President Donald Trump’s office released a report on July 1 that reveals the salaries of White House staffers.
His office’s report didn’t indicate much about the compensation the president receives, although federal law sets his annual salary at $400,000. Trump donated his earnings from his first term in office to federal agencies and is expected to do the same again.
Still, the latest report gives a rare look into the people who work at the White House.
Among the 404 White House employees, the top paid staffer is Jacalynne Klopp. As a senior adviser, she is the only staffer to earn $225,700.
While not much is known about Klopp, she has worked in a program under Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Edgar Mkrtchian, the attorney adviser at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, has the second-highest salary at $203,645.
As Fox News reported, at least 33 staffers make $195,200. This list includes White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, border czar Tom Homan, chief of staff Susan Wiles, communications director Steven Cheung, and deputy chief of staff for Policy and Homeland Security adviser Stephen Miller.
Mike Waltz, an adviser to the president and the nominee for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, also makes as much as the likes of high-level staffers like Leavitt and Wiles. So does Peter Navarro, the senior counselor to the president.
Comparing Trump’s staff to previous years
Overall, Trump employs about 160 fewer people than predecessor Joe Biden but he has a higher portion of high earning staffers.
About 564 personnel worked at the Biden White House, as of July 2024.
He became the first president since Nixon to have more than 500 people on staff, but this so-called achievement touted by his administration was overshadowed by a high turnover rate of nearly 77%, according to a Fox News report from 2024.
The Biden White House credited the increase in staff to certain policy focuses, like establishing an office for pandemic preparedness and gun violence prevention.
His administration’s highest paid employees, Michelle Barrans, an associate counsel, earned $251,258, about $25,558 more than Trump’s highest earner and senior adviser, Klopp.
But only 21 staffers made more than $180,000 or more in the Biden White House, compared to more than 40 in Trump’s staff.
In 2020, Trump’s final year in office during his first term, the White House employed 412 staffers.
At the time, the highest paid employee was Peter Brown, the special representative for Puerto Rico’s Disaster Recovery, who also advised the president during Hurricane Dorian in 2019. He earned $190,289 at the time.
The average salary was $98,614, according to a report from the executive office, dated June 26.
Marco Rubio’s government salary? $0
Eight listed employees don’t receive government pay.
They hold a special designation, allowing them to work in the public sector without giving up their investments in the private sector.
According to a Wall Street Journal report on these employees, the federal government had an average of roughly 2,000 special government employees a year from 2005 to 2014.
Among the eight of Trump’s staffers is Marco Rubio, who has held several titles in the administration.
He currently serves as the Secretary of State, acting administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development and acting archivist for the National Archives and Records Administration as well as interim national security adviser to Trump.
Steve Witkoff, the special envoy to the Middle East who is coordinating peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, also does not get paid. He made his money as a real estate mogul.
Others on White House’s list are cryptocurrency and AI policy adviser David Sacks, and senior adviser to the White House Faith Office Paula White.
Sacks still heads his venture capital firm, Craft Ventures, while White still runs her ministry and gives speeches.
More than 161 employees, like coordinators, analysts, and staff assistants, make between $60,000 and $80,000. Special assistants earn between 121,500 and $150,000 and deputy assistants fall in the $155,000 to $175,000 window.
The director of speechwriting in Trump’s White House — Ross Worthington — earns $192,200. The six employees under him make between $92,500 and $121,500 a year. Meanwhile, Trump’s digital campaign manager has a salary of $74,500.
Two information services operators make nearly $60,000, the lowest salaries, with the exception of the special designations.