Trump's 291 executive orders already match Bush's eight-year total, but the pace has slowed sharply

What the record shows

The Federal Register lists 291 numbered executive orders signed by President Trump since his second inauguration on January 20, 2025. The first, EO 14147, was signed on inauguration day, one of 26 orders signed that day alone. The most recent published order is EO 14437, "Advancing Women's Health To Improve Outcomes in All Phases of Life," signed on October 19, 2026 and published on October 22.

That total already equals the 291 orders George W. Bush signed across two full terms from 2001 to 2009, and it exceeds the 276 signed by Barack Obama from 2009 to 2017. Trump's first term produced 220 orders and Joe Biden's single term produced 162.

Calendar 2025 had 238 executive orders, counting 13 that Biden signed before leaving office, which is the highest annual total in the Federal Register's online record going back to 1994. The next highest years in that record are 2021 with 91 and 2020 with 69.

How fast it is moving now

Most of the second-term total was front-loaded. Trump signed 143 orders in his first 100 days and 171 in his first six months, with 46 in January 2025 alone. Monthly output fell to single digits by late 2025, with one order in October 2025, seven in November and eight in December.

In 2026 to date, the White House has issued 66 orders, including 11 in September and three so far in October. Between April 27 and October 27, 2026 there were 36. That is still far more than recent full years under Biden: 29 in 2022, 24 in 2023 and 19 in 2024.

How it compares at the same point

Measured at the same stage, 645 days after inauguration, the gap with predecessors is wide. Biden had signed 104 orders by October 27, 2022, Trump's first term had 85 by October 27, 2018, Bush 78 by October 27, 2002, and Obama 67 by October 27, 2010. Second terms usually run slower: Bush had 43 and Obama 46 at the equivalent point of their second terms.

Executive orders are a rough gauge of presidential activity. Some create programs or agencies, while others amend earlier orders or set holiday closures, so a count says more about how the White House chooses to act than about the scale of any single policy.

About the data

Counts come from the Federal Register API run by the Office of the Federal Register at the National Archives, using the signing date of each numbered executive order. Corrections, republications and unnumbered presidential documents are excluded, so each order is counted once. Orders signed but not yet published in the Federal Register do not appear until publication, which usually follows within a few days.

The full list since 1994, with links to each Federal Register entry, is in the StatecraftWire executive orders tracker, which refreshes daily and offers a CSV download.