Levels of pay for congressional staff are a source of recurring questions among Members of Congress, congressional staff, and the public. There may be interest in congressional pay data from multiple perspectives, including assessment of the costs of congressional operations, guidance in setting pay levels for staff in Member offices, or comparison of congressional staff pay levels with those of other federal government pay systems. This report provides pay data for 24 staff position titles that are typically found in Senators’ offices. The following table provides the positions, and the change in median pay levels between FY2022 and FY2023 for those positions, in 2024 dollars. FY2023 Median Pay and Percentage Change for Selected Staff Positions in Senators’ Offices, 2024 Dollars and Percentage Change, FY2022-FY2023 Position FY23 Pay, 2024 $ Change, FY22-FY23 Position FY23 Pay, 2024 $ Change, FY22-FY23 Administrative Director $152,674 4.84% Legislative Assistant $87,076 -3.95% Caseworker $64,515 -6.94% Legislative Correspondent $58,958 2.59% Chief of Staff $201,799 4.97% Legislative Director $169,030 8.33% Communications Director $153,187 7.45% Press Assistant $59,017 4.48% Constituent Services Director $97,299 1.01% Press Secretary $88,053 2.12% Constituent Services Representative $60,629 -2.41% Regional Director $80,658 -6.74% Deputy Chief of Staff $185,272 6.84% Regional Representative $67,640 1.13% Deputy Press Secretary $66,323 6.56% Scheduler $90,864 -6.01% Digital Director $75,289 2.75% Scheduling Director $120,029 1.37% Executive Assistant — — Speechwriter $90,147 11.13% Field Representative $69,338 -7.80% Staff Assistant $55,106 5.44% Legislative Aide $68,210 6.79% State Director $160,209 1.18% Source: Report of the Secretary of the Senate, as collated by LegiStorm, various years, and CRS calculations based on Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for the first half of 2024. “—” indicates no data available. Report tables provide available aggregate statistics on pay for most staff positions for FY2001, FY2004, FY2009, FY2014, and FY2019-FY2023, including quartiles, the median, and average pay. Complete data since 2001 or later are available to congressional clients upon request. Graphic displays are also included, providing representations of pay from the following two perspectives: a line graph for most positions showing change in median pay, FY2001-FY2023, in nominal (current) and 2024 dollars; and distributions for all positions of FY2023 pay in 2024 dollars, in $10,000 increments. The Congressional Research Service provides a number of products on staffing issues. These can be found in CRS Report R44688, Congressional Staff: CRS Products.
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Document ID: R44324