- Each year the White House is required to report staff salaries to Congress.
- Biden's highest-paid official is Francis Collins, making $300,000 as Acting Science Advisor.
- Trump's top 10 highest-paid staffers made more than the Biden White House makes.
Earlier this month the White House released its annual report to Congress revealing White House personnel salaries.
The Biden administration's report disclosed the pay of more than 470 people, whose combined salaries total $46,759,727. Overall, the Biden White House employs more than 600 aides. About half of current White House employees make $100,000 or more with the other half making $90,000 or less.
There are 16 Biden White House employees who make $0 a year, including senior policy advisors for immigration, economic policy, public health and democracy and voting rights, among others. Some positions in the White House do not earn a salary because they are considered "detailees" who work for other agencies, which compensate them, and are assigned to work with the White House. Five people in the Trump White house made $0 a year, including Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, who both served as top advisers to the former president.
Salaries can change from administration to administration depending on a variety of factors, including the number of positions available, inflation, and the president's priorities.
Since the George W. Bush administration, the presidential salary has been $400,000 a year. Former President Donald Trump donated his salary to various federal agencies.
Vice President Kamala Harris makes $235,100 a year, the federally mandated salary for her position. Former Vice President Mike Pence received a 1.9% raise during his time in office, increasing the vice presidential salary to $230,700.
According to the report, the Biden White House's 27 highest-paid employees all make over $180,000. The top 10 highest-paid officials begins with Francis Collins, the Acting Science Advisor to the president, who makes $300,000 a year. In comparison, Trump's highest-paid employee was John Czwartacki, the senior adviser to the chief of staff for strategy and stakeholder engagement, who earned $239,595 annually.
The second highest-paid staffer in the Biden White House is Luisa Paiewonsky, who makes $191,300 as the senior policy advisor for transportation. Paiewonsky is followed by Stephanie Sykes, the director of intergovernmental affairs for infrastructure implementation at $183,100.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who took over for Jen Psaki in May, makes $180,000 a year. However, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, former press secretary for the Trump White House made $183,000 a year.
Biden's Chief of Staff Ron Klain makes $180,000 per annum, while Mick Mulvaney, former chief of staff to Trump, made $203,500.
Robert Blair, a Trump White House aide and senior adviser to the chief of staff's salary was set at $183,000, however Jennifer O'Malley Dillon and Bruce Reed who serve the Biden White House as assistants to the president and deputy chiefs of staff make $180,000.
Jake Sullivan, Biden's assistant to the president for national security affairs, earns $180,000 per annum, while Trump's security affairs assistant John Bolton earned $183,000.
Counsel to the president in the Biden White House all make $170,504 or below. Counsel in Trump's White House made $183,000 on average.
A number of Biden's White House salary differences are a result of the president's push to decrease the gender pay gap by 1% in the White House last July.
For the Biden White House, 91 roles contain the title "special assistant to the president." The Trump administration had 81 employees listed under the same title. A former White House employee told Insider there is "a lot to glean" about the titles that are given to people in the administration.
"It tells you where the priorities are," the official said. "Titles are free, as people like to say, but you have to be careful with those titles too. They don't mean as much if everybody's got them."
Some White House employees go to work for an administration with the understanding that their White House experience will boost their prospects of a higher salary in the private sector.
"You get a lot of people that go in for the opportunity to feel like they're really making an impact and it's really powerful to be able to work in the White House," a former White House official who worked on pay told Insider. "But then, I think you do get one or two people going in and saying … 'okay, how can I cash out eventually.'"