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Claim about AOC being worth $29 million is still Pants on Fire!
If Your Time is short
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There’s no evidence that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., is worth $29 million.
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Her yearly congressional salary is $174,000. A financial disclosure report for 2023 lists four assets worth $3,004 to $46,000 and student loan liabilities from $15,001 to $50,000.
Has Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., used her political power to get rich since she joined Congress in 2019?
That is what some social media users are saying in a persistent, but baseless, claim about her finances.
"AOC is worth 29 Million dollars! How did that happen, on $174,000 per year?" an Oct. 30 Threads post said.
The claim has circulated online since at least 2022, with some attributing it to Forbes magazine. Reuters fact-checkers in 2022 said a Forbes spokesperson said the magazine didn’t report the $29 million figure. Ocasio-Cortez’s website links to the Reuters article to debunk the claim.
PolitiFact debunked the $29 million claim in a June 2023 Pants on Fire! fact-check based on her most recent yearly financial disclosure report that all members of Congress must file. We also rejected a 2021 claim that Ocasio-Cortez was already a millionaire after two years in office.
Although the $29 million claim has been repeatedly debunked by fact-checkers, versions of it continue to surface on social media.
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Ocasio-Cortez’s office did not immediately return a request for comment, but her most recent financial disclosure report — filed Aug. 13 and covering 2023 — shows the representative is nowhere close to being worth $29 million.
She reported four assets worth $3,004 to $46,000. The report listed two bank accounts, a brokerage account and a 401(k) plan. That’s less than the $4,004 to $60,000 range for the same four assets she reported for 2022.
Her 2023 report also listed student loan liabilities from $15,001 to $50,000.
Ocasio-Cortez’s filings for 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 show fairly consistent numbers for her assets and liabilities.
The yearly salary for most members of Congress is $174,000, although the House speaker, majority and minority leaders and the Senate president pro tempore make more. The salaries have remained unchanged since 2009, the Congressional Research Service said in June.
There’s no publicly available evidence that Ocasio-Cortez has turned her congressional salary into $29 million. We rate the claim Pants on Fire!
Our Sources
Threads post, Oct. 30, 2024 (archived)
Clerk of the House of Representatives, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez financial disclosure report for the year 2023, filed Aug. 13, 2024
Clerk of the House of Representatives, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez financial disclosure report for the year 2022, filed Aug. 13, 2023
Clerk of the House of Representatives, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez financial disclosure report for the year 2021, filed Sept. 12, 2022
Clerk of the House of Representatives, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez financial disclosure report for the year 2020, filed Aug. 13, 2021
Clerk of the House of Representatives, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez financial disclosure report for the year 2019, filed Sept. 12, 2020
Clerk of the House of Representatives, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez financial disclosure report for the year 2018, filed May 15, 2019
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Fact Check: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez does NOT have a net worth of $29 million, accessed Oct. 30, 2024
PolitiFact, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez isn't worth $29 million. Her financial disclosure shows a far lower figure., April 3, 2023
Congressional Research Service, Congressional Salaries and Allowances: In Brief, June 27, 2024
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Claim about AOC being worth $29 million is still Pants on Fire!
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