Staff Pay Levels for Selected Positions in House Committees, 2001-2014

Summary

The level of pay for congressional staff is 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 committee offices; or comparison of congressional staff pay levels with those of other federal government pay systems.

This report provides pay data for 11 staff position titles that are used in House committees, and include the following: Chief Counsel; Communications Director; Counsel; Deputy Staff Director; Minority Professional Staff Member; Minority Staff Director; Professional Staff Member; Senior Professional Staff Member; Staff Assistant; Staff Director; and Subcommittee Staff Director.

Tables provide tabular pay data for each House committee staff position. Graphic displays are also included, providing representations of pay from three perspectives, including the following:

a line graph showing change in pay, depending on data availability;

a comparison at 5-, 10-, and 14-year intervals from 2014, depending on data availability, of the cumulative percentage change of pay of that position, to changes in pay of Members of Congress and federal civilian workers paid under the General Schedule in Washington, DC, and surrounding areas; and

distributions of 2014 pay, in $10,000 increments.

In the past five years (2010 and 2014), the change in median pay, in constant 2015 dollars, ranged from a 2.09% increase for counsels to a -26.93% decrease for senior professional staff members. Of the 11 staff positions, two saw pay increases while nine saw declines. This may be compared to changes to the pay of Members of Congress, -7.89%, and General Schedule, DC, -6.97%, over the same period.

Pay data for staff working in Senate committee offices are available in CRS Report R44325, Staff Pay Levels for Selected Positions in Senate Committees, FY2001-FY2014. Data describing the pay of congressional staff working in the personal offices of Senators and Members of the House are available in CRS Report R44324, Staff Pay Levels for Selected Positions in Senators’ Offices, FY2001-FY2014, and CRS Report R44323, Staff Pay Levels for Selected Positions in House Member Offices, 2001-2014, respectively.