How Much Do Members of Congress Make?

Every senator, representative, delegate and the resident commissioner earns the same base salary. Six officers earn more:

• Speaker of the House (Mike Johnson): $223,500
• President Pro Tempore of the Senate (Chuck Grassley): $193,400
• Senate Majority Leader (John Thune): $193,400
• Senate Minority Leader (Charles Schumer): $193,400
• House Majority Leader (Steve Scalise): $193,400
• House Minority Leader (Hakeem Jeffries): $193,400

Members receive no extra pay for chairing or serving on committees, and are paid only for the terms they are elected to — the salary stops when the term ends. With every seat filled, Congress’s salaries come to $94,280,500 a year.

Federal law schedules a cost-of-living adjustment for members every January. Congress has blocked it every year since 2009, writing the freeze into appropriations laws — most recently P.L. 119-103, enacted September 2, 2026. Without a freeze, the maximum 2027 increase would be 2.8% ($4,900).

Measured by the consumer price index, the frozen salary buys about 33% less than it did in 2009: $174,000 today is worth $115,950 in 2009 dollars.

A pay change Congress votes for itself cannot take effect until after the next House election. The annual adjustments are governed by the Ethics Reform Act of 1989 and this amendment, and generally take effect in January.

Before then, pay moved between a daily rate and an annual one: 1789–1815: $6.00 a day; 1815–1817: $1,500 a year; 1817–1855: $8.00 a day; 1855–1865: $3,000 a year; 1865–1871: $5,000 a year; 1871–1873: $7,500 a year; 1873–1907: $5,000 a year; 1907–1925: $7,500 a year; 1925–1932: $10,000 a year; 1932–1933: $9,000 a year; 1933–1935: $8,500 a year; 1935–1947: $10,000 a year; 1947–1955: $12,500 a year.

• Health insurance: since January 1, 2014, members can get coverage through the Affordable Care Act exchange, DC Health Link, rather than the federal employees’ plan. The Office of the Attending Physician gives emergency care, with further services for an annual fee ($650 in 2026).
• Life insurance: members can join the Federal Employees Group Life Insurance Program.
• Social Security: mandatory for every member since January 1, 1984.
• Outside earned income is capped at 15% of Executive Schedule level II pay — $33,855 in 2026 — and some kinds are banned outright.
• Honoraria (speaking fees) are banned: for representatives since January 1, 1991, for senators since August 14, 1991.
• No special tax break: the $3,000 deduction for living away from home was repealed by the 2017 tax law, effective December 22, 2017.
• No student-loan help: members are ineligible for the House and Senate staff loan-repayment programs.

Members first elected in 1984 or later are covered automatically by the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), the same system as other federal workers, and all members pay Social Security. The pension is a percentage of the average of their three highest-paid years for each year served:

• Covered before 2013: 1.7% a year for the first 20 years, 1% after. Twenty years at $174,000 pays $59,160 a year.
• Covered after 2012: 1% a year, or 1.1% with 20 years retiring at 62 or later. Twenty years pays $34,800, or $38,280 at 62.
• Older CSRS plan: 2.5% a year, capped at 80% of final salary. FERS has no cap.

Members contribute toward it from their pay — 1.3% if first covered before 2013, 3.1% if first covered in 2013, 4.4% if first covered after 2013. As of October 1, 2022, 619 retired members were drawing a pension: 261 under CSRS averaging $84,504, and 358 under FERS averaging $45,276.

Each representative also gets a Members’ Representational Allowance to run their office — staff, district offices, travel and mail — which is not salary and cannot be spent on personal or campaign costs. Since 2023 the allowances have ranged from $1,849,149 to $2,088,499, averaging $1,928,107; most of it is the $1,434,751 staff component every member receives. Senators have an equivalent account, set by a formula that depends on their state.