Congressional staffers' student-loan debt, by the numbers

• Nearly 360 high-ranking congressional staffers have student loans.
• About half would be debt-free if Democrats canceled $50,000 per borrower.

As part of the exhaustive Conflicted Congress project, Insider reviewed thousands of financial-disclosure reports for top-ranking staffers to determine whether they have student-loan debt — a topic of significant debate on Capitol Hill.

Here's what Insider discovered, by the numbers:

Overall

• Total number of House staffers (Legistorm estimate): 10,832
• Total number of Senate staffers: 6,804
• High-ranking House staffers who filed timely 2020-21 financial disclosures (Insider analysis): 1,223
• High-ranking Senate staffers who filed timely 2020-21 financial disclosures: 964
• Total high-ranking House and Senate staffers with outstanding student-loan debt: 356
• Total number of outstanding student loans (combined): 512

Financials

• Over $250,001 in student-loan debt: 44
• Between $100,001 and $250,000 in student-loan debt: 73
• Between $50,001 and $100,000 in student- loan debt: 71
• Between $15,001 and $50,000 in student-loan debt: 110
• Under $15,000 in student-loan debt: 51
• Longest-held student loan: 32 years
• Most student loans taken in a single year: 7 (2012)
• Most student loans carried by one person: 11 (2007-09)
• Longest gap between taking student loans: 18 years (1997, 2015)
• Borrowers taking multiple student loans in a single year: 38
• Borrowers taking student loans two or more years in a row: 33
• Lowest agreed-upon student-loan rate: 0.125% (30 years)
• Highest agreed-upon student-loan rate: 11.71% (15 years)

Existing student loans by decade

• 1980s: 1
• 1990s: 17
• 2000s: 197
• 2010s: 278
• 2020s: 18

Political alignment with student-loan debt

• House Democratic staffers: 120
• House Republican staffers: 88
• Nonpartisan committee staffers: 15
• Senate Democratic staffers: 63
• Senate Republican staffers: 70
• Works for House or Senate leaders: 38
• Works for a congressional committee with jurisdiction over student-debt relief: 23

Student-loan debtors by job title (in descending order of frequency)

• Chief of staff: 88
• Chief counsel: 27
• Professional staff: 27
• Deputy chief of staff: 17
• Legislative director: 17
• Counsel: 16
• Communications director: 13
• General counsel: 13
• Staff director: 12
• Senior advisor: 11
• Deputy staff director: 10

Student-loan debtors by state delegation (in descending order of frequency)

• California: 40
• New York: 20
• Michigan: 14
• Florida: 13
• Texas: 13
• North Carolina: 12
• Illinois: 11
• South Carolina:11
• Washington: 11
• Alabama: 10
• Georgia: 10
• Kentucky: 9
• Pennsylvania: 9
• Oregon: 8
• Virginia: 8
• Arizona: 7
• Iowa: 7
• Louisiana: 7
• New Jersey: 7
• Vermont: 7
• Idaho: 6
• Minnesota: 6
• Mississippi: 6
• Oklahoma: 6
• Wisconsin: 6
• Massachusetts: 5
• Missouri: 5
• Ohio: 5
• Tennessee: 5
• Colorado: 4
• Kansas: 4
• New Hampshire: 4
• New Mexico: 4
• Rhode Island: 4
• Utah: 4
• West Virginia: 4
• Connecticut: 3
• Delaware: 3
• Maryland: 3
• Montana: 3
• Nevada: 3
• South Dakota: 3
• Indiana: 2
• Maine: 2
• Nebraska: 2
• Alaska: 1
• Arkansas: 1
• Hawaii: 1
• North Dakota: 1
• Wyoming: 0

"High-ranking staffers" include congressional aides who earn at least $132,552 a year. Such staffers are required to file annual financial disclosures with congressional officials.

Those who earn less are not required to file such financial disclosures — meaning there could be thousands of additional student-loan-debt-laden staffers toiling on Capitol Hill.