Jen Psaki's White House Salary: Press Secretary Among Highest-Paid Biden Staffers

Jen Psaki, the 34th White House press secretary, is leaving her post after a year and a half at the podium.

After Psaki departs her role next week, she will be replaced by her deputy Karine Jean-Pierre, who will be the first Black and openly gay person to hold the position of White House press secretary.

Little information is available on Psaki’s exact net worth, but it is estimated to be around $2 million to $2.5 million, The U.S. Sun reported.

The 43-year-old’s annual salary as press secretary is 180,000, according to the 2021 Annual Report to Congress on White House Staff. This places her among the most highly compensated staffers in President Joe Biden's administration.

Other staffers who receive the same salary as Psaki include White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain, communications director Kate Bedingfield and senior advisor Mike Donilon.

The top paid White House Biden staffer is Molly Groom, a policy advisor for immigration, who has an annual salary of $185,656. The second-highest-paid is senior policy advisor for broadband Elizabeth Hone, who makes $183,164 yearly, Forbes noted.

It remains unclear what Psaki will do after leaving the White House as she has not disclosed her plans.

But in April, Axios reported that Psaki is in talks with MSNBC to join the network after she leaves her post. She will host a show for NBC's streaming platform Peacock and appear on MSNBC's shows, the report claimed.

Psaki has not officially signed a contract with the progressive cable news network but has told some senior officials at the White House about her plans to join MSNBC, two unnamed sources familiar with the plans told Axios.

Psaki began her career in the early 2000s, working on the re-election campaigns of Iowa Democrats Tom Harkin for the Senate and Tom Vilsack for governor in 2001.

In 2004, she became deputy press secretary for John Kerry’s presidential campaign. In the following year, she served as communications director to former Rep. Joseph Crowley.

Prior to working for the Biden administration, she worked for Barack Obama’s administration as the White House deputy press secretary (2009); deputy communications director (2009–2011); spokesperson for the State Department (2013–2015); and the White House communications director (2015–2017).

Psaki left the White House in 2017 to become a CNN political contributor before Biden selected her as his press secretary.

Biden released a statement Thursday announcing that Jean-Pierre will formally begin serving as White House press secretary following Psaki's last day, which will be May 13.

"Karine not only brings the experience, talent and integrity needed for this difficult job, but she will continue to lead the way in communicating about the work of the Biden-Harris Administration on behalf of the American people," Biden said, adding that "Jen Psaki has set the standard for returning decency, respect and decorum to the White House Briefing Room."