The short answer
To write a letter to the president, mail it to The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20500, the address whitehouse.gov lists for all First Family mail. Open with “Dear Mr. President:”, state your purpose in the first paragraph, keep it to one courteous page, and sign with your full name and return address. You can also send a message through the online form at whitehouse.gov/contact.
What is the White House mailing address?
The White House contact page lists a single mailing address and says all mail for the First Family is received there. Put it on the envelope exactly as shown, on three lines:
Add the recipient’s name above the first line, such as “President Donald J. Trump,” so the envelope shows who the letter is for. Your return address goes in the upper-left corner, which also gives the White House somewhere to send any reply. People often search for the “White House address” to visit or to see the building on a map; for mail, this street address is the one to use.
| Envelope line | What to write |
|---|---|
| Recipient | President Donald J. Trump (or the First Family member you’re writing to) |
| Line 1 | The White House |
| Line 2 | 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. |
| Line 3 | Washington, D.C. 20500 |
How else can you contact the president?
A paper letter isn’t the only option. The White House contact page has an online form with a “Message Type” menu that offers two choices: “Contact the President” or “Contact the Vice President.” The form asks for your name, email address, phone number, mailing address, and your comments, and it marks those fields as required.
The page also says messages sent this way are captured and archived under the Presidential Records Act or the Federal Records Act. Keep that in mind: whether you write online or on paper, assume your words become part of a government record.
For milestones rather than opinions, whitehouse.gov has a separate Presidential Greetings request form. It covers occasions such as a birthday, wedding, wedding anniversary, birth of a child, graduation, retirement, Eagle Scout or Girl Scout Gold Award, and condolences. If you want a greeting card for a family event, that form is a better fit than a letter.
| Option | Best for | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Paper letter | A personal message, story, or opinion you want on paper | The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20500 |
| Online contact form | A quick message to the President or Vice President | whitehouse.gov/contact |
| Presidential Greetings form | Birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, graduations, and other milestones | whitehouse.gov/greetings |
What should you include in a letter to the president?
A letter to the president follows the same formal structure as any business letter. Purdue OWL describes the standard parts as your address and the date, the recipient’s address, a salutation, the body, and a closing with your signature. Each part has a job here:
- Your full name and mailing address at the top, so a reply can reach you.
- The date, written out, such as October 9, 2026.
- The inside address: President Donald J. Trump, The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20500.
- A respectful greeting, such as “Dear Mr. President:” followed by a colon, which Purdue OWL recommends after a formal salutation.
- One clear purpose stated in the first paragraph: the issue, the policy, or the reason you’re writing.
- A short personal detail that shows why the topic matters to you, such as your work, your town, or your family.
- A specific request or closing thought, such as asking the president to support or oppose a named bill.
- A closing such as “Respectfully,” or “Sincerely,” then your handwritten signature and typed name.
How long should a letter to the president be, and what tone works?
Keep it to one page if you can. Purdue OWL stresses that conciseness is very important in a business letter: open with the main point, then use the following paragraphs to explain why it matters. A letter that makes one point in three or four short paragraphs is easier to read and summarize than one that covers every issue on your mind.
Stay courteous even if you strongly disagree. Firm, specific language (“I urge you to…”) carries more weight than insults or all-caps sentences. Stick to facts you know firsthand, and name any bill, program, or agency correctly.
Typing is fine and often easier to read. Purdue OWL says the generally accepted font is Times New Roman at 12 points, with Arial also acceptable, in block format: everything left-justified and single-spaced with a blank line between paragraphs. If your handwriting is neat, a handwritten letter works too; just make sure your name and return address are legible.
How do you write and send a letter to the president, step by step?
These steps take you from blank page to mailbox.
- Decide on one message. Write it as a single sentence before you start, such as “I want the president to know how the new bridge funding helped our town.”
- Choose your channel. Use the online form for a quick note, the Presidential Greetings form for a milestone, or a paper letter for anything you want to put in your own words on paper.
- Write the heading and date, then the inside address for The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20500.
- Open with “Dear Mr. President:” and state your purpose in the first paragraph.
- Add one or two paragraphs of supporting detail, then a closing paragraph with your request or thanks.
- Close with “Respectfully,” sign by hand, and type your name below.
- Proofread names, titles, and facts, then make a copy for your records.
- Address the envelope with your return address in the upper-left corner and the White House address in the center, add postage, and mail it.
What does a sample letter to the president look like?
Here is a short example from a fictional writer. Each item is one block of the letter, top to bottom; swap in your own details and topic.
- Heading: Jordan Ellis, 218 Birch Lane, Dayton, OH 45402
- Date: October 9, 2026
- Inside address: President Donald J. Trump, The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20500
- Salutation: Dear Mr. President:
- Body, paragraph 1: I’m writing as a volunteer firefighter in a small Ohio town to ask you to support continued federal grants for rural fire departments.
- Body, paragraph 2: Our department of 22 volunteers covers 140 square miles. A grant two years ago paid for breathing equipment we still use on every call, and our local budget couldn’t have covered it.
- Body, paragraph 3: Please keep rural departments in mind as next year’s budget is decided. Thank you for reading my letter.
- Closing: Respectfully,
- Signature and typed name: (signature) Jordan Ellis
Can you write to the First Lady or the Vice President?
Yes. The White House contact page says all mail for the First Family is received at The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20500, so a letter to the First Lady goes to the same address. Put her name on the recipient line (for example, “First Lady Melania Trump”) and use a greeting such as “Dear Mrs. Trump:”.
For the Vice President, the same contact form offers a “Contact the Vice President” message type. The contact page doesn’t list a separate postal address for the Vice President, so the online form is the option whitehouse.gov points to directly.
Can kids write a letter to the president?
Yes. The White House contact page doesn’t publish separate instructions for children, so a child’s letter uses the same address and the same basic parts: a greeting, a few sentences in the child’s own words, and a signature. A parent can help with the envelope and return address.
Keep a child’s letter simple and true to their voice: what they like about the country, a question they have, or a problem they’d like fixed. Drawings are a nice touch on the page itself.
For a child’s birthday, the Presidential Greetings form has a children’s option. It asks for the child’s name and birthdate and the parent’s details, and says the age must be greater than 0 and 17 or under for a child’s birthday greeting.
Should you write to Congress instead?
If your goal is a specific bill, a federal program that affects your district, or help with a problem involving a federal agency, your own members of Congress are often the more direct route. You have one representative in the House and two senators, and their offices answer to the voters in your district and state.
Finding them takes a minute. The House’s Find Your Representative tool matches your ZIP code to your congressional district and links to your representative’s website. The Senate’s Contacting U.S. Senators page lets you select your state to see your senators and their contact information. Whitehouse.gov also links to a Find My Representative page that asks for your email address and ZIP code.
Writing to the president and to Congress isn’t either/or. Many people send the same short letter to all three of their members of Congress and to the White House, adjusting the greeting and inside address for each.
| Your goal | Write to | How to find the address |
|---|---|---|
| Share an opinion with the administration | The President | whitehouse.gov/contact |
| Influence a bill in the House | Your representative | house.gov Find Your Representative (by ZIP code) |
| Influence a bill in the Senate | Your two senators | senate.gov Contacting U.S. Senators (by state) |
| Celebrate a milestone | Presidential Greetings | whitehouse.gov/greetings |
Will the president answer your letter?
Don’t count on a personal reply. The White House contact page doesn’t promise a response or publish a response time, and it doesn’t say how mail is processed before it’s read. Give your letter its best chance by making it short, signed, and clearly addressed, with a complete return address.
Two practical cautions. First, don’t send anything you need back: original documents, photos you can’t replace, cash, or checks. Second, don’t include sensitive personal details such as your Social Security number; a letter about an opinion or a story doesn’t need them.
Can you mail a letter to the president without stamps?
Yes. If you’ve typed your letter, IRIS Postal Forms can print and mail it. IRIS is an independent print-and-mail service, not USPS or the White House. You upload a US Letter-size PDF, enter your return address and the White House address, and review the document, addresses, options, and total before paying. IRIS prints it and mails it by USPS First-Class Mail, with no stamps or envelope needed. A one-page black-and-white letter is $3.20.
IRIS also has a Write to President Donald Trump template. Its page says you write a personal message, review the White House’s current correspondence guidance, and prepare the letter for mailing. The editor keeps your draft in your browser tab, and nothing is uploaded until you choose to continue to mailing; you can also download the letter instead.
IRIS doesn’t guarantee delivery dates, and order status isn’t proof of delivery. It also can’t add a handwritten signature or enclose physical items, so include everything you want to say on the printed pages.
Sources & further reading
Product details checked against the IRIS API contract when this article was published. Platform references can change; consult the linked documentation when implementing.
- The White House: Contact Us
- The White House: Presidential Greetings
- The White House: Find My Representative
- House.gov: Find Your Representative
- Senate.gov: Contacting U.S. Senators
- Purdue OWL: Writing the basic business letter
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