That’s easy. The Congressional Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act of 2008 indicates that the yearly operating expense of the White House was $12,814,000. Or, about $35,106 a day. These expenses include: “maintenance, repair and alteration, refurnishing, improvement, heating, and lighting, including electric power and fixtures, of the Executive Residence at the White House and official entertainment expenses of the President…”

If only the answer were that simple to procure.

The real answer is exceedingly complicated. In addition to the annual congressional budget for the operation of the White House, there are over 22 other budget accounts, in 13 different departments, that pay the expenses and salaries of the White House staff.

Defining what constitutes “The White House” is also difficult. In his book, To Serve the President, Bradley H. Patterson argues that there are 23 separate accounts that make up the costs of the White House. Some of these accounts include the President’s Salary, the National Archives and Records Administration, the National Security Council, the Department of State, and so on. As Patterson notes, finding the real cost of the White House is almost impossible. The funding for these various White House functions are buried within numerous appropriation bills, some of which are classified.

However, Patterson provides a ball park figure by tallying the following expenses.

Total Cost of the Whole White House for Fiscal Year 2008

1. Compensation of the president (including an expense allowance of $50,000): $ 450,000
2. The Executive Residence operating expenses: $12,814,000
3. The Executive Residence—repair and restoration: $1,600,000
4. The vice president’s downtown office: $15,511,9603
5. Residence of the vice president—operating expenses: $320,000
6. The White House Office (including the Homeland Security Council): $53,656,000
7. Office of Policy Development (the Domestic Policy Council and the National Economic Council): $3,482,000
8. National Security Council: $30,300,820
9. One-eighth of the Office of Administration, for direct services to the president pursuant to Section 3(a) of Executive Order 12028: $11,468,125
10. The president’s unanticipated needs: $1,000,000
11. White House Center Service Delivery Team (in the GSA budget): $26,000,000
12. U.S. Postal Service, White House branch: $726,000
13. National Archives professional archival support of the White House: $1,000,000
14. Value of gifts supplied by the Department of State for presentation to foreign leaders at White House official entertainment functions: $50,000
15. White House Communications Agency (in the budget of the Defense Information Systems Agency): $173,900,000
16. Air Force One (in U.S. Air Force budget) (classified) (Estimated cost: $200,000,000)
    
17. Helicopter squadron HMX-One (in the Marine Corps budget; this is the fiscal year 2008 appropriation segment of a fifteen year-long procurement of twenty-eight new helicopters): $271,000,000
18. Camp David (in the Navy/Seabees budget): $7,900,0005
19. Salary costs for 2,300 employees in above units 15, 16, 17, and 18 (all in the budget of the Department of Defense): $151,800,000
20. U.S. Secret Service (in the budget of the Department of Homeland Security) (21-26)
    
21. Protection of persons and facilities: $689,535,000
22. For protective intelligence activities: $57,704,000
23. For handling “special security events,” such as the 2009 Inaugural: $1,000,000
24. For screening of White House mail: $16,201,000
25. Operations of the James J. Rowley Training Center: $51,954,000
26. Improvements at the James J. Rowley Training Center: $3,725,000
27. Commission on White House Fellowships (in the budget of the Office of Personnel Management): $850,000
28. National Park Service White House Liaison Office, including the White House Visitor Center (in the budget of the National Park Service): $8,700,000
29. Cost of detailees who work more than six months in a calendar year: $227,349

Total Cost of All White House Elements, for fiscal year 2008: $1,592,875,254

(This total does not include classified expenses or donations)

$1.5 billion is a lot of money. $4,364,041/day, to be precise. But keep in mind, this is for the Executive Office of the United States of America, which is more than just a building.

Image by Scott Ableman.