Rolling in cash, the wealthiest statesmen and women in the US boast enviable real estate portfolios that a regular elected official could only dream of, with Donald Trump's Florida estate, Governer JB Pritzker's mansion in Chicago, and Michael Bloomberg's Manhattan townhouse no doubt topping many a wishlist. See for yourself what all the fuss is about and step inside the deluxe private residences of the country's most moneyed polticians, past and present.

Since leaving office in 2017, Barack Obama has supplemented his six-figure presidential pension very nicely indeed, raking in millions from mega-lucrative book deals and speaking engagements – the 44th president reportedly earns up to $600,000 (£436k) per speech. Needless to say, this bumper income has enabled him to amass some seriously impressive real estate holdings.

Together with his wife Michelle Obama, the ex POTUS snapped up an $8.1 million (£6m) mansion in DC's upscale Kalorama neighbourhood not long after vacating the White House in 2017. Two years later, the political power couple bagged this idyllic 29-acre estate in Martha's Vineyard, the exclusive Massachusetts island enclave that has long been a magnet for America's elite.

Joining an illustrious list of fellow former presidents and first ladies, celebrities, and billionaires who've owned vacation homes on the island, the Obamas parted with $11.75 million (£9m) to get their hands on the dream waterfront property, which like the Kalorama house, they rented for a time before they bought.  

Designed by San Francisco's Taylor Lombardo Architects, the 6,892-square-foot house was built in 2001. Rustic with a modern edge, the seven-bedroom, eight-and-a-half-bathroom property has more than its fair share of wow factor highlights including a gorgeous pool and this minimalist galleried living room, complete with an enormous stone fireplace. 

The erstwhile president raised eyebrows last month when he hosted his 60th birthday bash at the estate, attracting criticism for holding the event amid a surge in COVID cases. The party, which was attended by the likes of Oprah, Beyoncé, and Tom Hanks, was however scaled back from a reported 500 guests to 200, plus each and every invitee was tested beforehand for the virus.

Likewise, the lion's share of the Clintons' wealth was acquired after Bill left office. Saddled with huge legal expenses following the Lewinsky scandal and subsequent impeachment trial, the pair were said to be in debt by a painful $16 million (£12m) in the early part of 2001. Luckily, they weren't hard-up for long.

Bill went on to land what was then the biggest book deal of all time and had earned $100 million (£73m) from speaking gigs alone by 2011, with the duo now worth an estimated $120 million (£87m). The former first couple's primary home is this Dutch Colonial farmhouse in Chappaqua, New York, which they purchased in 1999 for $1.7 million (£1.2m).

Arranged over three floors, the charming clapboard property dates from the early 1900s and comprises 11 rooms, including five bedrooms and four bathrooms, along with a pool and barn conversion that houses the duo's Secret Service security detail.

The Clintons treated Oprah to a tour of the 5,300-square-foot farmhouse back in 2004. This living room, which looks out on to the garden, is tastefully decorated with a floral pattern sofa, contrasting nicely with checked and plain armchairs arranged around a coffee table covered in books and ornamental knick-knacks.

After buying the three-bedroom house next door in 2016 for $1.16 million (£845k), the Clintons now have something of a compound, but this double-home property isn't the only one the couple owns. Other abodes in the pair's real estate portfolio include a DC mansion and penthouse-like apartment atop Bill's presidential library in Little Rock. 

America's richest senator, Mitt Romney made his money in private equity, having headed Boston's Bain Capital for 15 years before embarking on a political career. The junior senator for Utah, who served as the 70th governor of Massachusetts and ran for president in 2008 and 2012, has been in possession of some jaw-dropping properties over the years, from oceanfront estates to mountain retreats.

Among the most impressive is this sensational ski lodge in Park City, Utah, which Romney himself helped to design. Custom-built for the veteran politician in 1999, the six-bedroom, nine-bathroom log mansion sprawls over 12,063 square feet and sits in 16.5 acres of pristine forest within a community of just 12 similarly swish homes.

Romney offloaded the 'mountain modern' property in 2009 for around $5 million (£4m) and threw in the contents too, including unique furniture and artworks, which the current owners Hal and Corinne Prewitt have kept, meaning the manse looks much like it did when the seasoned statesman owned it. That said, the Prewitts have spent a fortune upgrading the home.

Their many extravagant additions range from a fabulous chef's kitchen to outdoor decks, fire pits, and the piece-de-resistance, a 20-person hot tub. This explains the property's hefty asking price: Romney's former mountain retreat was put up for sale last year for an eye-opening $15.75 million (£11m).

The Prewitts have nothing but praise for Romney, but his neighbours in San Diego weren't quite so complimentary. The senior politician drew their ire by knocking down his existing oceanfront property in the city and erecting a mega-mansion in its place. It sold in the summer to a scientist and venture capitalist for $23.5 million (£11m).

A Big Oil bigwig with a suitably big bank balance, centimillionaire Rex Tillerson was chairman and CEO of Exxon Mobil for 11 years before he was tapped by President Trump in February 2017 to be secretary of state. The pair had major personality and policy clashes and just 14 months into the role Tillerson was unceremoniously fired by tweet and replaced by Mike Pompeo.

The top energy exec turned politician then quit DC and returned to his native Texas where he purchased an enormous mansion in Vaquero, one of the state's most prestigious gated communities. As Forbes puts it, Tillerson “likes to buy big, and buy from celebrities” and he definitely didn't disappoint with this latest real estate acquisition. 

The former home of baseball star Vernon Wells, the five-bedroom, seven-bathroom manse spans a whopping 16,238 square feet. Tillerson is said to have paid around $6.5 million (£5m) for the expansive home, which was built for the retired major leaguer in 2010. Its most attractive features include this formal living room, with its stone fireplace, marble floor, and arched window.

The mansion also encompasses a columned dining room, informal family room, and wood-panelled man cave decked out with a louche bar, along with regular and catering kitchens and plenty of high-end amenities, from an elegant movie theatre and climate-controlled wine room to a pro-athlete gym, massage, sauna, and steam rooms, and even a hair salon and elevator.

The master suite has handsome columns, its own roof terrace, a coffee bar and humongous walk-in closet, not to mention a bathroom with a stone-clad spa tub. Outside, there's a whole two acres of grounds, which are similarly amenity heavy, with a 90,000-gallon pool and swim-up bar, sports court, and trout-filled fishing lake the main attractions.

The sole billionaire in West Virginia at the time, Jim Justice was elected governor of the state in 2016. After running as a Democrat, he defected to the Republican Party after several months in office but managed to hold on to power in the 2020 election. Justice's fortune, which derives from the declining coal industry, has plummeted over the past few years.

Still, the fossil fuel tycoon remains one of the richest governors of all time. Real estate-wise, Justice has owned a number of grand properties, including the historic 1,322-acre Flowerdew Hundred Estate in Hopewell, West Virginia, which dates all the way back to 1618. It was put on the market in 2017 for $12.2 million (£8.8m).

While the main plantation home looks historic, it's actually a recent addition. Built in the 1990s, the traditionally styled clapboard mansion comes in at a super-spacious 14,000 square feet, and has 12 bedrooms and a master suite, together with nine full and three half bathrooms, formal and informal living rooms, a dining room, pool room, kitchen with butler pantry, and more.

Finished to an exceptionally high standard. the rooms feature fine wall panelling, ornate plasterwork, and hardwood flooring. They make for the perfect place to entertain VIP guests given their grandeur – the dining room's 14-seater table, crystal chandeliers, and quality artworks give it an almost regal vibe. 

The master suite is equally majestic. Incidentally, Justice got into hot water for refusing to move in to the official governor's residence in Charleston, opting instead to live in his primary home in Lewisburg, which contravenes the West Virginian constitution. A protracted legal case ensued, and the politician finally agreed to decamp to Charleston in March.

Appointed commerce secretary in 2017 by President Trump, private equity mogul Wilbur Ross got on better with his boss and was able to avoid the chopping block through to the bitter end. Following his appointment, Ross was obliged to submit a financial disclosure report, which showed he'd been overinflating his net worth to Forbes for years, a highly embarrassing disclosure.

Ross has a fortune in the hundreds of millions rather than the billions, which nevertheless puts him among the richest US politicians of all time. Fittingly since he aspires to a 10-figure net worth, Ross owned a 5,573-square-foot penthouse in the Briarcliff building on Manhattan's Billionaires' Row, which served as his primary residence for a decade.

Purchased from billionaire Andrew Farkas in 2007 for $18 million (£13m), the prime five-bedroom, five-and-a-half-bathroom property was decorated in a “European” style and absolutely screamed extreme wealth. The entry hall for example was adorned with several prized Magritte paintings – Ross owns 25 iconic works by the surrealist artist worth around $100 million (£72m).

The most imposing space in the penthouse, the living room impresses big-time with a double-height vaulted ceiling and massive French windows. The room, which looks out to a large wraparound terrace planted with lush greenery, was given a very fancy makeover by Ross, who opted for chintzy sofas, Louis XVI-style armchairs, a Venetian glass mirror, and other classy pieces.

Additional key selling points include the library, capacious dining room (which seats 30), as well as the catering kitchen loaded with the latest high-end gadgets, the spa-like bathrooms, and smart home connectivity throughout. Despite its many attributes, the apartment sold in 2017 for a disappointing $15.95 million (£12m), almost two million less than what Ross paid for it in 2007.

Plucked by President Trump in 2017 for education secretary despite having no relevant experience, Betsy DeVos courted controversy with her frequent gaffes, budget cuts, zeal for polarizing charter schools, and push for the reopening of public schools during the pandemic. The richest (but also least popular) Trump cabinet member, she resigned following January's attack on the Capitol.

The daughter of a billionaire industrialist, DeVos married into extreme wealth to boot, and together with her husband Dick owns 12% of marketing giant Amway, along with other big-money assets like the Orlando Magic basketball team. As you might imagine, the DeVoses have the deeds to a number of lavish properties, including this leviathan summer vacation home on Michigan's Lake Macatawa.

The nautical-themed property, which totals 22,000 square feet, has been described by architecture critic and blogger Kate Wagner as a “beached whale”, while Buzzfeed has called it “the McMansion from hell... like a real-life house from the Life board game on steroids.” Designed in an OTT shingle style, the DeVoses built the vast home, the biggest in the area, back in 2010.

The “summer monstrosity”, as another critic dubs it, is said to have 13 porches, 10 bathrooms, three kitchens and eight dishwashers, but just three bedrooms, which seems hard to believe given its immensity. Architecture aficionados are more or less united in their loathing of the supersized vacation home, but the interiors aren't all that bad to be fair.

The main living area is a cavernous space that must be great for entertaining, and though it resembles the sort of thing you might expect to see in a hotel lobby, the decor is pretty tasteful. In addition to the colossal Lake Macatawa property, the DeVoses have a vacation home in Vero, Florida, which they presumably escape to in the winter months.

Before he entered politics, billionaire Bill Haslam had a stint as president of one of his family's businesses, the Pilot Flying J truckstop chain founded by his father Jim and which is now part-owned by Berkshire Hathaway. The GOP politician was elected mayor of Knoxville in 2003 and went on to serve as Tennessee governor from 2010 to 2019.

During his time as Knoxville mayor and six years as governor of Tennessee, Haslam resided in this 7,122-square-foot home in one of Knoxville's most upscale neighbourhoods. The five-bedroom, seven-bathroom home was designed by eminent architectural firm Barber-McMurry and built in 1925.

Haslam and his wife Crissy made substantial changes to the property when they lived there, working with local architect Bill Andrews on the remodel, but were careful to preserve the home's historic character, retaining its many attractive original features, which include sturdy exposed wood beams and wonderful fireplaces.

One of the house's standouts is this Victorian-inspired glass conservatory, which makes for the ideal spot to relax on a warm sunny day. And while traditional in style, the property is kitted out with all mod cons, from an exercise room and media centre to a kitchen packed with cutting-edge appliances.

The house sits on three lots totalling 2.2 acres, ample space for the property's saltwater pool, dinky outhouse, and beautifully tended garden. Haslam ended up selling the abode in 2017 for just under $2.1 million (£1.5m), and relocated to the home next to the Tennessee River in Knoxville where he lived as a teenager.

After handing back the keys to the White House in January, America's only billionaire president moved to the magnificent Mar-a-Lago, his 126-room, 62,500-square-foot beach palace in Palm Beach, Florida. The historic mansion became Trump's primary residence in 2019. It was valued by Forbes at $160 million (£116m) the previous year.

Trump snagged the 1920s Spanish-Moorish property in 1985 for a song, paying just $8 million (£6m) for the estate and all its contents. Millions were pumped into an extensive renovation, a sizable chunk of which was spent on the construction of a 20,000-square-foot Louis XIV-style ballroom.

The ballroom is said to have been decorated with a staggering $7 million (£5m) worth of gold leaf, echoing the sumptuous living room, which features a ceiling based on the glorious 'Thousand Wing Ceiling' in Venice's Accademia. Rumour has it America's entire supplies of gold leaf were exhausted gilding the place back in the early 1920s.

Since much of the estate functions as an ultra-exclusive member's club, the ex-president, his wife Melania, and their son Barron live in the lavishly appointed owner's suite. It comprises the so-called Versailles master bedroom, an additional bedroom, the Pine and Louis XV halls, living rooms, bathrooms, and offices.

Melania reportedly oversaw a revamp of the suite in readiness for the family's move there and though zero images of the redecorated property have been released, this photo from the early 1990s of the Versailles master bedroom is very much in keeping with the signature Trump aesthetic, which is anything but modest and understated.

A scion of a fabulously wealthy Chicago-based family that founded the Hyatt Hotels Corporation, Penny Pritzker served as commerce secretary from 2013 to 2017. The Obama appointee, who has a background in business and philanthropy, is worth $3.1 billion (£2.2m) according to Forbes, which makes her the richest female politician of all time.

Pritzker's primary residence is Orchard East, a Modernist masterpiece in Chicago's upmarket Lincoln Park neighbourhood. It's not surprising that the Democratic politician has such an exquisitely designed home; after all, her grandfather established the Pritzker Prize For Architecture - known as architecture's equivalent to the Nobel Prize - back in 1979.

Orchard East missed out on that honour, but did win a clutch of other prestigious awards. The handiwork of the Windy City's Wheeler Kearns Architects, the sleek, contemporary mansion covers four lots spanning 8,422 square feet, with the land alone costing an estimated $7 million (£5m). Completed in 2003 at a reported cost of $3.4 million (£2m), it features 7.5 bedrooms and rambling open-concept living spaces.

Although the design of the mansion is starkly Modernist, the architect's brief was to create a warm, intimate home, and the overall effect is welcoming and comfy rather than cold and clinical. Floor-to-ceiling windows that fully open abound in the stylish single-level home. This creates a fusion between the interior and exterior spaces, with the transition between the indoors and outdoors totally seamless.

The mansion incorporates numerous other clever architectural touches. By way of example, the reflecting pools that surround the property - together with the series of strategically placed light and air 'courts' - bounce light into the interior, brightening up the inner spaces even on dull, overcast days.

Staying with the powerful Pritzker family, Penny's brother JB is America's wealthiest serving politician. The Democratic public servant was elected 43rd governor of Illinois in 2018, having previously been at the helm of the clan's private equity firm. Richer than his sister, his net worth is slated at $3.6 billion (£2.6bn).

The official Illinois Governor's Mansion, a splendid Italianate pile in the state capital of Springfield, is Pritzker's principal residence while in office, but his personal home in Chicago is equally resplendent. Like the Governor's Mansion, the Beaux Arts beauty in the posh Gold Coast district dates from the 19th century and is considered one of the city's finest pads.

Pritzker bought the 20,000-square-foot, 20-room mansion in 2006, not long after it had undergone a meticulous restoration. All in all, the future governor paid $14.5 million (£10m), smashing the record for the neighbourhood's most expensive home, which is grand from the get-go, as you can see from the entrance hall and sweeping staircase.

Pritzker is positively spoiled for choice when it comes to rooms in the mansion. Aside from the four generously sized bedrooms and eight bathrooms, the governor has everything from a wood-panelled living room to a library, formal dining room, media room and wine cellar at his disposal.

There's even a ballroom in the glorious mansion and a Roman-style spa featuring a meditation room and glass mosaic pool, which is covered by a gold dome inspired by a Fabergé egg. Other billionaire-worthy amenities include a separate coach house and swish car elevator and supercar garage.

The richest-ever US politician, former Democratic New York City mayor and presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg has racked up a fortune of $59 billion (£42.7bn) thanks to the eponymous media and financial information company he founded in 1981, which is virtually a household name these days. 

The Big Apple's mayor from 2002 to 2013 chose to live in his primary personal residence on Manhattan's Upper East Side instead of the official Gracie Mansion. Bloomberg restored the mayoral digs and opened the private quarters to the public with a view to creating a 'people's mansion'.

His five-story double-wide townhouse encompasses 12,500 square feet. Bloomberg is said to have bought the property for $3.5 million (£2.5m) in 1986. It's clearly worth significantly more than that these days. In 2011, photos of the interiors appeared on the internet via interior design firm Drake Design Associates, with this one showing the ex-mayor's penchant for animal print and preference for traditional 'Baronial' design.

As a billionaire, Bloomberg can afford to splash out on furnishing his homes. The Georgian Chippendale couch in this shot is worth a gasp-inducing million dollars, while the painting, a Portrait of Mary, Mrs Sullivan by 18th-century English artist George Romney (a distant relation of Mitt Romney believe it or not) was reportedly bought at auction in 2002 for $764,000 (£552k).

Even the sconces dotted around the house are worth in the region of $40,000 (£29k) each. Other coveted pieces include a $90,000 (£65k) English Regency table and Dutch Old Master painting. The townhouse is only one of many opulent properties Bloomberg owns, with his real estate portfolio extending to homes in the Hamptons, Florida, Bermuda, London, and more. And with his money, who can blame him?

Loved this? Follow us on Facebook for more insider house tours of the world's richest homeowners