HILL STAFF NEWS: Pay Up For Most Senate Staff Positions
It’s not called the “Upper Chamber” simply because the U.S. Senate is the “world’s greatest deliberative body.” Being a senator involves hiring a lot of people on their personal staffs, with more for states with larger populations.
Senators also have staffers working through the committees they serve on, so it’s not unusual for an individual lawmaker to have 30 or 40 or more staffers at his or her beck and call.
And working for a senator or a Senate committee can be a well-paid position, compared to performing similar duties for a member of the “lower chamber,” the U.S. House of Representatives.
Data compiled for the period 2002 to 2023 by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) shows compensation up for most of the positions found in every senator’s office, but there were significant declines for six of the 24 staff slots studied.
As expected, being a senator’s Chief of Staff is typically the highest-pad position in the office. The median average for 2023 was $201,799, an increase over the previous year of 4.97 percent. Being the Deputy Chief of Staff is well-paid, too, with the median average of $185,272 representing a hefty 6.84 percent increase for 2023 over 2022.
Legislative Directors are usually next up in the pay scale, with the median average reported by CRS being $169,030. That’s an 8.3 percent hike, the second largest of the group.
Communications Directors are up there, too, with the median average of $153,187 representing a 7.45 percent increase year-over-year. State Directors do a little better than CDs, making on average $160,209, a 1.1 percent improvement. Scheduling Directors, at $120,029 (up 1.37 percent) are the only other positions with six-digit median averages.
Biggest pay boost for a position? Speechwriters are up 11.1 percent to a median pay rate of $90,147.
Senate office jobs with lower year-over-year median salary averages include Caseworkers ($61,515, -6.94 percent), Constituent Services Representatives ($60,629, -2.41 percent), Field Representatives ($69338, -7.80 percent), Legislative Assistants ($87,076, -3.95 percent), Regional Directors ($80658, -6.74 percent), and Schedulers ($90684, -6.01 percent).
Keep in mind when assessing these data that the median average is the value in a set of values that has an equal number of greater and lesser values. It is the “middle” average of a set of values.
Cover photo by Mika Baumeister on Unsplash