There have been 45 different people who have served as president of the United States, across 47 separate presidencies.

Quick Scoop

When people ask “how many presidents have there been,” they sometimes mean different things. The key twist is that Grover Cleveland and Donald Trump each served nonconsecutive terms.

The core numbers

  • 45 individuals have held the office of president.
  • 47 presidencies (terms) have occurred because:
    • Grover Cleveland is counted as both the 22nd and 24th president.
* Donald Trump is counted as the 45th and 47th president after being reelected in 2024 and inaugurated again in 2025.

So if you’re counting people: 45.
If you’re counting presidencies (the numbered slots): 47.

Why the counting gets confusing

A typical forum debate goes like this: one person counts the list of names and gets 45 “dudes,” another looks at the numbered presidencies and sees 47. Both feel certain they know how to count.

  • Cleveland’s two nonconsecutive terms broke the “1 president = 1 number” pattern.
  • Trump’s second, nonconsecutive term created another extra numbered presidency without adding a new person to the list.
  • Major reference sites still list the same sequence of presidents, but now show Trump again as the 47th.

In forum threads, you’ll often see comments like “There are 45 people but 47 presidencies—Cleveland and Trump ruined the clean numbering.”

Mini timeline snapshot

  • First president: George Washington (took office in 1789).
  • Early example of nonconsecutive service: Grover Cleveland, 1885–1889 and 1893–1897.
  • Recent nonconsecutive case: Donald Trump, 2017–2021 and again from 2025 onward.

Table: People vs presidencies

[1] [1]
What you count Number Notes
Individual presidents 45 From George Washington to Donald Trump, each person only counted once.
Presidencies (numbered offices) 47 Grover Cleveland and Donald Trump each have two nonconsecutive terms and two numbers.

TL;DR

  • If someone asks “how many presidents have there been”: 45 people.
  • If they’re thinking of the numbered list up to the current presidency: 47 presidencies.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.