In this list of presidents of the United States by age, the first table charts the age of each president of the United States at the time of presidential inauguration (first inauguration if elected to multiple and consecutive terms), upon leaving office, and at the time of death. Where the president is still living, their lifespan and post-presidency timespan are calculated up to May 10, 2024.
The median age at inauguration of incoming U.S. presidents is 55 years.[1][2]
Article Two of the United States Constitution provides that U.S. presidents must be at least 35 years old at the time of taking office. The youngest person to become U.S. president was Theodore Roosevelt, who, at age 42, succeeded to the office after the assassination of William McKinley.[1] The oldest person inaugurated president was Joe Biden, at age 78.[1][3]
Assassinated at age 46, John F. Kennedy was the youngest president at the end of his tenure, and his lifespan was the shortest of any president.[4][5] At age 50, Theodore Roosevelt was the youngest person to become a former president.[6] The oldest president at the end of his tenure was Ronald Reagan at 77; this distinction will eventually fall upon Joe Biden,[2][3] who is currently 81.
James K. Polk had the shortest retirement of any president, dying of cholera only 103 days after leaving office, at the age of 53 (the youngest president to die of natural causes).[7] Jimmy Carter's retirement, now 43 years, is the longest in American presidential history. Additionally, at age 99, Carter is the oldest of the six living U.S. presidents[2] as well as the nation's longest-lived president.[8] Barack Obama, at age 62, is the youngest living former president.
This is a graphical lifespan timeline of the presidents of the United States. They are listed in order of office, with Grover Cleveland listed in the order of his first presidency.
The following chart shows presidents by their age (living presidents in green), with the years of their presidency in blue. The vertical blue line at 35 years indicates the minimum age to be president.