United States order of precedence

Details as of March 19, 2017

Except as otherwise noted, positions in the list are from the following two sources.

1. President of the United States (Donald Trump)
2. Vice President of the United States (Mike Pence)
3. Governor (of the state or territory in which the event is held)
4. Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives (Paul Ryan)
5. Chief Justice of the United States (John Roberts)
6. Former Presidents or their widows/widowers (ordered by term):
   1. Jimmy Carter (January 20, 1977 – January 20, 1981)
   2. George H. W. Bush (January 20, 1989 – January 20, 1993)
   3. Bill Clinton (January 20, 1993 – January 20, 2001)
   4. George W. Bush (January 20, 2001 – January 20, 2009)
   5. Barack Obama (January 20, 2009 – January 20, 2017)
7. Former Vice Presidents or their widows/widowers (ordered by term; note that George H. W. Bush, who would otherwise appear in this list, already appears above as a former President):
   1. Walter Mondale (January 20, 1977 – January 20, 1981)
   2. Dan Quayle (January 20, 1989 – January 20, 1993)
   3. Al Gore (January 20, 1993 – January 20, 2001)
   4. Dick Cheney (January 20, 2001 – January 20, 2009)
   5. Joe Biden (January 20, 2009 – January 20, 2017)
8. Ambassadors from the United States (at the Ambassador's post)
9. Secretary of State (Rex Tillerson)
10. Ambassadors to the United States (ordered by the presentation of their credentials)
11. Associate Justices of the Supreme Court (ordered by appointment):
    1. Anthony Kennedy (February 18, 1988)
    2. Clarence Thomas (October 18, 1991)
    3. Ruth Bader Ginsburg (August 10, 1993)
    4. Stephen Breyer (August 3, 1994)
    5. Samuel Alito (January 31, 2006)
    6. Sonia Sotomayor (August 8, 2009)
    7. Elena Kagan (August 7, 2010)
    8. Vacant seat
12. Retired Chief Justices of the United States (ordered by appointment; currently none)
13. Retired Associate Justices of the Supreme Court (ordered by appointment):
    1. John Paul Stevens (December 19, 1975 – June 29, 2010)
    2. Sandra Day O'Connor (September 25, 1981 – January 31, 2006)
    3. David Souter (October 9, 1990 – June 29, 2009)
14. Members of the Cabinet (in the order of the creation of the respective departments; note that the Secretary of State already appears above; the creation date for the Secretary of War is used as the date for the Secretary of Defense's position in the precedence. Cabinet-level appointees are ordered by presidential Cabinet precedence.):
    1. Secretary of the Treasury (Steven Mnuchin)
    2. Secretary of Defense (James Mattis)
    3. Attorney General (Jeff Sessions)
    4. Secretary of the Interior (Ryan Zinke)
    5. Secretary of Agriculture (Mike Young) (Acting)
    6. Secretary of Commerce (Wilbur Ross)
    7. Secretary of Labor (Ed Hugler) (Acting)
    8. Secretary of Health and Human Services (Tom Price)
    9. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (Ben Carson)
    10. Secretary of Transportation (Elaine Chao)
    11. Secretary of Energy (Rick Perry)
    12. Secretary of Education (Betsy DeVos)
    13. Secretary of Veterans Affairs (David Shulkin)
    14. Secretary of Homeland Security (John Kelly)
    15. White House Chief of Staff (Reince Priebus)
    16. Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (Scott Pruitt)
    17. Director of the Office of Management and Budget (Mick Mulvaney)
    18. Trade Representative (Stephen Vaughn) (Acting)
    19. Ambassador to the United Nations (Nikki Haley)
    20. Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers (Vacant)
    21. Administrator of the Small Business Administration (Linda McMahon)
15. President pro tempore of the U.S. Senate (Orrin Hatch)
16. Senate Majority Leader (Mitch McConnell)
17. Senate Minority Leader (Chuck Schumer)
18. Senate Majority Whip (John Cornyn)
19. Senate Minority Whip (Dick Durbin)
20. Current U.S. Senators (by seniority; see Seniority in the United States Senate; note that the President pro tempore and Senate leadership appear above.)
21. Current state governors (of states other than that in which the event is held, by date of statehood or ratification of the Constitution):
    1. Governor of Delaware (John Carney)
    2. Governor of Pennsylvania (Tom Wolf)
    3. Governor of New Jersey (Chris Christie)
    4. Governor of Georgia (Nathan Deal)
    5. Governor of Connecticut (Dan Malloy)
    6. Governor of Massachusetts (Charlie Baker)
    7. Governor of Maryland (Larry Hogan)
    8. Governor of South Carolina (Henry McMaster)
    9. Governor of New Hampshire (Chris Sununu)
    10. Governor of Virginia (Terry McAuliffe)
    11. Governor of New York (Andrew Cuomo)
    12. Governor of North Carolina (Roy Cooper)
    13. Governor of Rhode Island (Gina Raimondo)
    14. Governor of Vermont (Phil Scott)
    15. Governor of Kentucky (Matt Bevin)
    16. Governor of Tennessee (Bill Haslam)
    17. Governor of Ohio (John Kasich)
    18. Governor of Louisiana (John B. Edwards)
    19. Governor of Indiana (Eric Holcomb)
    20. Governor of Mississippi (Phil Bryant)
    21. Governor of Illinois (Bruce Rauner)
    22. Governor of Alabama (Robert Bentley)
    23. Governor of Maine (Paul LePage)
    24. Governor of Missouri (Eric Greitens)
    25. Governor of Arkansas (Asa Hutchinson)
    26. Governor of Michigan (Rick Snyder)
    27. Governor of Florida (Rick Scott)
    28. Governor of Texas (Greg Abbott)
    29. Governor of Iowa (Terry Branstad)
    30. Governor of Wisconsin (Scott Walker)
    31. Governor of California (Jerry Brown)
    32. Governor of Minnesota (Mark Dayton)
    33. Governor of Oregon (Kate Brown)
    34. Governor of Kansas (Sam Brownback)
    35. Governor of West Virginia (Jim Justice)
    36. Governor of Nevada (Brian Sandoval)
    37. Governor of Nebraska (Pete Ricketts)
    38. Governor of Colorado (John Hickenlooper)
    39. Governor of North Dakota (Doug Burgum)
    40. Governor of South Dakota (Dennis Daugaard)
    41. Governor of Montana (Steve Bullock)
    42. Governor of Washington (Jay Inslee)
    43. Governor of Idaho (Butch Otter)
    44. Governor of Wyoming (Matt Mead)
    45. Governor of Utah (Gary Herbert)
    46. Governor of Oklahoma (Mary Fallin)
    47. Governor of New Mexico (Susana Martinez)
    48. Governor of Arizona (Doug Ducey)
    49. Governor of Alaska (Bill Walker)
    50. Governor of Hawaii (David Ige)
22. House Majority Leader (Kevin McCarthy)
23. House Minority Leader (Nancy Pelosi)
24. House Majority Whip (Steve Scalise)
25. House Minority Whip (Steny Hoyer)
26. Current members of the U.S. House of Representatives (by seniority; see Seniority in the United States House of Representatives; note that the Speaker of the House and House leadership appear above.)
27. Current Delegates to the House of Representatives (ordered by seniority; if the same, by the territory's date of entering U.S. jurisdiction or alphabetically by territory):
    1. Eleanor Holmes Norton of the District of Columbia (January 3, 1991)
    2. Madeleine Bordallo of Guam (January 3, 2003)
    3. Gregorio Sablan of the Northern Mariana Islands (January 3, 2009)
    4. Amata Coleman Radewagen of American Samoa (January 3, 2015)
    5. Stacey Plaskett of the U. S. Virgin Islands (January 3, 2015)
    6. Jenniffer González of Puerto Rico (January 3, 2017)
28. Current territorial governors (of territories other than that in which the event is held, ordered by territory's date of entering U.S. jurisdiction or alphabetically by territory):
    1. Governor of Puerto Rico (Ricky Rosselló)
    2. Governor of Guam (Eddie Baza Calvo)
    3. Governor of American Samoa (Lolo Moliga)
    4. Governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands (Kenneth Mapp)
    5. Governor of the Northern Mariana Islands (Ralph Torres)
29. Senior Advisors to the President (ordered by appointment):
    1. Jared Kushner (Strategic Planning)
    2. Stephen Miller (Policy)
30. National Security Advisor (H. R. McMaster)
31. Counselor to the President
    1. Steven Bannon
    2. Kellyanne Conway
    3. Dina Powell
32. White House Deputy Chiefs of Staff
    1. Katie Walsh
    2. Joe Hagin
    3. Rick Dearborn
33. Chief of Staff to the First Lady (Lindsay Reynolds)
34. Director of National Intelligence (Dan Coats)
35. Chief of Staff to the Vice President (Josh Pitcock)
36. Assistants to the President (ordered by appointment):
37. Director of National Drug Control Policy (Kemp Chester) (Acting)
38. Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality (Vacant)
39. Chief of Protocol (Mark E. Walsh) (Acting) (when with the President or for a White House event)
40. Chargés d'Affaires to the United States (ordered by assumption of office)
41. Former Secretaries of State (ordered by term):
    1. Henry Kissinger (September 22, 1973 – January 20, 1977)
    2. George Shultz (July 16, 1982 – January 20, 1989)
    3. James Baker (January 20, 1989 – August 23, 1992)
    4. Madeleine Albright (January 23, 1997 – January 20, 2001)
    5. Colin Powell (January 20, 2001 – January 26, 2005)
    6. Condoleezza Rice (January 26, 2005 – January 20, 2009)
    7. Hillary Clinton (January 21, 2009 – February 1, 2013) (note that Hillary Clinton would appear above when in attendance with her husband, former President Bill Clinton)
    8. John Kerry (February 1, 2013 – January 20, 2017)
42. Former Members of the U.S. Cabinet (ordered by term)
43. Former U.S. Senators (ordered by leadership position, then by term; if same, then by date of statehood or ratification of the Constitution)
44. Former governors of the state or territory in which the event is held (ordered by term)
45. Former governors (of states other than the state in which the event is held, by date of statehood or ratification of the Constitution)
46. Former U.S. Representatives (ordered by leadership position, then by term; if same, then by date of statehood or ratification of the Constitution)
47. Deputy Secretaries of Executive Departments (in the order of the creation of the respective departments or presidential appointment as for Cabinet above):
    1. Deputy Secretary of State (Vacant)
    2. Deputy Secretary of the Treasury (Vacant)
    3. Deputy Secretary of Defense (Robert Work)
    4. Deputy Attorney General (Dana Boente) (Acting)
    5. Deputy Secretary of the Interior (Julie Lillie) (Acting)
    6. Deputy Secretary of Agriculture (Mike Young) (Acting)
    7. Deputy Secretary of Commerce (Vacant)
    8. Deputy Secretary of Labor (Vacant)
    9. Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services (Colleen Barros) (Acting)
    10. Deputy Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (Janet Golrick ) (Acting)
    11. Deputy Secretary of Transportation (Vacant)
    12. Deputy Secretary of Energy (Vacant)
    13. Deputy Secretary of Education (Vacant)
    14. Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs (Scott R. Blackburn) (Acting)
    15. Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security (Chip Fulghum) (Acting)
    16. Deputy Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (Mike Flynn) (Acting)
    17. Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget (Vacant)
    18. Deputy Trade Representative (Vacant)
    19. Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations (Michele J. Sison)
    20. Deputy Administrator of the Small Business Administration (Vacant)
48. Chair of the Federal Reserve (Janet Yellen)
49. Commissioner of the Social Security Administration (Nancy Berryhill) (Acting)
50. Heads of independent federal agencies at Level II of the Executive Schedule (ordered by creation date, if same, then by term)
    1. Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (Mike Pompeo)
    2. Director of the National Science Foundation (France A. Córdova)
    3. Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Robert M. Lightfoot, Jr.) (Acting)
    4. Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (Wade Warren) (Acting)
    5. Chairman of the Administrative Conference of the United States (Vacant)
    6. Chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (Stephen G. Burns)
    7. Director of the United States Office of Personnel Management (Kathleen McGettigan) (Acting)
    8. Chief Executive Officer of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (Jonathan Nash) (Acting)
    9. Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Richard Cordray)
51. Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve (Stanley Fischer)
52. Governors of the Federal Reserve (ordered by term)
    1. Daniel Tarullo
    2. Jay Powell
    3. Lael Brainard
    4. 2 seats vacant
53. Deputy Commissioner of the Social Security Administration (Vacant)
54. Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence (Vacant)
55. Principal Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (Gina Haspel)
56. Principal Deputy Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (Vacant)
57. Director of the National Counterterrorism Center (Nicholas J. Rasmussen)
58. Secretaries of the military departments (by creation order of branch):
    1. Secretary of the Army (Robert Speer) (Acting)
    2. Secretary of the Navy (Sean Stackley) (Acting)
    3. Secretary of the Air Force (Lisa S. Disbrow) (Acting)
59. Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (Joe Dunford)
60. Under Secretaries of State and departmental positions of equivalent rank (ordered by departmental line of succession)
    1. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs (Thomas A. Shannon, Jr.)
    2. Under Secretary of State for Management (Vacant)
    3. Remaining Under Secretaries of State, ordered by date of appointment:
       1. Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs (D. Bruce Wharton) (Acting) (December 8, 2016)
       2. Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights (Vacant)
       3. Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment (Vacant)
       4. Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs (Vacant)
    4. Counselor of the United States Department of State (Kristie A. Kenney)
61. Under Secretaries of Executive Departments and departmental positions of equivalent rank (ordered as Cabinet above and then by departmental line of succession)
62. Heads of departmental federal agencies (ordered as Cabinet above and then as by departmental line of succession)
63. Heads of independent federal agencies at Level III of the Executive Schedule (ordered by creation date, if same, then by term)
64. Deputy Heads of independent federal agencies at Level III of the Executive Schedule (ordered by creation date, if same, then by term)
65. Postmaster General (Megan Brennan)
66. Former Chairs of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (ordered by term; note that Colin Powell, who would otherwise appear in this list, already appears above as a former Secretary of State)
    1. Hugh Shelton (October 1, 1997 – October 1, 2001)
    2. Richard Myers (October 1, 2001 – October 1, 2005)
    3. Peter Pace (October 1, 2005 – October 1, 2007)
    4. Michael Mullen (October 1, 2007 – October 1, 2011)
    5. Martin Dempsey (October 1, 2011 – October 1, 2015)
67. Vice Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (Paul Selva)
68. Joint Chiefs of Staff (ordered by appointment):
    1. Chief of Staff of the Army (Mark Milley)
    2. Chief of Naval Operations (John Richardson)
    3. Commandant of the Marine Corps (Robert Neller)
    4. Chief of Staff of the Air Force (David Goldfein)
69. Chief of the National Guard Bureau (Joseph Lengyel)
70. Commandant of the Coast Guard (Paul Zukunft)
71. Combatant Commanders of the Unified Combatant Commands of four-star grade (ordered by appointment):
    1. Central Command (Joseph Votel)
    2. Pacific Command (Harry Harris)
    3. Transportation Command (Darren McDew)
    4. Southern Command (Kurt Tidd)
    5. Special Operations Command (Raymond Thomas)
    6. European Command (Curtis Scaparrotti)
    7. Northern Command (Lori Robinson)
    8. Africa Command (Tom Waldhauser)
    9. Strategic Command (John Hyten)
72. Lieutenant governor (of the state in which the event is held)
73. Mayor (of the city in which the event is held)
74. Ambassadors from the United States to foreign governments (on official business in the United States or another country)
75. Chief of Protocol (when at the Department of State or at events outside the White House, otherwise appears above)
76. Ambassadors from the United States to international organizations (on official business in the United States or another country)
77. Career Ambassadors
78. Chief of Staff to the National Security Council (Keith Kellogg)
79. National Security Advisor to the Vice President (Andrea Thompson)
80. Chief of Staff to the Second Lady (Kristan King Nevins)
81. Deputy Assistants to the President (ordered by appointment)
82. Chief Judges and Circuit Judges of the United States Courts of Appeals (by length of service)
83. Chief Judges and District Judges of the United States District Courts (by length of service)
84. Chief Judge and Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces (by length of service)
    1. Charles E. Erdmann (October 15, 2002)
    2. Margaret A. Ryan (December 20, 2006)
    3. Scott W. Stucky (December 20, 2006)
    4. Kevin A. Ohlson (November 1, 2013)
    5. John E. Sparks (April 19, 2016)
85. Chief Judge and Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (by length of service)
    1. Robert N. Davis (December 4, 2004)
    2. Al Lance (December 4, 2004)
    3. Mary J. Schoelen (December 20, 2004)
    4. Coral Wong Pietsch (June 28, 2012)
    5. Margaret Bartley (June 28, 2012)
    6. William S. Greenberg (December 28, 2012)
86. Chief Judge and Judges of the United States Tax Court (by length of service)
87. Chargés d'Affaires from the United States (ordered by assumption of office)
88. Under Secretaries of the Army, Navy, and Air Force (ordered by date of appointment)
    1. Under Secretary of the Air Force (Lisa S. Disbrow) (March 30, 2015)
    2. Under Secretary of the Navy (Thomas W. Hicks) (Acting) (January 20, 2017)
    3. Under Secretary of the Army (Vacant) (January 20, 2017)
89. Assistant Secretaries, Chiefs of Staff to the Head of an Executive Department, Ambassadors-at-large, Special Envoys/Representatives, Assistant Attorneys General, and Legal Advisers of Executive Departments (ordered as Cabinet above and then as by departmental line of succession)
90. Special Assistants to the President, including White House Social Secretary and Senior Directors of the National Security Council (ranked by date of appointment)
91. Heads of independent federal agencies at Level IV of the Executive Schedule (ordered by creation date, if same, then by term)
    1. Director of the Selective Service System (Lawrence Romo)
    2. Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (Martin J. Gruenberg)
    3. Chairman of the United States Commission on Civil Rights (Martin R. Castro)
    4. Chairman of the Postal Regulatory Commission (Robert G. Taub)
    5. President of the Inter-American Foundation (Vacant)
    6. Commissioner of the Office of Navajo and Hopi Indian Relocation (Vacant)
    7. Chairman of the Federal Election Commission (Steven T. Walther)
    8. Chairman of the Federal Labor Relations Authority (Ernest DuBester)
    9. Special Counsel of the Office of Special Counsel (Carolyn Lerner)
    10. Director of the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency (Nancy M. Ware)
    11. Chairperson of the Chemical Safety Board (Vanessa Allen Sutherland)
    12. CEO of the Broadcasting Board of Governors and Director of the International Broadcast Bureau (John F. Lansing)
    13. Chairman of the Election Assistance Commission (Thomas Hicks)
92. Deputy Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (Andrew G. McCabe)
93. Deputy Heads of independent federal agencies at Level IV of the Executive Schedule (ordered by creation date, if same, then by term)
94. Assistant Administrators of the Environmental Protection Agency
95. Assistant Administrators of the United States Agency for International Development
96. Assistant Trade Representatives
97. Associate Administrators of the Small Business Administration
98. Comptroller General of the United States (Eugene Louis Dodaro)
99. Members of the Council of Economic Advisers (ranked alphabetically)
100. Members of the Council on Environmental Quality (ranked alphabetically)