The latest disclosure of White House staff salaries shows a pay structure that is far more compressed than the org chart suggests. Under the annual report that the White House Office must submit to Congress, the 34 highest-paid staffers earn either $197,200 or $195,200. The chief of staff, the press secretary and the staff secretary sit in the lower of those two bands, which is also the band of most senior policy advisors. This analysis looks at what the numbers show, what they hide, and why a $2,000 gap at the top says more about Washington than about compensation.
What the White House Salary Report Actually Shows
The report was delivered to Congress on July 1 and covers every employee in the White House Office, from aides and advisors to department heads. The highest-paid staffers earn up to $197,200 a year. Lower-paid roles include research assistants and press assistants. The White House did not respond to Business Insider’s request for comment on the figures, so any interpretation of pay decisions is inference rather than confirmed rationale.
Roughly, the top of the list breaks into two tiers:
| Salary tier | Number of staffers | Typical titles |
|---|---|---|
| $197,200 | 9 | Senior policy advisors, a policy advisor, deputy and executive directors of task forces and councils |
| $195,200 | 25 | Chief of staff, counsel to the president, communications director, press secretary, border czar, economic and domestic policy chiefs |
The difference between the tiers is $2,000, or about 1%. That is not a hierarchy in any meaningful sense. It is closer to a salary ceiling that the administration fills almost uniformly.
The Highest-Paid White House Staffers: A Closer Look
The $197,200 Tier Rewards Policy Specialists
The nine top earners are not the household names. They include senior policy advisors such as Gary Barnett, Lucas Croslow, J.C. Miller and Joseph Simonson, plus Scott Brady, executive director of the Anti-Fraud Task Force, and Blake Deeley, deputy executive director of the National Energy Dominance Council. Harry Jung, deputy director of the Presidential Council of Advisors for Digital Assets, also earns $197,200. Nick Stewart, a policy advisor on the team negotiating to end the war in Iran, is on the same level.
Several have regulatory or agency backgrounds. Croslow previously served as general counsel at the Federal Trade Commission, and Simonson was that agency’s director of public affairs. The pattern suggests the administration pays a small premium for subject-matter specialists who can run narrow, high-priority portfolios. Energy, anti-fraud and digital assets are examples. The premium is modest, but it is a premium.
The $195,200 Tier Covers Power and Proximity
The larger group at $195,200 contains the people with the most visible authority. Susie Wiles held the chief of staff post at this level. So did Stephen Miller, then deputy chief of staff for policy and Homeland Security advisor. Others in the tier include Kevin Hassett at the National Economic Council, Vince Haley at the Domestic Policy Council, Peter Navarro as senior counselor for trade and manufacturing, and Tom Homan as border czar. Counsel to the president David Warrington and communications director Steven Cheung are listed here as well.
The consequence is plain. Authority, access and public profile do not translate into higher pay. The person who controls the president’s schedule earns less than a senior policy advisor with a narrower brief.
How White House Staff Salaries Compare With Everyday Earnings
Context matters here, because the figures can be spun as either extravagant or modest. The Social Security Administration puts the average American wage at $72,800 for 2025. Against that benchmark, a $195,200 salary is about 2.7 times the national average. This is a comfortable income by any national standard.
Against the surrounding labor market, the picture changes. In 2025, the top 1% of earners in Maryland and Virginia, which border the District of Columbia, earned $677,543 and $701,792 respectively. A top White House staffer’s salary is therefore under 30% of the threshold for the top 1% in either neighboring state. The president’s $400,000 salary, which independently wealthy presidents such as John F. Kennedy, Herbert Hoover and Donald Trump have chosen to donate, is only about 57% to 59% of those thresholds.
Calling White House staffers underpaid would be an overstatement. Calling them richly paid relative to the private-sector talent they compete with would be equally inaccurate.
The honest reading is that public service in the executive branch carries a real but bounded discount. For lawyers, economists and finance or technology specialists, that discount is large. For career political operatives, whose private-sector alternatives are lobbying or consulting, it is smaller and often temporary.
Why the $0 Salaries Matter as Much as the Highest Pay
The report also lists senior figures who declared a $0 salary from the White House Office. Marco Rubio and David Sacks are the examples cited. According to the report, such staffers either forgo pay or are compensated through another branch of government. Anyone reading a salary list as a measure of influence needs to account for this. A zero does not imply low status. It reflects employment arrangements, such as detail assignments or other statutory positions, that sit outside this particular ledger.
The same caution applies to the digital asset roles. The cryptocurrency-focused council, established in 2025, appears twice in the top tier: Patrick Witt as executive director at $195,200, and Harry Jung as deputy director at $197,200. The deputy out-earns his boss by $2,000. This reinforces the point that titles and pay are only loosely correlated.
How Much Does the White House Chief of Staff Make?
For readers asking this directly, the answer in this report is $195,200. That figure applied to Susie Wiles, who left the role on November 6, when Trump announced the move on Truth Social and said she “has done an outstanding job.” Trump named Stephen Miller as her replacement, calling him “one of my most trusted advisors,” and Miller starts on November 9. The report lists Miller at $195,200 in his previous role, so a pay change is not established. The role of White House chief of staff carries no separate, higher legal pay tier in the data presented here.
The press office tells a similar story. Karoline Leavitt earned $195,200 as press secretary before leaving the role in August. Katie Zacharia briefly replaced her, and no permanent successor has been announced. In legislative affairs, James Braid left in early October and was succeeded by Katie Bailey.
Reading the Data Responsibly: Limitations and Common Mistakes
A Snapshot, Not a Live Roster
The report reflects July 2026 staffing, yet at least five of the listed people have since changed roles or left. John Coale, listed as deputy special envoy to Ukraine, has been appointed special envoy to Belarus. Trump also nominated him in October 2026 as Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, though he has not yet been confirmed. Anyone treating the list as current will make errors within months.
Base Salary Is Not Total Compensation
The figures show annual salary only. They exclude benefits, retirement contributions, post-employment earning power and the career value of the title. The last item is often the largest. Former staffers routinely move into consulting, law, media and advocacy at pay that dwarfs their government salary. That reality is a persistent policy concern, but the report does not measure it, so any claim about it here would be speculation.
Three Mistakes to Avoid
- Equating salary with influence. The $0 entries and the flat pay structure show that pay is a poor proxy for power.
- Ignoring the benchmark. Comparing salaries only with the national average overstates generosity, while comparing them only with the top 1% understates it.
- Assuming stability. Turnover in communications, legislative affairs and the chief of staff post means the roster changes faster than annual reports.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much do White House staffers make?
In the latest report, the highest-paid staffers earn $197,200 or $195,200 a year. Junior roles such as research assistants and press assistants earn considerably less.
Who are the highest-paid White House staffers?
Nine staffers earn $197,200, mostly senior policy advisors and task force or council directors. Another 25, including the chief of staff, counsel to the president and communications director, earn $195,200.
Do some White House officials earn nothing?
Yes. Marco Rubio and David Sacks declared $0 salaries from the White House Office, either forgoing pay or being compensated through another branch of government.
Where does the salary data come from?
The White House is legally required to send Congress the salaries of all White House Office employees each year. The data discussed here was shared on July 1.
The Real Story Is a Pay Ceiling, Not a Pay Ladder
The most important insight in this data is structural. With 34 senior staffers clustered within $2,000 of each other, compensation is not functioning as a management tool. Loyalty, access and mission are doing the work that salary does elsewhere. That is sustainable while the prestige of the job and the exit opportunities remain strong. It becomes fragile if staffers feel the discount against private-sector pay is too steep, or if turnover accelerates.
Watch the leadership transition closely. If Stephen Miller’s tenure as chief of staff brings a wave of reassignments, the next disclosure will show whether the flat structure holds or whether the administration begins to differentiate pay to retain key roles. Another open question is whether the vacant press secretary role will be filled at the same $195,200 level. If the top of the White House pay scale stays frozen while roles keep changing, the real question is not who earns the most. It is who is willing to stay for the least.
Source note: figures are drawn from the White House salary report as summarized by Business Insider, and average wage data from the Social Security Administration.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do the chief of staff and press secretary earn less than some senior policy advisors?
The report shows pay is nearly flat at the top. Nine staffers, mostly senior policy advisors and task force directors, earn $197,200, while 25 officials with greater visibility, including the chief of staff and press secretary, earn $195,200. The article infers a small premium for specialists, but the White House did not confirm this.
Is the $2,000 gap between the two top salary tiers significant?
Not really. The $2,000 difference is only about 1% of salary, so it works more like a near-uniform ceiling than a true hierarchy. The article argues that the gap says more about how Washington sets pay than about the value placed on individual roles.
Why can't the report explain the reasons behind these pay decisions?
The White House did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment, so there is no official rationale. Any explanation, such as paying extra for subject-matter expertise in energy, anti-fraud or digital assets, is inference drawn from the pattern of titles and backgrounds rather than a confirmed policy.
How does a top White House salary compare with the average American wage?
The Social Security Administration puts the 2025 average wage at $72,800. A $195,200 salary is roughly 2.7 times that figure, which is comfortable by national standards. The article notes the comparison changes when measured against the high-earning local labor market around Washington, D.C.
Who is covered by the annual White House salary report?
The report, delivered to Congress on July 1, covers every employee of the White House Office, from top aides, advisors and department heads to lower-paid roles such as research assistants and press assistants. It does not cover staff of other executive offices or agencies.