White House staff salaries: Here’s how much Biden’s top advisors are paid
(NEXSTAR) — Some of the best-known names in the West Wing of the White House are taking home the maximum staff salary, according to documents released by the Biden administration this week.
The White House published the gender and pay analysis of its staff on Thursday as it delivered a required annual report to Congress listing the title and salary of every White House office employee.
The administration said the data shows it is “the most diverse administration in history” and also has only a narrow pay gap between men and women on staff.
Several of the most powerful members of Biden’s inner circle — chief of staff Ron Klain, counselor Steve Ricchetti, legislative affairs director Louisa Terrell, senior advisors Mike Donilon and Cedric Richmond — are all listed as earning the maximum salary of $180,000 annually. Press Secretary Jen Psaki, deputy chiefs of staff Jen O’Malley Dillon and Bruce Reed, special advisor Neera Tanden and several members of the national security team, also hit the salary limit, according to the White House.
Dozens of other influential figures, including senior adviser Anita Dunn, earn six-figure salaries as well. At the other end of the spectrum, several junior advisors and assistants earn $48,000 annually, according to the White House report.
More than a dozen listed employees earn no salary at all, most of whom serve in an advisory role on the President’s Commission on the Supreme Court.
The average salary for women in the administration is $93,752, while men average $94,639, representing about a 1% pay gap.
That compares with a 37% gender pay gap in President Donald Trump’s administration during his first year in office, while President Barack Obama’s pay gap was 16% at the same point in his presidency, according to an American Enterprise Institute analysis of staff salaries.
“In alignment with the president’s commitment to diversity and pay equity, the White House has taken significant steps to ensure the White House staff reflects the diversity of the country and the highest standards of economic and social justice for all,” the White House said in a statement accompanying its report to Congress.
Overall, about 60% of Biden’s White House staff is female. Women make up about 50.8% of the American population, according the 2019 U.S. Census, and they make up a 47.0% share within the labor force, as reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Biden last week signed an executive order to advance diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility, and hired the White House’s first chief diversity and inclusion director.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.