Keep Factually independent
Whether you agree or disagree with our analysis, these conversations matter for democracy. We don't take money from political groups - even a $5 donation helps us keep it that way.
What are the total local and state law enforcement costs for Trump Mar-a-Lago visits between 2017 and 2024?
Executive summary
Available public reporting provides partial, inconsistent totals for local and state law‑enforcement costs tied to Donald Trump’s Mar‑a‑Lago visits between 2017 and 2024. Local agencies reported figures such as about $13–$13.7 million for early visits through 2020 [1] [2], while later reporting documents individual multi‑day trips costing Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office hundreds of thousands to over $1 million each [3]; comprehensive aggregate totals for 2017–2024 are not provided in the available sources.
1. Early documented totals: the roughly $13 million figure
County documents and contemporaneous reporting show local law‑enforcement and government security costs tied to Mar‑a‑Lago visits “topped $13 million” as of January 2020, and The Palm Beach Post estimated Trump’s first 27 presidential visits to Mar‑a‑Lago cost local governments about $13.7 million by November 2020 [1] [2]. Those figures reflect local and county expenses tracked during his first term and include reimbursements and outstanding amounts noted in county records [1].
2. Per‑visit and agency cost snapshots after 2021
Reporting from 2024–2025 highlights much higher per‑visit costs in Trump’s later return to Mar‑a‑Lago: local law enforcement in Palm Beach County has documented episodes where a single trip cost the Sheriff’s Office $240,000 per day and “more than a million dollars” for a multi‑day stay [3]. Local officials told reporters that Secret Service operations require integrated local assets “in the air, on the ground and in the waters” around Mar‑a‑Lago 24/7, driving those elevated per‑trip totals [3].
3. Federal payments, grants and changing reimbursement programs
During Trump’s first term, a FEMA grant program—Presidential Residence Protection Assistance—helped reimburse localities; federal budget lines available for such reimbursements varied across years [2]. Reporting shows that program’s budget fell from roughly $41 million annually in 2017–2020 to much smaller amounts in 2021–2023 [2]. Separate recent federal legislation enacted after July 2024 created a $300 million, five‑year fund to reimburse communities for security costs tied to Trump’s residences, with eligible expenses retroactive to July 1, 2024 [4] [5] [6]. Those funds post‑date most of the 2017–2024 period and thus do not retroactively change earlier totals except where reimbursements are applied beginning July 2024 [4] [5] [6].
4. Federal (Secret Service and other) spending is tracked differently
Federal procurement and watchdog reporting document Secret Service and other federal costs at or near Trump properties, but those figures are focused on contracts and federal agency spending rather than state and local law enforcement line items. For example, procurement records show more than $1.4 million in Secret Service perimeter contracts for Mar‑a‑Lago across a recent multi‑month window (Aug 2024–Feb 2025), and CREW reported Secret Service payments totaling hundreds of thousands to Mar‑a‑Lago over earlier years [7] [8]. Those federal numbers are not the same as the local/state law‑enforcement costs you asked about and are tracked in different public records [7] [8].
5. Why a single, definitive 2017–2024 total is not available in current reporting
The available sources give spot totals (about $13–$13.7 million through 2020) and per‑trip examples in 2024–2025 but do not publish an audited, comprehensive tabulation of all local and state law‑enforcement costs for every Mar‑a‑Lago visit from 2017 through 2024. The reporting documents budget lines, grant changes, per‑visit invoices, and federal procurement snapshots, but none aggregates every jurisdiction’s expenditures across the full period into a single definitive total [1] [2] [3] [7] [8]. Therefore any single grand total would require compiling county and state invoices and FEMA/Secret Service reimbursements that are not assembled in these sources.
6. Competing perspectives and implicit incentives
Local officials and coverage emphasize the fiscal strain on county police and sheriff’s offices when a sitting president frequents a private residence, citing multi‑day, high‑cost deployments and requests for federal reimbursement [3] [6]. Federal and Secret Service statements, where cited in reporting, frame such security as necessary protection for presidential duties and use different budget accounts [7]. Legislative action to create a new $300 million reimbursement pot after July 2024 reflects political recognition of local burden but also introduces a policy choice about which expenses will be federally covered going forward—an implicit tradeoff between local budget relief and federal spending priorities [4] [5] [6].
7. What researchers or journalists would need to produce a full total
To produce a defensible 2017–2024 aggregate of local and state law‑enforcement costs for Mar‑a‑Lago visits, investigators would need to collect detailed invoices and reimbursement records from Palm Beach County and any other jurisdictions affected, plus FEMA grant records and Secret Service coordination logs, and reconcile which expenses are local/state versus federal contractor items (not found in current reporting). Available sources do not include such a stitched‑together dataset (not found in current reporting).
If you want, I can outline a step‑by‑step approach to compile such an aggregate from public records (county invoice requests, FEMA grant files, procurement records) and identify likely jurisdictions to query next.