How many executive orders did Joe Biden sign in each calendar year of his presidency?
Executive summary
A year-by-year tally of Executive Orders (EOs) signed by Joseph R. Biden, Jr., shows a concentrated burst in his first year followed by steadily fewer orders annually: 77 in 2021, 29 in 2022, 24 in 2023, 19 in 2024, and 13 in 2025, for a subtotal that aligns with the Federal Register’s count of 162 EOs across his presidency (2021–2025) [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6].
1. The raw numbers: official year-by-year counts
The Office of the Federal Register publishes presidential executive orders organized by calendar year: it records that Biden signed 77 executive orders in 2021 (EO 13985–14061) [1], 29 in 2022 (EO 14062–14090) [2], 24 in 2023 (EO 14091–14114) [3], 19 in 2024 (EO 14115–14133) [4], and 13 in 2025 (EO 14134–14146) [5]; the OFR’s aggregated tables list 162 executive orders attributed to Biden’s administration overall [6].
2. Why the first year is an outlier
The jump in 2021—77 orders—reflects both an administration’s early push to reverse and reset many policies and the convention of signing numerous EOs during transition and inaugural days; the Federal Register and contemporaneous reporting documented a flurry of orders addressing pandemic response, federal workplace rules, climate and immigration on and immediately after Jan. 20, 2021 [1] [7]. That front-loaded pace is common when a new president seeks rapid policy shifts, which helps explain the concentration in the inaugural year [1] [7].
3. Counting methodology matters: calendar year vs. term and what counts as an EO
Different sources sometimes report slightly different totals because of methodology: the Federal Register and Office of the Federal Register count EOs by calendar year and publish the official ED numbers [1] [2] [3] [4] [5], whereas analytics outlets may present totals by presidential term or include/exclude related actions like memoranda, proclamations, or notices—forms of presidential action that are distinct from numbered executive orders [8]. For instance, USAFacts reported a 160-count for Biden’s single term, a figure that diverges from the OFR’s 162 and likely reflects alternate cutoffs or data handling [9].
4. Cross-checks and consensus among reputable sources
Ballotpedia and the Federal Register both cite Biden’s total in the low 160s—Ballotpedia lists 162 EOs for Biden [10] and the Federal Register tables likewise total 162 [6]—providing convergence around the OFR’s year-by-year breakdown. The American Presidency Project and White House archives offer complementary context about the forms of presidential directives and how EOs fit into a wider set of presidential actions, reinforcing that EOs are a specific, numbered category among many instruments [11] [8].
5. What this accounting does and does not tell readers
These figures objectively quantify numbered executive orders by calendar year, but they do not capture the broader administrative footprint—presidential memoranda, proclamations, notices, and other policy instruments that also shape executive governance and are sometimes conflated with EOs in media summaries [8] [10]. The Federal Register numbers answer the precise question about executive orders per calendar year; interpretation about activism or restraint requires pairing this data with content analysis of what the orders did and how long their effects lasted [1] [7].
6. Bottom line and alternative readings
Bottom line: using the Federal Register’s year-by-year catalogation, Biden signed 77 EOs in 2021, 29 in 2022, 24 in 2023, 19 in 2024, and 13 in 2025, totaling 162 EOs for his presidency as tallied by the OFR [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]. Alternative counts—like the 160 figure from USAFacts—exist because of differing inclusion rules and cutoffs, so analysts should cite the underlying source (OFR vs. third-party compilers) when drawing conclusions about presidential activity [9] [8].