The latest White House personnel report shows that First Lady Melania Trump continues to operate one of the smallest Office of the First Lady staffs in decades. The 2026 report lists seven employees assigned to the office with combined salaries totaling $873,000, up slightly from five employees paid $634,000 in 2025, but still far below the 24 employees and nearly $2.4 million in salaries reported in the final year of the Biden Administration.
But the raw headcount tells only part of the story. A new National Taxpayers Union Foundation (NTUF) analysis distinguishes between employees dedicated exclusively to the Office of the First Lady and White House officials with dual responsibilities, revealing that most personnel assigned to the office also served the President. This additional data shows that the standalone operation for First Lady Melania Trump is even smaller than the headline numbers suggest.
The Latest White House Personnel Report
This analysis is part of NTUF’s ongoing Tax Basics series examining the perks and privileges associated with public office. Previous analyses have explored topics including congressional pensions, pensions and perks for former presidents, and the salaries of representatives, justices, and vice presidents, helping taxpayers better understand these issues.
Each July 1, the Independent Counsel Reauthorization Act of 1994 requires the White House to submit a report to Congress identifying the names, titles, and salaries of White House Office employees. These reports provide one of the few consistent sources for tracking taxpayer-funded staffing within the Executive Office of the President.
The 2026 report lists seven employees assigned to the Office of the First Lady with combined salaries totaling $872,700. That is $238,500 higher than the combined salaries for the five employees reported in 2025, but it remains well below the staffing levels seen during the previous administration. The final personnel report issued during the Biden Administration listed 24 employees assigned to the Office of the First Lady with combined salaries of nearly $2.4 million.
A New Look at Office of the First Lady Staffing
Simply counting employees, however, does not tell the whole story.
A closer review of the White House personnel reports shows that many employees assigned to the Office of the First Lady simultaneously hold positions elsewhere in the White House. Some are dedicated exclusively to supporting the First Lady, while others divide their responsibilities between the Office of the First Lady and the President.
To provide a more accurate picture of taxpayer-funded support for the President’s spouse, NTUF reviewed each position and categorized personnel as either:
Dedicated staff, whose responsibilities are limited to the Office of the First Lady; or
Dual-role staff, who simultaneously serve the Office of the First Lady and another White House office.
This distinction allows for more meaningful comparisons across administrations by separating employees devoted exclusively to the First Lady from those performing broader White House responsibilities.
Average Number of Personnel and Salary for Each First Lady’s Office | |||||||
First Lady | Years Included | Avg. Dedicated Staff | Avg. Dual-Role Staff | Avg. Total Staff | Avg. Dedicated Salary | Avg. Dual-Role Salary | Avg. Total Salary |
Hillary Clinton | 1995–2000* | 9 | 4 | 11 | $515,100 | $353,800 | $868,900 |
Laura Bush | 2001–2008* | 9 | 1.1 | 9.9 | $513,783 | $156,475 | $670,258 |
Michelle Obama | 2009–2016 | 9 | 3.8 | 12.3 | $505,348 | $502,996 | $1,008,344 |
Melania Trump First Term | 2017–2020 | 1 | 4 | 5.3 | $92,337 | $576,850 | $669,187 |
Jill Biden | 2021–2024 | 10 | 4.5 | 14.5 | $863,027 | $681,375 | $1,544,402 |
Melania Trump Second Term | 2025–2026 | 1.5 | 4.5 | 6 | $116,250 | $637,200 | $753,450 |
Notes: | |||||||
By contrast, the final Biden Administration personnel report listed 24 employees assigned to the Office of the First Lady, including 18 dedicated staff members and six employees serving dual roles. Much of the increase between 2022 and 2024 resulted from the addition of dedicated policy, communications, scheduling, speechwriting, and initiative-specific positions rather than shared White House personnel.
Dual-role positions have also shifted over time. Earlier administrations mainly shared staff for day to day operations including chiefs of staff, communications, and scheduling positions.
During the Obama Administration, however, dual-role positions expanded beyond administrative support to include officials such as the Director of Policy and Projects for the First Lady, Director of Strategic Planning for the First Lady, and Senior Advisor to the First Lady.
The Biden Administration continued that trend by assigning dual-role officials to positions such as Executive Director of Joining Forces, Senior Advisor on Workforce Development and Education, Senior Advisor for Women's Health, and Senior Advisor on Cancer.
By contrast, both Trump Administrations have relied more on shared communications, scheduling, and operations staff than on policy-focused roles.
Conclusion
There is no statutory staffing level for the Office of the First Lady. Each administration has broad discretion to determine how much taxpayer-funded support to provide and how those responsibilities should be organized.
By separating dedicated staff from those who split their time across roles, NTUF’s updated analysis offers a clearer comparison across administrations than a simple headcount. It shows not just how many taxpayer-funded employees support the President’s spouse, but how those resources are actually used—whether focused solely on the Office of the First Lady or also serving the President.
As debates over the size and cost of the Executive Office of the President continue, this added context helps taxpayers better understand how staffing decisions have changed over time—and how each administration chooses to allocate public resources.