The manner in which staff are deployed within an organization may reflect the mission and priorities of that organization.

In the House of Representatives, employing authorities hire staff to carry out duties in Member office, committee, leadership, and other settings. The extent to which staff in those settings change may lend insight into the work of the House over time. Some of the insights that might be taken from staff levels include

• an understanding of the division of congressional work between Members working individually through their personal offices, or collectively, through committee activities; and
• the relationship between committee leaders and chamber leaders, which could have implications for the development and consideration of legislation or the use of congressional oversight; and the extent to which specialized chamber administrative operations have grown over time.

This report provides staffing levels in House Member,¹ committee, leadership, and other offices since 1977. No House source appears to officially and authoritatively track the actual number of staff working in the chambers by office or entity. Data presented here between 1977 and 2019 are based on staff listed by chamber entity (offices of Members, committees, leaders, officers, officials, and other entities) in telephone directories published by the House. Data for 2020-2023 are taken from the House Telephone Directory website available to Members of the House and their staff.

Table 1 in the "Data Tables" section below provides data for staff listed in House directories through 2023.

Like most sources of data, telephone directory listings have potential benefits and potential drawbacks. Telephone directories were chosen for a number of reasons, including the following:

• telephone directories published by the House are an official source of information about that institution, and are widely available; and
• presumably, the number of directory listings closely approximates the number of staff working for the House.²

At the same time, data presented below should be interpreted with care for a number of reasons, including the following:

• There is no way to determine whether all staff working for the House were listed in the chamber's telephone directories or are included in the online House Telephone Directory. If some staff are not listed, relying on telephone directories is likely to lead to an undercount of staff.
• It is not possible to determine if those staff who are listed were actually employed by the House at the time the directories were published or data were collected from the House Telephone Directory. If the directories list individuals who are no longer employed by the House, then relying on them is likely to lead to an overcount of staff.
• The extent to which the criteria for inclusion in the directories for the House have changed over time cannot be fully determined. Some editions of the House's directories do not always list staff in various entities the same way.³
• Some House staff may have more than one telephone number, or be listed in the directory under more than one entity. Consequently, in data covering 1977-2019, they might be counted more than once.⁴
• Chamber directories may reflect different organizational arrangements over time for some entities. This could lead to counting staff doing similar work in different years in different categories,⁵ or in different offices.⁶

House Staffing

House Data Collection

House staff data covering the period 1977-2019 were developed based on an estimate of staff working in Member offices, and a full count of staff listed in all non-Member congressional offices listed in each House telephone directory.⁷ In some years, the House published two directories. When that was the case, data were taken from the earlier publication.

A full count of House Member offices would have exceeded available resources, and would have been unlikely to yield a significantly different result than that which would result from a count of staff working in a random sampling of Members' offices. Since 1975, the House has limited the number of full-time staff working in a Member's office to 18 permanent employees; in 1979 up to four employees who may work part time or other, limited circumstance, were authorized.⁸ As a consequence, among all congressional entities, House Member office staffing is the least likely to show a high degree of variability. For each year, 1977-2019, a random sample of 45 Member offices was drawn in proportion to the distribution of Member offices in the Cannon, Longworth, and Rayburn House office buildings in 2014.⁹ Staff telephone data from those offices were counted and assumed to be in Washington, DC, if they were listed as working in the Cannon, Longworth, or Rayburn buildings, and outside of Washington, DC, if they were not. The average number of staff working in Washington, DC, and in district offices was computed. Those data were multiplied by the number of Member offices¹⁰ to derive an estimate of the number of staff employed in personal offices who work in House Member offices. Table 2 in the "Data Tables" section below provides the computed averages from the sample data and the estimated House Member staff working in Washington, DC, and district offices.

Member office data for 2020-2023 are based on a full count of all offices listed in the online House Telephone Directory.

Committee data are based on a full count of all printed telephone directory listings for House standing, special, and select committees as described in individual directory listings for 1977-2019, and in the online House Telephone Directory for 2020-2023. The data also include associate staff of the Committees on the Budget, Rules, and Ways and Means where applicable. Table 3 provides staff levels in various House committees, 2014-2023.¹¹

Data for leadership offices include a full count of staff working for Members in leadership positions. In 2023, these listings included the following: Speaker, Majority Leader, Majority Whip, Minority Leader, Minority Whip, and Democratic and Republican Cloakrooms. Other leadership positions included House Republican Conference, House Republican Policy Committee, House Republican Study Committee, and House Democratic Caucus. Data for chamber officers and other House officials include a full count of staff working for House officers and officials. In 2023, House officers included the Clerk, Sergeant at Arms, Chief Administrative Officer, and Chaplain. Officials included staff in the offices of Parliamentarian, Interparliamentary Affairs, Law Revision Counsel, Legislative Counsel, General Counsel, Inspector General, and House Historian.

Commissions data comprise the smallest category of House data, and are based on a full count of those entities. In 2023, commissions data included staff working for the House Communications Standards Commission (HCSC; listed in the House Telephone Directory as the Commission on Congressional Mailing Standards and sometimes known as the Franking Commission); the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (typically referred to as the Helsinki Commission); the Congressional-Executive Commission on the People's Republic of China; and the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission.

House Staff Data

Between 1977 and 2023, the number of House staff overall grew from 8,831 to 9,247, or by 4.71%. Since 2014, the number of staff working in the House has been flat with growth of 0.78%. The number of House staff across all categories has grown by an average of 9 individuals annually,¹² or 0.15%.

Figure 1 displays staff levels in five categories since 1977. These categories include staff working in the offices of

• Members,
• committees,
• leadership,
• officers and officials, and
• commissions.

Figure 1 also provides the distribution of Congress staff by category in 2023.

Table 1, in the "Data Tables" section below, provides detailed staff levels in those categories.

Figure 1. House Staff Levels by Category, 1977-2023

Source: Annual House telephone directories, online House Telephone Directory, CRS estimates and calculations. Notes: House Member office data are estimates developed from a sample of 45 Member offices for each year, 1977-2019, multiplied by the number of Member offices. Member office data for 2020-2023, and all other categories, 1977-2023, are based on a full count of directory listings.

House Member Offices

Staff levels in House Member offices have increased slightly from 6,556 in 1977 to 6,680 in 2023, or 1.89%. Since 2014, staff in Member offices have declined 0.49%, and they have declined 5.38% since 2004.

Figure 2 displays the distribution of House Member staff between Washington, DC, and district offices for selected years since 1977. Since 2013, Member staff growth has been relatively flat, and the average number of staff per Member office has held steady at 15.¹³ Table 2 in the "Data Tables" section below provides the estimated House Member staff working in Washington, DC, and district offices for selected years since 1977.

Figure 2. Distribution of House Member Office Staff, 2023

Source: Online House Telephone Directory, and CRS calculations.

Committees

Committee staff levels have shown the greatest decline among House staff categories, decreasing 38.13% since 1977. Since 2014, committee staff levels have fallen by 7.29%. Table 3 provides House committee data for 2014-2023.

Leadership Offices

The actual number of staff in House leadership offices grew from 62 in 1977 to 177 in 2023. This growth was relatively steady over time. As a proportion of House staff, leadership employees comprised 0.70% in 1977, and 1.92% in 2023.

Officers and Officials

Staff working in the offices of House officers and officials has grown 339.11% since 1977. Staff levels grew steadily from 1977 to 1991, and then showed a one-year drop of 33.15%, from 537 in 1992 to 359 in 1993. In 1994, staff levels returned to a level similar to 1992, and increased again in 1995 to 818, a one-year increase of 57.01%. After dropping to 704 in 1996, levels began a steady increase to a peak of 1,056 in 2008, an increase of 50.00%, before falling 8.96% to 946 in 2015. Since 2016, growth has been steady and peaked in 2022 at 1,178.

As a proportion of House staff, officers and officials comprise 12.88% of staff in 2023.

Commissions

Congressional commission staff levels are essentially flat, and have ranged from a high of 51 in 1977 to a low of 19 in a number of years, most recently in 2023. Congressional commissions have consistently comprised less than one-half of 1% of all House staff.

Discussion

Since 1977, the number of staff working for the House has grown. There have been increases in the number of staff working in chamber leadership offices, and larger increases in the staffing of chamber officers and officials. Staff have shifted from committee settings to leadership settings or the personal offices of Members. Some of these changes may be indicative of the growth of the House as an institution, increased reliance on centrally provided technical services (including information technology, legislative drafting, and physical and digital security), or the value the chamber places on its various activities.

The distribution of staff working directly for Members has shifted from committee settings to personal office settings. House committee staff has decreased. This may represent a shift from collective congressional activities typically carried out in committees (including legislative, oversight, and investigative work) to individualized activities typically carried out in Members' personal offices (including direct representational activities, constituent service and education, and political activity).

Data Tables