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We're the first to categorize thousands of varying titles into 23 common roles
Member Offices can have up to 18 permanent and 4 non-permanent staff, but job titles vary widely (e.g., "Legislative Director" vs. "LD").

This groundbreaking approach delivers the most comprehensive and inclusive analysis, ensuring no title is overlooked.
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Accounting for Every Hat They Wear!
Many Capitol Hill staff wear multiple hats, often reflected in titles that have slashes like "Deputy Chief of Staff/Legislative Director."

At HillClimbers.org, we’ve meticulously categorized these multi-role positions, ensuring no role is overlooked.

By recognizing every responsibility a staffer holds, our data delivers the most complete and accurate representation of House offices.
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Complete and Accurate Analysis of Shared Employees!
Shared employees present a unique challenge. Some provide tech or finance support to multiple Member Offices, splitting their salary across budgets. Others are strategically shared between a Member Office and a Committee to optimize budgets—for example, a Chief of Staff might be paid $20,000 by the Member and $170,000 by the Committee.

At HillClimbers.org, we’ve accounted for these scenarios to ensure our data reflects true compensation values. Unlike others, we don't dilute averages by including only partial salaries. Our analysis provides precise insights into what roles like Chiefs of Staff actually earn, avoiding misleading salary ranges.
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We Translate the House of Reps Statements of Disbursment into Insights!
All payroll actions are reflected in the House of Representatives Statements of Disbursements found on House.gov

At HillClimbers.org, we’ve taken $3.8M+ records and made sense of them to provide our subscribers with the most accurate accounting of data ever put together on House salaries. Our interactive dashboards will equip you with the insights you need to successfully negotiate salaries with your future team.

Take a look at our analysis on All House Staff Here!
Climb Smarter on Capitol Hill
with real data on salaries, staffing, jobs, and career paths across House offices
For Job Seekers & STAFFERS
Secure your Job on Capitol Hill
Find current jobs, track real career paths, and see how people move up on the Hill.
Already on the Hill?
Staffers: get a free House Staffer Pass
Interviewing? Improve your negotiating position with a Job Negotiator Pass
Get the edge over other candidates
EXPLORE HILL JOBS
For MEMBER OFFICES
Run your Office with Real Data
Set competitive salaries, benchmark roles, and use workforce data to build a more stable, effective office.
Avoid overpaying, reduce turnover, and retain top staff.
Built for chiefs of staff, operations leaders, and hiring decision-makers.
SET COMPETITIVE SALARIES
For CAREER CENTERS
Help Students get to the Hill
Show students what roles exist, what they pay, and how quickly Hill careers actually progress over time.
Build a foothold in Congress for your school and attract the next cohort of students.
Turn vague interest in public service into concrete advising
ADVISE STUDENTS
For RESEARCHERS & JOURNALISTS
Work Directly with the Dataset
Analyze staffing, salaries, turnover, and office structure with structured data built for serious research and reporting
Researchers can gain access to longitudinal datasets from 2009 to now.
For think tanks, scholars, newsrooms, and congressional researchers
ACCESS THE DATASET
We've done the hard work for you
Our Source Data is Official
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We start with the U.S. House of Representatives Quarterly Statements of Disbursements found on House.gov

SUMMARY OF ALL STAFF

Explore House-wide stats since 2016

SALARY DATA FOR ALL STAFF

View visualizations for Member Offices since  2016

  • Titles to Roles
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    We're the first and only ones to classify thousands of unique and similar job titles into 23 roles found in Member Offices

    SEE THE ROLES
  • Multiple Roles
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    We've accounted for thousands of staff that wear multiple hats and have more than one role in their title

  • Shared Employees
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    We've make sure that staff paid partial salaries by multiple offices don't skew salary averages, down making our data highly accurate compared to others

Who's climbing the Hill with us?
Featuring UVA’s Batten School and congressional teams — more partners joining soon!

Affiliations shown do not imply government endorsement

See How Congressional Offices Are Built to Perform
The HillClimbers Index measures staffing capacity, workforce stability, and structural design across every House office.
Explore the HillClimbers Index

Built from more than a decade of workforce data, the Index reveals how staffing decisions shape institutional durability, upward mobility, and long-term performance.

Chart your own path in Congress
Our interactive tools let students, staffers, and seekers understand what it takes to move up from intern to chief!
discover your CONGRESSIONAL CAREER commute

We've tracked over 15 years of staff on the Hill and determined how long people stay in a position before moving up or on to better things

Average salaries rose significantly in 2022 but have dropped in 2025
Late in the 117th Congress, the House set new salary policies for staff and interns which increased Member Budgets by 20% however flat budgets for 2024 and 2025 mean that staff have seen pay cuts recently to make up for dwindling budgets. 2026 will see an increase.
SALARY DATA FOR ALL STAFF

View more visualizations for all Member Office staff

From intern to insider,
climb with confidence.

Now more than ever, our data is needed for you to accurately benchmark your pay, but you don't have to take our word for it. Everyone's been talking about Congressional salaries lately:

2 MAR 26
FNN
New data may change what we know about staffing, stability, and capacity on Capitol Hill

"One of the really interesting features I see in this is a career tracker. People who might want to become a Hill staffer and what a career on the Hill might look like."

By Terry Gerton
Federal News Radio

LISTEN HERE
26 FEB 26
ROLL CALL
Can Knowledge be power? For salaries on the Hill, maybe

“Tools like [𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗛𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗖𝗹𝗶𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝗲𝘅] could help Hill bosses monitor how inviting they look to job seekers, while also giving staff a window into which offices have high turnover or other potential red flags.”

By Nina Heller

READ ARTICLE
9 SEP 25
NOTUS
Too Controversial’: Congress Isn’t Planning to Give Itself a Raise — No Matter How Much Lawmakers Want One

By Riley Rogerson, Ursula Perano and Em Luetkemeyer

READ ARTICLE
9 APR 25
LEG BRANCH SC
Our Founder, Omar Awan, spoke on MRA formulation and the need to increase the clerk hire!

Along with Daniel Schuman of the American Governance Institute, Dan Lips from FAI, Danielle Stewart of POPVOX, and so many more!

WATCH HERE
4 FEB 25
THE HILL
Opinion:
Want to cut government waste? Pay congressional staffers more.

Written by Dr. John Lenczowski is founder, president emeritus and chancellor of the Institute of World Politics.

Read Article
8 Aug 24
POPVOX
Staff and Member pay are no longer linked, opening the pathway to improve staff pay.

Prior to 2023, no House employee could be paid more than a Member of Congress...

Read Article
13 Jun 24
Issue One
After Policy Changes, Junior-Level staffers earn more

Typical staff assistant on Capitol Hill no longer makes less than a living wage, but more reforms are needed to attract and retain staffers from all socioeconomic backgrounds...

Read Article
21 Mar 23
Roll Call
As budget cuts loom, group warns of effects on House staff pay

High turnover and brain drain on the Hill are possible effects of steep reductions...

Read Article
1 Sep 22
Roll Call
Survey: Budget boost raised Hill pay, but disparities remain

Half of respondents more likely to keep working in House, Senate after increases...

Read Article
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