The United States has had 45 different presidents, serving in 47 presidencies as of now.

Quick Scoop: why 45 vs 47?

  • George Washington was the 1st president, taking office in 1789.
  • The current president is Donald Trump, serving his second, nonconsecutive term (he is counted as the 45th and 47th presidency).
  • Grover Cleveland also served nonconsecutive terms and is counted as both the 22nd and 24th presidency.

So:

  • Number of individual people who have been president: 45.
  • Number of presidencies (officially numbered terms): 47.

In everyday conversation, when people ask “how many presidents have we had,” they almost always mean how many different people have been president: that’s 45.

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