More Than Half Of Senate Staffers Make More Than Senators, 36% Of House Staffers Make More than Reps

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 03/16/2026) More than half of the salaried employees working in the Michigan Senate earn more than the senators themselves, according to a review of the updated employee salaries received by MIRS via House rules. 

The chamber has 300 salaried employees, with 159 of them making more than the $71,685 base salary paid to rank-and-file House members. 

Of the 159 employees, 73 of them make more than the $95,085 salary allotted to the Senate Majority Leader. That's nearly 46 percent.  

In the House, more than one in three employees earn a higher salary than the lawmakers themselves, according to information posted on the House website. 

Of the chamber's 467 full-time employees, 169 earn more than the $71,685 base salary paid to rank-and-file House members. That's 36 percent. 

Of those employees, 55 also earn more than the Speaker of the House, whose salary is $95,985. That’s almost 12 percent.  

The share of higher-paid staff has steadily increased in recent years. In 2023, 20 percent of staffers earned more than House members, and 9 percent made more than the Speaker. 

About 16.7 percent of House staff earned more than lawmakers in 2021, while roughly 8 percent made more than the speaker. 

In 2019, 13 percent of the 460 staffers earned more than a regular House member. 22 of those members made more than the House speaker. 

Former State Officers Compensation Commission (SOCC) member and three-term state Rep. Tom Cochran was not surprised by the trend, saying it largely reflects the fact that legislative salaries have remained frozen since 2002. 

"The problem is that there's just no wherewithal to raise salaries for the legislators," Cochran said. "And it's really unfortunate, because I think it's going to cause harm to the body itself." 

Legislative pay has been effectively locked in place for more than two decades.

Lawmakers last adjusted their salary in 2009 when they voluntarily cut their pay by 10 percent during the Great Recession, reducing it from $79,650 to the current $71,685. 

The political difficulty surrounding legislative pay dates back even further. 

In 2000, lawmakers declined to reject a 38 percent salary increase recommended by the SOCC, raising their pay to $79,650. The move drew public backlash and led legislators to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot changing how pay raises take effect. 

Under the system voters swiftly approved, any recommendation from the compensation commission must be approved by both the House and Senate before it can take effect — a hurdle that has prevented raises for lawmakers ever since. 

Cochran, who served on the commission from 2022 to 2026, said the panel unanimously supported a proposal last year that would have increased salaries by 25 percent for elected officials, but it failed to gain legislative approval. 

"They're concerned about getting reelected," Cochran said. "They know if they were to give themselves raises, it would be the death knell for their reelection." 

Cochran said tying legislative pay to inflation would be "the least that they should do," adding that many of the legislators travel long distances for a session every week at the Capitol. 

Henry Yanez, a newly appointed member of the compensation commission and former state representative from 2013 to 2019, echoed that sentiment that rising costs have made serving in the Legislature increasingly difficult financially. 

"You look at how costs have increased over the years — the cost of vehicles, travel, just everyday expenses — and legislators are falling behind," Yanez said, though he wasn't sure an inflationary increase was the right answer. 

Yanez said lawmakers often face significant personal costs to serve, particularly those traveling long distances to Lansing while maintaining homes and families in their districts. 

"There are a lot of expenses to being a legislator," he said. "Prices keep going up, the cost of living keeps going up, and there's no pay increase to match that." 

While Yanez said legislators should receive fair compensation, he suggested potential changes could focus on smaller adjustments, such as increases to stipends or retirement contributions, rather than large salary increases. 

Still, he said the issue will eventually need to be addressed if Michigan wants to maintain being one of ten states that have a full-time Legislature.  

"We can't lose good people because of the pay," Yanez said. "There has to be some way to compensate these folks and try to keep it apolitical."