New York State ranks near the nation's top when it comes to legislative salaries and per-member spending by lawmakers, according to an Empire Center analysis of data from the National Conference of State Legislatures.

New York lawmakers in 2005 were paid the nation's third highest annual base salary at $79,500, according to the most recent NCSL salary data. Only lawmakers in California ($110,880) and Michigan ($79,650) were paid more than legislators in the Empire State. The NCSL data, made available by the Empire Center for New York State Policy, can be found here.

Other state-by-state breakdowns made available by the Empire Center show that as of 2004, New York's legislative budget was the country's third largest and per-member spending by Empire State lawmakers ranked fourth nationwide, according to the latest NCSL budget figures for state Legislatures.