Heading into Tuesday’s speech, former President Bill Clinton and President Trump hold the top seven spots for the longest modern State of the Union addresses.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump will be back in front of a joint session of Congress on Tuesday to give his first formal State of the Union address for his second term.
That has many Americans wondering what the president will talk about and, ultimately, how long his speech will last.
Trump reportedly told reporters Monday that the address would be a “long speech, because we have so much to talk about.” There are some reports that it could be over two hours long.
Statistically speaking, Trump is long-winded when it comes to these speeches.
According to The American Presidency Project, his congressional addresses averaged one hour and 20 minutes during his first term.
He also addressed Congress in March 2025 and broke a record, speaking for nearly an hour and 40 minutes. Previously, the longest address to Congress was by Bill Clinton during his 2000 State of the Union address, where he spoke for nearly an hour and a half.
If you’re including presidential speeches that weren’t officially a “State of the Union,” Trump’s was the longest by 34 minutes.
During Trump’s three formal State of the Union addresses, he had already come close to breaking the time record.
His 2019 address lasted one hour, 22 minutes and 25 seconds, which was the third-longest spoken State of the Union speech in history. Trump’s first State of the Union in 2018 lasted 80 minutes and his final one in 2020 was around 78 minutes.
However, his first address to a joint session of Congress in 2017 was about 20 minutes shorter and took just over one hour.
Here are some comparisons from 1964 onward by The American Presidency Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
What were the longest State of the Union addresses?
Bill Clinton holds the title for the longest spoken State of the Union speech on record — his 2000 address took one hour, 28 minutes and 49 seconds.
While George W. Bush and Barack Obama kept their State of the Union addresses to about 50 minutes and one hour, respectively, Trump came close to the record.
In fact, Clinton and Trump hold the top seven spots for the longest modern State of the Union addresses. Clinton holds spots 1-2, 5, and 7, while Trump holds 3-4 and 6.
A different former president holds the record for the longest written State of the Union address: Jimmy Carter, with 33,667 words in 1981. Carter, whose spoken State of the Union addresses averaged about 37 minutes and 3,750 words, opted for a written-only version that year instead of the televised primetime address that had become standard.
- Bill Clinton (2000) 1:28:49
- Bill Clinton (1995) 1:24:58
- Donald Trump (2019) 1:22:25
- Donald Trump (2018) 1:20:32
- Bill Clinton (1999) 1:18:40
- Donald Trump (2020) 1:18:04
- Bill Clinton (1998) 1:16:43
- Joe Biden (2023) 1:13:00
- Lyndon B. Johnson (1967) 1:11:16
- Barack Obama (2010) 1:09:20
Who gave the shortest State of the Union address?
In minutes, Richard Nixon’s 1972 speech is the shortest spoken State of the Union address on record with The American Presidency Project — 28 minutes, 55 seconds.
