How old was Obama when he became president?

It’s hard to believe it’s only been less than a decade since former president Barack Obama left the White House and we were left with a “mean-spirited, demented fool” for president. Looking at the political climate now as compared to then — I mean, look at what counted as a scandal during Obama’s presidency and then compare that to Trump’s 34 felony counts — it almost feels like a lifetime ago.

Obama’s time in the White House was historic. Not only was he the first African-American president, he heralded live-saving legislature like the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, and oversaw the federalization of same-sex marriage. After his inauguration, he also joined one of the most exclusive clubs in the nation: presidents who took office before they turned 50.

Barack Obama’s age when he became president, explained

Obama memorably became president at the age of 47. It’s strange to think about given how our last two presidents have been pushing Octogenarian status, but a U.S. citizen can become president as young as 35. No president has been quite that young yet (Theodore Roosevelt was the youngest at 42), but Obama is still one of the youngest to be elected commander-in-chief. 

Born on Aug. 4, 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii, Obama enjoyed a global upbringing, living in Seattle, Washington and Jakarta, Indonesia before returning to Hawaii. After graduating high school, he attended Occidental College in Los Angeles before transferring to Columbia University his junior year. There, he studied political science with a specialty in international relations and English literature. After graduating in 1983 with a 3.7 GPA, Obama worked as a community organize for the Developing Communities Project before enrolling at Harvard Law School in 1988 (“What, like it’s hard?”).

While attending Harvard Law, Obama gained national notoriety when he became the first black president of the Harvard Law Review. After graduating, he went on to have a career as a civil rights attorney and a constitutional law professor at University of Chicago. He began his political career when he was elected representative of the 13th district in the Illinois senate in 1996, a position he held until 2004 when he was elected to the U.S. senate. 

Obama successfully ran for president in 2008 and was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States in January 2009. When he left the position in 2017, he was 55 years old — younger than both Donald Trump and Joe Biden were when they took office at 70 and 78, respectively. Now 63 years old, Obama is enjoying his retirement from the White House and embracing his talent for making a killer playlist.