Pelosi announces maximum salary for House staff being raised to $212,000

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced on Friday that the House would once again raise its staff salary cap, bringing the maximum salary up to $212,100.

“As you know, our hard-working, patriotic Congressional staffers are integral to the functioning of the House of Representatives: ensuring this institution can effectively carry out our legislative and constituent responsibilities,” Pelosi said in a Dear Colleague letter.

“To that end, we must do all we can to retain and recruit the best talent in our nation — and to build a Congressional workforce that reflects the communities we are honored to serve,” she added.

Pelosi raised the maximum salary for House staff to $199,300 last year, after more than a decade of stagnating staff salaries in the wake of the lawmaker pay freeze put in place in 2009. The salary cap was raised again in May to $203,700 to maintain parity with Senate staffers.

Following the 2021 increase in the salary cap, House staff can now make more than their lawmaker bosses. Rank-and-file members of Congress earn $174,000 a year, while members of congressional leadership earn slightly more. 

Pelosi also instituted a minimum $45,000 salary for House staffers in May — the first time that Congress has had a salary floor for its staff.