President	Date	Format	Words
George Washington	average		2080
	January 8, 1790	oral	1089
	December 8, 1790	oral	1401
	October 25, 1791	oral	2302
	November 6, 1792	oral	2101
	December 3, 1793	oral	1968
	November 19, 1794	oral	2918
	December 8, 1795	oral	1989
	December 7, 1796	oral	2871
John Adams	average		1790
	November 22, 1797	oral	2063
	December 8, 1798	oral	2218
	December 3, 1799	oral	1505
	November 22, 1800	oral	1372
Thomas Jefferson	average		2578
	December 8, 1801	written	3224
	December 15, 1802	written	2197
	October 17, 1803	written	2263
	November 8, 1804	written	2096
	December 3, 1805	written	2927
	December 2, 1806	written	2860
	October 27, 1807	written	2384
	November 8, 1808	written	2675
James Madison	average		2709
	November 29, 1809	written	1831
	December 5, 1810	written	2446
	November 5, 1811	written	2273
	November 4, 1812	written	3242
	December 7, 1813	written	3257
	September 20, 1814	written	2111
	December 5, 1815	written	3146
	December 3, 1816	written	3364
James Monroe	average		5280
	December 12, 1817	written	4418
	November 16, 1818	written	4376
	December 7, 1819	written	4702
	November 14, 1820	written	3446
	December 3, 1821	written	5814
	December 3, 1822	written	4723
	December 2, 1823	written	6358
	December 7, 1824	written	8400
John Quincy Adams	average		7722
	December 6, 1825	written	8985
	December 5, 1826	written	7705
	December 4, 1827	written	6917
	December 2, 1828	written	7282
Andrew Jackson	average		10645
	December 8, 1829	written	10525
	December 6, 1830	written	15114
	December 6, 1831	written	7178
	December 4, 1832	written	7863
	December 3, 1833	written	7877
	December 1, 1834	written	13411
	December 7, 1835	written	10825
	December 5, 1836	written	12367
Martin van Buren	average		11340
	December 5, 1837	written	11449
	December 3, 1838	written	11488
	December 2, 1839	written	13431
	December 5, 1840	written	8991
William Henry Harrison	no annual messages
John Tyler	average		8503
	December 7, 1841	written	8241
	December 6, 1842	written	8417
	December ?, 1843	written	8036
	December 3, 1844	written	9318
James K. Polk	average		18014
	December 2, 1845	written	16111
	December 8, 1846	written	18222
	December 7, 1847	written	16414
	December 5, 1848	written	21309
Zachary Taylor	average		7617
	December 4, 1849	written	7617
Millard Fillmore	average		10498
	December 2, 1850	written	8322
	December 2, 1851	written	13244
	December 6, 1852	written	9929
Franklin Pierce	average		10457
	December 5, 1853	written	9590
	December 4, 1854	written	10139
	December 31, 1855	written	11612
	December 2, 1856	written	10486
James Buchanan	average		14097
	December 8, 1857	written	13655
	December 6, 1858	written	16349
	December 19, 1859	written	12336
	December 3, 1860	written	14049
Abraham Lincoln	average		6838
	December 3, 1861	written	6987
	December 1, 1862	written	8385
	December 8, 1863	written	6114
	December 6, 1864	written	5865
Andrew Johnson	average		9551
	December 4, 1865	written	9232
	December 3, 1866	written	7134
	December 3, 1867	written	12002
	December 9, 1868	written	9834
Ulysses S. Grant	average		8983
	December 6, 1869	written	7706
	December 5, 1870	written	8743
	December 4, 1871	written	6459
	December 2, 1872	written	10102
	December 1, 1873	written	10026
	December 7, 1874	written	9819
	December 7, 1875	written	12211
	December 5, 1876	written	6799
Rutherford B. Hayes	average		10896
	December 3, 1877	written	10724
	December 2, 1878	written	7879
	December 1, 1879	written	11635
	December 6, 1880	written	13347
James Garfield	no annual messages
Chester Arthur	average		10219
	December 6, 1881	written	13321
	December 4, 1882	written	10274
	December 4, 1883	written	8363
	December 1, 1884	written	8917
Grover Cleveland - I	average		13440
	December 8, 1885	written	19960
	December 6, 1886	written	15285
	December 6, 1887	written	5290
	December 3, 1888	written	13226
Benjamin Harrison	average		13628
	December 1, 1889	written	13004
	December 1, 1890	written	11522
	December 9, 1891	written	16306
	December 6, 1892	written	13680
Grover Cleveland - II	average		14574
	December 4, 1893	written	12282
	December 3, 1894	written	15892
	December 2, 1895	written	14670
	December 7, 1896	written	15453
William McKinley	average		18578
	December 6, 1897	written	12113
	December 5, 1898	written	20224
	December 5, 1899	written	22831
	December 3, 1900	written	19142
Theodore Roosevelt	average		19656
	December 3, 1901	written	19616
	December 5, 1902	written	9782
	December 7, 1903	written	14943
	December 6, 1904	written	17415
	December 5, 1905	written	25071
	December 3, 1906	written	23609
	December 3, 1907	written	27397
	December 8, 1908	written	19411
William Howard Taft	average		22614
	December 7, 1909	written	13901
	December 6, 1910	written	27651
	December 5, 1911	written	23744
	December 3, 1912	written	25161
Woodrow Wilson	average oral		4545
	December 2, 1913	oral	3553
	December 8, 1914	oral	4537
	December 7, 1915	oral	7687
	December 5, 1916	oral	2118
	December 4, 1917	oral	3913
	December 2, 1918	oral	5463
	December 2, 1919	written	4756
	December 7, 1920	written	2706
Warren G. Harding	average		5677
	December 6, 1921	oral	5606
	December 8, 1922	oral	5748
Calvin Coolidge	average written		8992
	December 6, 1923	oral	6706
	December 3, 1924	written	6968
	December 8, 1925	written	10848
	December 7, 1926	written	10305
	December 6, 1927	written	8777
	December 4, 1928	written	8061
Herbert Hoover	average		6353
	December 3, 1929	written	10994
	December 5, 1930	written	4536
	December 8, 1931	written	5682
	December 6, 1932	written	4201
Franklin D. Roosevelt	average oral		3563
	January 3, 1934	oral	2230
	January 4, 1935	oral	3525
	January 3, 1936	oral	3826
	January 6, 1937	oral	2732
	January 3, 1938	oral	4697
	January 4, 1939	oral	3768
	January 3, 1940	oral	3196
	January 6, 1941	oral	3312
	January 6, 1942	oral	3511
	January 7, 1943	oral	4588
	January 11, 1944	oral	3805
	January 6, 1945	written	8211
Harry S. Truman	average oral		4836
	January 21, 1946	written	27465
	January 6, 1947	oral	6028
	January 7, 1948	oral	5094
	January 5, 1949	oral	3401
	January 4, 1950	oral	5130
	January 8, 1951	oral	3994
	January 9, 1952	oral	5369
	January 7, 1953	written	9683
Dwight D. Eisenhower	average oral		5689
	February 2, 1953	oral	6973
	January 7, 1954	oral	5985
	January 6, 1955	oral	7250
	January 5, 1956	written	8265
	January 10, 1957	oral	4137
	January 9, 1958	oral	4915
	January 9, 1959	oral	4933
	January 7, 1960	oral	5633
	January 12, 1961	written	6210
John F. Kennedy	average		5771
	January 30, 1961	oral	5274
	January 11, 1962	oral	6569
	January 14, 1963	oral	5470
Lyndon B. Johnson	average		4889
	January 8, 1964	oral	3168
	January 4, 1965	oral	4399
	January 12, 1966	oral	5542
	January 10, 1967	oral	7195
	January 17, 1968	oral	4914
	January 14, 1969	oral	4115
Richard Nixon	average oral		4521
	January 22, 1970	oral	4457
	January 22, 1971	oral	4508
	January 20, 1972	oral	3976
	February 2, 1973	written	27147
	January 30, 1974	oral	5144
Gerald R. Ford	average		4600
	January 15, 1975	oral	4126
	January 19, 1976	oral	4948
	January 12, 1977	oral	4727
Jimmy Carter	average oral		3750
	January 19, 1978	oral	4580
	January 25, 1979	oral	3257
	January 21, 1980	oral	3412
	January 16, 1981	written	33667
Ronald Reagan	average (ex. 1981)		4596
1981 NOT a "State of the Union"	February 18, 1981	oral	4446
	January 26, 1982	oral	5154
	January 25, 1983	oral	5554
	January 25, 1984	oral	4931
	February 6, 1985	oral	4214
	February 4, 1986	oral	3514
	January 27, 1987	oral	3847
	January 25, 1988	oral	4955
George Bush	average (ex. 1989)		4204
1989 NOT a "State of the Union"	February 9, 1989	oral	4811
	January 31, 1990	oral	3777
	January 29, 1991	oral	3823
	January 28, 1992	oral	5012
William J. Clinton	average (ex. 1993)		7426
1993 NOT a "State of the Union"	February 17, 1993	oral	7003
	January 25, 1994	oral	7432
	January 24, 1995	oral	9190
	January 23, 1996	oral	6317
	February 4, 1997	oral	6774
	January 27, 1998	oral	7303
	January 19, 1999	oral	7514
	January 27, 2000	oral	7452
George W. Bush	average (ex. 2001)		5184
2001 NOT a "State of the Union"	February 27, 2001	oral	4362
	January 29, 2002	oral	3878
	January 28, 2003	oral	5413
	January 20, 2004	oral	5229
	February 2, 2005	oral	5096
	January 31, 2006	oral	5323
	January 23, 2007	oral	5590
	January 28, 2008	oral	5760
Barack Obama	average (ex. 2009)		7304
2009 NOT a "State of the Union"	February 24, 2009	oral	5902
	January 27, 2010	oral	7304

Data by John T. Woolley and Gerhard Peters

Citation: John Woolley and Gerhard Peters,The American Presidency Project [online]. Santa Barbara, CA: University of California (hosted), Gerhard Peters (database). Available from World Wide Web: http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/sou_words.php.