The Average Salary of Congressional Staff

Congressional staff members salaries are set by individual members of congress.

Congressional staff salaries vary widely, as does the number of staff members employed by the U.S. Senate and House of Representative members. The specific roles and titles given to those staff members are diverse. Average annual salaries range from $30,000 to $120,000.

Average Salaries

The average salary for a congressional chief of staff is $120,051.55, according to the Open House Project website. The average salary for district directors is $84,346.63. Deputy chiefs of staff make $84,121.66, with legislative directors earning an average of $72,137.79 and deputy district directors making $61,389.93 on average. Congressional communications directors earn $58,359.05 on average, and press secretaries make an average salary of $50,524.05. The salary for a congressional aide is $39,906.24 and for a staff assistant, it is $29,890.54.

Limits

Congressional staff salaries were capped at a maximum of $169,459 in the Senate and $168,411 in the House of Representatives in 2009, according to the LegiStorm website. In some cases, committee staffers are permitted to earn salaries above these ceilings.

House Versus Senate

Total staff salary expenditures for members of the House of Representatives are generally between $400,000 and $600,000 over a six-month period while Senators usually spend over $1 million every six months, according to LegiStorm's congressional staff salaries data.

References

• What's the Average Salary of House Staff?The Open House Project
• LegiStorm:Browse Congressional Staff Salaries