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Dashboard: A Look at the Stats Behind the Staffers

By Roll Call Staff
Posted October 1, 2008 at 4:11pm

• Average salary in 2006 for a chief of staff in the House: $129,736

• Salary of the lowest-paid House chief of staff in 2006: $87,000

• Average salary in 2006 for a House staff assistant: $29,872

• Average salary in 2006 for a Senate chief of staff: $151,767

• Salary in 2006 of the lowest-paid Senate chief of staff: $114,000

• Average salary earned in 2006 for a Senate staff assistant: $29,664

• Maximum salary earned by a House or Senate chief of staff in 2006: $160,659

• Total percentage of a lawmaker’s salary that a top staffer can earn on Capitol Hill: 95

• Number of Senate chiefs of staff who earned the maximum allowed in 2006: 38

• Number of House chiefs of staff who earned the maximum allowed in 2006: 2

• Number of years on average that a House chief of staff has spent in the job: 5.2

• Years of experience, on average, that a House chief of staff has had in that chamber: 6.5

• Fraction of House chiefs of staff who have a law degree: 1/5

• Percentage of top House aides who reported earning a master’s degree: 26

• Percentage of chiefs of staff who did not graduate from college: 5.5

Sources: 2006 House and Senate compensation studies, ICF International, prepared for the Chief Administrative Officer and the Secretary of the Senate.

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