President Joe Biden marks two years in office on Friday. It represents 730 days since his inauguration – and many other numbers as well.
The story of the first half of Biden’s term, at least by the numbers, is a mixed bag. It includes a long-sought $1 trillion bill to fix bridges, roads and other infrastructure, but also an unexpected inflationary milestone. There have been many COVID-19 vaccinations, but nearly 680,000 people have died from the disease. Biden has visited thirteen states and spent all or part of nearly 200 days in his home state of Delaware.
Here’s a look at some of the revealing data points at the two-year mark for the 46th president:
6.5%: Annual inflation remains very high, but has eased after hitting a four-decade high of 9.1% in June.
10.46 million: The latest Labor Department figures show more than 10 million job openings in the US, nearly 1.8 jobs for every unemployed person. The unemployment rate is at 3.5%, corresponding to a 53-year low. Zero recessions – so far.
$31.38 trillion: The federal debt was $27.6 trillion when Biden took office.
$24.2 billion: The amount of US security aid committed to Ukraine since the Russian invasion nearly 11 months ago.
38: A number of High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, known as HIMARS, are committed to being delivered to Ukraine. A gamechanger, allowing Ukrainian troops to fire at Russian targets from afar, then drive away before the artillery can target them.
2.38 million: During the 12 months ending September 30, 2022, Customs and Border Protection reported stopping migrants at the US border nearly 2.4 million times, a record surge driven by sharp increases in Venezuelan, Cuban and Nicaraguan immigration. The previous highest value was 1.66 million in 2021.
97: Confirming Biden’s picks to the federal bench, including Supreme Court Justice Kentanji Brown Jackson, surpasses two previous presidents.
89: The president has granted nine pardons and 80 commutations, more than his predecessor. Donald Trump has been given 11 this time, George W. Bush seven. Barack Obama did not take clemency measures in the first two years.
$3.36: The average price per gallon paid by American motorists at the pump has fallen since a peak of $5.02 per gallon in June. Motorists paid an average of $2.39 per gallon the week Biden took office.
666 million: Number of COVID-19 vaccines given to Americans under Biden. Twenty million had received the jab before Biden took office. The vaccine was not approved until late in the Trump presidency.
15.9%: Percentage of Americans 5 and older who have received bivalent vaccines.
680,000: Record number of deaths from the coronavirus pandemic during Biden’s term. The worst pandemic in more than a century has killed more than 400,000 Americans since Biden’s inauguration and has claimed a total of 1.1 million since March 2020.
36: Biden has traveled across the country to promote his agenda, but he still has to cross Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia and Wyoming.
197: There is no place like home. The president spent all or part of 197 days in his home state of Delaware, traveling most weekends to his home near Wilmington or his vacation home in Rehoboth Beach, according to an AP tally. Beyond weekend visits, he also makes quick trips to funerals, policy events and to vote in Democratic primaries.
6: Biden has spoken with Chinese President Xi Jinping three and a half times since the beginning of his term. Everything is just one phone or video call away. They met directly on the sidelines of the summit in Indonesia in November.
22: At a minimum, Biden has publicly reminisced about the intimate conversations he had with Xi during a visit to China when Biden was vice president. Biden said Xi asked him to define America and he answered with one word: Possible. Biden even managed to make an anecdote during this week’s celebration for the NBA champion Golden State Warriors.
21: Biden held fewer solo or joint news conferences than his three most recent predecessors during the same time in the presidency.
$1 trillion: The amount allocated for roads, bridges, ports and more in Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure legislation is perhaps the most significant legislative achievement of his first two years in office.
$40 billion: The amount in the infrastructure bill is dedicated to repairing and rebuilding the nation’s bridges, one of the largest dedicated investments in bridges since the construction of the Eisenhower-era interstate highway system.
43,000: A number of bridges in the US are considered poor and in need of repair, according to the White House.
1: The president’s only state dinner to date honors French President Emmanuel Macron. Biden held back some of the traditional pomp — and partying — at the White House during his first run as president due to concerns about COVID-19.
0: None of Biden’s original Cabinet appointees left the administration.
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