Rumors of AOC's Staggeringly High Net Worth Couldn't be More Inaccurate
Rumors placed her net worth at over $29 million, which is laughably untrue.
Published Aug. 20 2024, 1:52 p.m. ET
Throughout her entire political career, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has tried to be a voice of the people in U.S. Congress. Many know her as a left-wing politician who often tries to hold many of her colleagues accountable for their outdated and misinformed policies and decision-making. She's served as the U.S. representative for New York's 14th congressional district since 2019 and is thus far the youngest woman to have been elected to the position.
While she's received praise among liberals for her progressive platform and staunch advocacy, she's also earned the ire of right-wing radicals and politicians. On the first night of the 2024 DNC, she was the subject of several racist attacks related to her endorsement of Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris.
On the other side of the spectrum, her net worth has been a point of contention in the past. Rumors once abounded, but here's what we know for sure about AOC's net worth.
What is AOC's net worth? She is *not* a millionaire, despite what the internet may tell you.
As recently as 2022, AOC's net worth has been wildly exaggerated by folks on the internet. Thanks to a now-deleted misreport by Forbes, many made the wild and baseless assumption that she was worth over $29 million, despite the average annual salary for a U.S. representative being only $175,000 a year as of this writing. Many used these rumors to criticize her standing, arguing that she was too privileged to be schooling her older colleagues on paying off expensive and often debilitating student loans in the United States.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
US Representative
Net worth: $125,000
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) is a U.S. representative for New York's 14th congressional district and is the youngest woman to have taken office in the position. She has been elected and reelected time and time again in subsequent general elections.
Birth Place: New York City, NY.
Birth Date: Oct. 13, 1989
Education: Boston University
One Facebook user wrote, "You better believe she can pay off her own damn student loan," based on those rumors.
However, the most rudimentary of online fact-checking reveals an entirely different story. In fact, her own official website has had to debunk these rumors. A report by Reuters revealed that in 2021, she had somewhere between $3,003 and $45,000 in assets, which included her 401k. The report also showed that she owed at least $15,000 in student loans at the time of filing.
Forbes would later (and more accurately) report in 2024 that AOC's net worth stands closer to $125,000, a far cry from the number that was originally stated.
This isn't even the first time AOC's financial status has been brought into question. Her attendance at the 2021 Met Gala led many to believe that she was rich or lucrative enough to have earned an invite. In reality, she only earned $174,000 annually at the time. This was reportedly also $30,000 less than she was making before being elected.
As of this writing, she continues to rally for the disenfranchised in the United States.
