s office salaries since data began under First Lady Hillary Clinton. The full year by year totals are available at Perks and Benefits for the President’s Spouse.
| Table 2. Average Number of Personnel and Salary for Each First Lady’s Office | ||
| First Lady | Average Number of Personnel | Average Combined Annual Salary |
| Melania Trump (2025) | 5 | $634,200 |
| Jill Biden | 15 | $1,544,402 |
| Melania Trump (2017–2020) | 5 | $669,187 |
| Michelle Obama | 12 | $1,008,344 |
| Laura Bush | 10* | $670,258* |
| Hillary Clinton | 11* | $735,250* |
Notes: | ||
The Paris Flight That Cost Taxpayers $220,000
The increasing footprint of the First Lady’s office isn’t limited to salaries. Travel costs, particularly when unscheduled or unofficial, can also carry a heavy price tag for taxpayers. In June 2024, during the President and First Lady’s trip to France for the 80th anniversary of D-Day, taxpayers were on the hook for the First Lady’s extra flights. Jill Biden briefly returned to the U.S. to attend her son Hunter Biden’s trial in Delaware before flying back to France the very next day.
Because First Ladies must travel on secure military aircrafts, each leg of the trip cost over $111,000 based on NTUF’s calculation regarding the rate for a Boeing C-32. This round trip, prompted by a personal matter, incurred significant taxpayer expense of around roughly $223,000 in flight costs alone. The Democratic National Committee (DNC) reported to reimburse part of the trip, equal to the price of two first class tickets on a commercial airline, or roughly $13,310. This leaves at least $200,000 of the cost to be picked up by taxpayers.
Perks and Privileges Beyond the Payroll
Beyond staffing and salaries, the Office of the First Lady comes with a long list of additional perks. As detailed in NTUF’s Perks and Benefits for the President’s Spouse, most of the perks are footed by taxpayers. First ladies enjoy access to military travel, lifetime Secret Service protection, taxpayer-funded ceremonial appearances, housing in the White House, and even lifetime franking privileges for widows.
Conclusion
Though the position is unpaid and unofficial, the role of the First Lady has grown over time to resemble that of a senior government official, with a sometimes large staff, high travel costs, and other perks.
Jill Biden’s tenure exemplifies this growth, topping out in 2024 with 24 staffers and combined salaries of $2.3 million—both the highest levels in the available records since 1995. By contrast, Melania Trump’s current office employs just five staffers at a fraction of the cost, reflecting a more restrained approach.
As taxpayer dollars continue to fund expanded personnel, ceremonial perks, and travel expenses, it is critical that policymakers and the public demand more accountability. Greater transparency in how the Office of the First Lady operates is not just a matter of good governance, but one of fiscal responsibility.