George Washington spent most of his working life as a land surveyor , a plantation owner (planter), a military officer, and later a statesman and president.

Early working life

As a teenager, Washington’s first real career was as a professional land surveyor in colonial Virginia, measuring and mapping frontier tracts for pay.

This work gave him steady income, social connections with powerful Virginians, and chances to acquire western land for himself.

Planter and landowner

By his twenties, Washington had become a Virginia planter managing large tobacco and later wheat plantations, including Mount Vernon, worked by enslaved laborers.

His income came mainly from landholdings, agriculture, and related business dealings rather than a modern “salary job.”

Soldier and military officer

Washington also made a living for periods of his life as a paid military officer.

He served first in the Virginia militia during the French and Indian War and later as commander in chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolution, roles that brought him pay, rations, and immense prestige.

Statesman and president

After the war, Washington earned money from his estates while serving as a leading political figure in the new United States.

As the first president, he received a government salary, but even then his identity and financial base remained that of a wealthy planter and landowner rather than a career politician in the modern sense.

TL;DR: When asking “what did George Washington do for a living,” the best short answer is: surveyor in his youth, then lifelong plantation owner and land investor, with major chapters as a professional soldier and eventually paid president of the United States.

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