House Staff Turnover

Keturah Hetrick at LegiStorm:

Last year's rumored staff exodus was more than just speculation: According to LegiStorm data, House staffers left their jobs at the highest rate in at least two decades.

House turnover has crept upward since about 2009, but the pandemic and Capitol insurrection pushed far more staffers than usual to leave their jobs in 2021 - 55 percent more than in the preceding year. Last year's rates mark the House's highest turnover since at least 2001, the first full year of LegiStorm's salary data.

House Democrats were overall poorer at retaining staff and lost workers at a 24 percent higher rate than Republicans. Democratic staffers have been at the forefront of a recent push for staffer unionization.

Still, it was two Republicans who led the House in the highest turnover rates. Then-Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), who resigned his seat in January to lead the Trump Media & Technology Group, lost left at nearly five times the House average. Fellow Republican Victoria Spartz (Ind.) came in second, with about 3.5 times average.

Reps. Nanette Barragán (D-Calif.), Sean Casten (D-Ill.), Jimmy Panetta (D-Calif.), Pat Fallon (R-Texas), Ken Buck (R-Colo.), Debbie Lesko (R-Ariz.), Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) and Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) rounded out the rest of the ten worst.

LegiStorm's staff turnover index is salary-weighted, meaning that the departure of a higher-paid staffer, such as a chief of staff, will count proportionately more than that of a staff assistant or other lower-paid staffer. LegiStorm considers only full-time, non-temporary staff and excludes all interns and fellows.