Bernie Sanders has a net worth of $3 million as of 2026. Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1941, he is the senior United States Senator from Vermont and the longest-serving independent in U.S. congressional history. An ideological democratic socialist, Sanders has been one of the most prominent voices in American progressive politics for over four decades, running for the Democratic presidential nomination in both 2016 and 2020 and finishing second on both occasions.
Updated March 2026: According to Newsweek and estimates compiled in February 2026, Sanders’ net worth is estimated in the range of $2–3 million, drawn from his Senate salary, book royalties, and real estate holdings. Forbes placed his net worth at approximately $2.5 million in 2019.
Bernard Sanders was born on September 8, 1941, in Brooklyn, New York, the second son of Eli Sanders, a paint salesman who had emigrated from Poland, and Dorothy Glassberg Sanders. The family was working-class and Jewish, and the hardship of his parents’ lives — including relatives who perished in the Holocaust — profoundly shaped Sanders’ political consciousness from an early age.
Sanders attended P.S. 197 and James Madison High School in Brooklyn, where future Senator Chuck Schumer was a classmate. He enrolled at Brooklyn College for a year before transferring to the University of Chicago, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in political science in 1964. At the University of Chicago, Sanders became politically active, joining the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), organizing sit-ins against segregated on-campus housing and participating in the March on Washington in 1963.
After graduating, Sanders moved to New York briefly before relocating to Vermont in 1968, working variously as a carpenter, filmmaker, and researcher for the American People’s Historical Society.
Sanders ran for Vermont Governor in 1972 and 1976, and for the U.S. Senate in 1972 and 1974, as a third-party candidate under the Liberty Union Party. He received only small vote shares in those early races but gained political experience and a following. In 1981, he ran for Mayor of Burlington, Vermont, as an independent and won by just 10 votes — defeating the incumbent Democratic mayor. He was reelected three times as mayor, serving until 1989, and during his tenure balanced the city budget, expanded affordable housing, and revitalized Burlington’s waterfront.
In 1990, Sanders was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Vermont’s at-large congressional district, defeating the incumbent Republican Peter Smith. He served in the House for 16 years. In 1991, he co-founded the Congressional Progressive Caucus along with five other House members, which became one of the largest caucuses in Congress. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2006, becoming the first non-Republican elected to Vermont’s Class 1 seat since 1850, and was re-elected in 2012, 2018, and 2024.
In the Senate, Sanders has chaired the Veterans’ Affairs Committee (2013–2015), the Budget Committee (2021–2023), and the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee (2023–2025). He ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016, winning 23 states and 1,846 pledged delegates before conceding to Hillary Clinton. In 2020, he won the New Hampshire primary and Nevada caucuses but ultimately conceded to Joe Biden in April 2020 after Biden consolidated support following Super Tuesday.
In 2026, Sanders remains one of the most active members of the Senate. On March 2, 2026, he and Representative Ro Khanna introduced the Make Billionaires Pay Their Fair Share Act, proposing a 5% annual wealth tax on the approximately 938 billionaires in the United States. He has also been vocal in opposition to U.S. military actions in Iran and has advocated for a moratorium on AI data center construction. In early 2026, he launched the “Fighting Oligarchy Tour,” a series of town halls across America focused on corporate power and economic inequality.
Unlike most politicians of his prominence, Sanders has accumulated only modest wealth — a point of pride he has made publicly:
Sanders was briefly married to Deborah Shiling Messing in 1964, though the marriage lasted only a short time. He has a son, Levi Sanders, from a relationship with Susan Campbell Mott in the early 1970s. In 1988, Sanders married Jane O’Meara Driscoll, a social worker who later became president of Burlington College from 2004 to 2011. Jane Sanders has been his partner in life and his most trusted political adviser throughout his political ascent. Together they have a stepdaughter, Carina Driscoll, Jane’s daughter from a previous relationship.
Sanders was raised in the Jewish tradition but has described himself as not particularly religious, stating in interviews that his spirituality is expressed through a commitment to social justice and the wellbeing of others — a secular humanist perspective. He grew up speaking some Yiddish with his family. He has cited the legacy of the Holocaust as a formative influence on his worldview.
Sanders lives modestly by the standards of U.S. senators. He is known for his utilitarian approach to personal spending and his consistent wardrobe — a fact that became the subject of widespread cultural commentary during his presidential campaigns, including the widely-shared photograph of him wearing mittens at President Biden’s January 2021 inauguration, which spawned a viral meme.
Bernie Sanders’ net worth is estimated at approximately $3 million as of 2026, according to sources including Newsweek. His wealth comes from his Senate salary of $174,000 per year, book royalties (including over $390,000 in a single year during his presidential campaign era), and three real estate properties. Despite his decades in Congress, Sanders has consistently been among the less wealthy members of the Senate.
Sanders has published multiple books, with his most financially significant being Our Revolution (2016), released during his first presidential campaign. In 2018, he disclosed over $390,000 in book royalties in his tax returns — his highest single year. His most recent book, It’s OK to Be Angry About Capitalism (2023), was also a bestseller. Total book income over his career is estimated in the low millions.
Yes. Sanders was re-elected to the U.S. Senate from Vermont in November 2024 and his current term runs through January 2031. He remains one of the most active senators, introducing major legislation including the Make Billionaires Pay Their Fair Share Act in March 2026 and conducting his “Fighting Oligarchy Tour” of town hall events across the country.
Bernie Sanders was born on September 8, 1941, in Brooklyn, New York City. As of March 2026, he is 84 years old, making him one of the oldest sitting members of the United States Senate. He was raised in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn and attended Brooklyn College before transferring to the University of Chicago.
Bernie Sanders stands 6 feet tall (183 cm). His tall, somewhat disheveled appearance — coupled with his uncompromising progressive rhetoric and distinctive hand gestures — have made him one of the most recognizable and meme-able politicians in American history.
Bernie Sanders married Jane O’Meara in 1988; it is his second marriage (he was previously married to Deborah Shiling in 1964, which ended in divorce in 1966). Jane O’Meara Sanders holds a PhD in transformative education and served as President of Burlington College from 2004 to 2011. The couple have been married for over 37 years and Jane has been a key part of Bernie’s political campaigns.
Bernie Sanders has four children he considers his own: his biological son Levi Sanders (born 1969, age 56) from a relationship with Susan Campbell Mott, and three stepchildren from his marriage to Jane — Heather Titus (born 1971, age 54), Carina Driscoll (born 1974, age 51), and David Driscoll (born 1975, age 50). Bernie has spoken warmly about all four children and is a grandfather to several grandchildren.
Bernie Sanders maintains three properties: his primary residence is in the New North End neighborhood of Burlington, Vermont (valued around $741,000), a row house on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. (purchased for $489,000 in 2007, now estimated around $700,000), and a summer lakefront home in North Hero, Vermont, which he and Jane purchased for $575,000 in 2016. The Vermont summer home has attracted some criticism given his democratic socialist political platform.
As a United States Senator, Bernie Sanders earns a base salary of $174,000 per year. Beyond his Senate salary, he has earned substantial royalties from his best-selling books, including Our Revolution, Where We Go from Here, and It’s OK to Be Angry About Capitalism, with his book income pushing him into millionaire status in recent years.