Obama was a millionaire before becoming a president.

In 2005, Obama's total income was $1.65 million. The primary income source was royalties from his first book, 'Dreams from My Father.'

In 2005, Obama's total income was $1.65 million. The primary income source was royalties from his first book, 'Dreams from My Father.'Barack Obama was the 44th President of the United States and a former Senator from Illinois. Obama, after accomplishing one term in the Illinois Senate, served as the first African American President of the United States from 2009 to 2017. The Obamas' (Barack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama) first became millionaires around 2005. Between 1991 and 2004, Barack Obama never collected more than $30,000 for his work as a professor and state representative.

In, 2005 Mr. Obama's income jumped to $157,100 when he became a U.S. Senator, and Michelle earned $273,618. His total revenue was $1.65 million, mainly due to the book royalties. Obama wrote his first book, Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance, in 1995.

In 2006 the Obamas reported earnings of $916,000. Barack Obama's second book, 'Audacity of Hope,' released in October 2006, was a huge hit, selling millions of copies, and Obama's income jumped to $4.2 million in 2007. The Obamas, who had earned less than $300,000 every year from 2000 to 2004, made an average of $2.4 million annually over the next four years, even before Barack Obama got elected president.

From 2005 to 2016, the Obamas earned $20.5 million from his government salary, book royalties, investment income, and Michelle Obama's income from her job at the University of Chicago Hospitals before she became the first lady. Obama earned $400,000 a year during his eight years as president, and he makes an annual pension of about $200,000 as a former president.