Donald Trump turns 72 today (June 14). For a president who likes to describe his accomplishments in superlative terms, this is a good thing. Donald Trump is the oldest person ever elected president! Nobody has ever been so old at this point in their presidency!
William Henry Harrison would have turned 72 in his first term, but he caught a cold three weeks after his inauguration (loser!) and died. Ronald Reagan—so smooth, so effective a performer—is the only other president to turn 72 in office, but that didn’t happen until halfway through his first term. Trump has only been president for 17 months. Only 17 months! There are still more than two and a half years to go before the scheduled end of his first term!
We know how Donald Trump compares to other presidents, age-wise. But how does he compare to 72-year-old American men who are not president? Demographic data from the American Community Survey show how the president stacks up. The data is based on interviews from 2012 to 2016.
Donald Trump is white, like 79% of 72-year-old US men. He is not a military veteran—also true for 64% of his peers.
With a bachelor’s degree from Wharton School of Business, he has more education than about 70% of men his age. He is also among a select group of nearly 20% of men his age who are still working. At $400,000 per year, his presidential salary is far above the the $29,000 annual median wage income of his 72-year-old peers.
Like most men his age, Donald Trump is married.
But here is another place where Trump stands out: He has had more wives (three) than 91% of his 72-year-old American male counterparts—and 100% of his presidential predecessors.