New York’s state legislators would like a raise, but a review of state payroll data shows that more than three-quarters of them already earn more than their frequently cited $79,500 statutory base salary.
The extra pay consists of annual stipends issued to legislators who hold committee posts or other leadership titles. The payments, enumerated in Article 2, Section 5A of the Legislative law, range in value from $9,000 to $41,500.
At the start of 2015, the most recent full year for which legislative pay data are available, all 63 members of the state Senate were eligible to collect a stipend on top of base pay. (Some senators have declined to accept the stipend associated with their leadership position.) Nearly five out of six senators were paid more than $90,000 in 2015, including 15 who were paid more than $100,000.
More than two-thirds of the members of the Assembly received a stipend, with 104 assembly members collecting them in 2015. More than half of Assembly members (81) were paid more than $90,000, including 12 who were paid more than $100,000.
The New York Legislature’s base pay of $79,500 is the third highest in the country, trailing only California and Pennsylvania, and its operational budget of $906,418 per member (as of 2012) is the fourth largest, behind state legislatures in California, Pennsylvania and Florida. As of 2011, New York spent the most of any state on added legislative pay stipends, according to this analysis by an Illinois newspaper, based on National Conference of State Legislatures data.
Click here for a 50-state rundown of legislative pay and legislative budgets.
Albany lawmakers have given themselves five raises since 1970. Adjusting for inflation, their base pay over the past 46 years has averaged $89,630. The last raise was adopted in 1998 and took effect in 1999. At that point, it was the equivalent in 2016 dollars of $115,171.
About the Author
You may also like
Opinion Poll – Tort Reform
Executive Summary
New Yorkers are dissatisfied with New York’s litigation environment and broadly favor changes to the state’s liability laws.
Voters overwhelmingly support reforms that align legal outcomes more closely with personal re Read More
New York’s Health Premiums Stayed at the Top in 2025
New Yorkers and their employers paid the highest health premiums in the lower 48 states in 2025, and their costs moved further above the U.S. average, according to recently released federal data.
Read More
Nine Millionaires among NY’s Public Authorities in 2025
Nine millionaires, all healthcare executives, emerged among the 88,228 New York public authority employees, according to, the Empire Center’s transparency website.
The data includes payroll information from 385 different agen Read More
NY’s Medicaid Fraud Watchdog Shows Declining Performance
Enforcement by the New York's Office of Medicaid Inspector General has dropped in recent years across a range of benchmarks – a sign that the state's anti-fraud efforts have slackened even as its Medicaid spending soared. Read More
Long Island schools: Ahead of a very mediocre pack
Long Island may be New York's strongest case that money matters in education — and also its strongest warning that, past a certain point, more money is not the answer.
Long Island is widely regarded as one of New York's better education regions, exce Read More
K-12 SOS Little Falls pilot
SUMMARY
Little Falls City School District’s student results are mixed compared with the state average. The district is below the state average in Grades 3-8 reading and math, U.S. History and Government Regents, and the four-year graduation ra Read More
Another Unrealistic Sales Pitch for AlbanyCare
Proponents of establishing a single-payer healthcare system in New York State are making a fresh set of unrealistic claims about their plan – this time by highlighting the supposed benefits for local governments.
Read More
132 NYSLRS Retirees Receive Pensions Over $200K in FY2026
A total of 132 retirees from the New York State and Local Retirement System (NYSLRS) were eligible to collect $200,000 or more in pensions during the 2026 fiscal year, according to , the Empire Center’s government transparency website.
Among the 132 Read More