The New York Times reports that in 1985 Barack Obama accepted a job as a community organizer in Chicago “for a starting salary of $10,000 a year, plus $2,000 to buy a car.” That amount appears to be incorrect. It might seem silly to quibble over whether Obama made an extra couple of grand, but he frequently cites his work as a community organizer–and his low salary–as proof of his devotion to public service. In May of 2008, Obama told the graduating class at Wesleyan University that he was offered “$12,000 a year, plus $2,000 for an old, beat-up car.” But in 2006, he told a progressive student conference that he was offered the “lordly sum of $12,000 a year, plus $1,000 to buy a car.” And in 2007 The Nation reported that Obama made $15,000 working his community organizing gig. The low figure cited by the Times is found in Obama’s memoir Dreams from My Father. It’s also worth pointing out that in inflation adjusted dollars, $12,000 in 1985 translates into about $24,000 today, while $14,000 equals over $28,000. The former salary would require a very tight budget, but the latter is more than enough for a single adult to live comfortably. And as Byron York reported, Obama may not have had to live on that starting salary for more than a few months:
