Legislative Director Overview
Working as a Legislative Director
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a legislative director. For example, did you know that they make an average of $33.27 an hour? That's $69,194 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 8% and produce 6,300 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Legislative Director Do
There are certain skills that many legislative directors have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed analytical skills, speaking skills and leadership skills.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a legislative director, we found that a lot of resumes listed 41.5% of legislative directors included legislative process, while 10.3% of resumes included policy issues, and 5.3% of resumes included public policy. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the legislative director job title. But what industry to start with? Most legislative directors actually find jobs in the non profits and education industries.
How To Become a Legislative Director
If you're interested in becoming a legislative director, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 44.2% of legislative directors have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 27.0% of legislative directors have master's degrees. Even though most legislative directors have a college degree, it's impossible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a legislative director. When we researched the most common majors for a legislative director, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or master's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on legislative director resumes include doctoral degree degrees or associate degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a legislative director. In fact, many legislative director jobs require experience in a role such as legislative assistant. Meanwhile, many legislative directors also have previous career experience in roles such as internship or legislative aide.
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Legislative Director Jobs
Legislative Director Career Paths
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a legislative director can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as chief of staff, progress to a title such as executive director and then eventually end up with the title executive director.
What is the right job for my career path?
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the rights job to get there.
Average Salary for a Legislative Director
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
United States Courts Director-Office of Legislative Affairs Director-Office of Legislative Affairs | United States Courts United States Courts | 11/20/2020 11/20/2020 | $167,36111/20/2020 $167,361 |
Judicial Branch Director-Office of Legislative Affairs Director-Office of Legislative Affairs | Judicial Branch Judicial Branch | 11/20/2020 11/20/2020 | $167,36111/20/2020 $167,361 |
State of Minnesota Legislative and Policy Director-Planner Senior State Legislative and Policy Director-Planner Senior State | State of Minnesota State of Minnesota | 11/03/2020 11/03/2020 | $50,17511/03/2020 $50,175 |
State of Minnesota Legislative and Policy Director-Planner Senior State Legislative and Policy Director-Planner Senior State | State of Minnesota State of Minnesota | 10/29/2020 10/29/2020 | $50,17510/29/2020 $50,175 |
Oklahoma Teachers' Retirement System Legislative Director Legislative Director | Oklahoma Teachers' Retirement System Oklahoma Teachers' Retirement System | 09/30/2020 09/30/2020 | $55,68909/30/2020 $55,689 |
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Top Colleges for Legislative Directors
1. Stanford University
Stanford, CA
2. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA
3. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL
4. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA
5. Villanova University
Villanova, PA
6. Boston University
Boston, MA
7. New York University
New York, NY
8. University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
Minneapolis, MN
9. Harvard University
Cambridge, MA
10. Duke University
Durham, NC
Entry Level Jobs For Becoming A Legislative Director
Top Skills For a Legislative Director
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 41.5% of legislative directors listed legislative process on their resume, but soft skills such as analytical skills and speaking skills are important as well.
- Legislative Process, 38.7%
- Policy Issues, 11.2%
- Press Releases, 6.5%
- Public Policy, 5.6%
- Committee Hearings, 2.6%
- Other Skills, 35.4% See All Legislative Director Skills
Best States For a Legislative Director
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a legislative director. The best states for people in this position are New York, Pennsylvania, Maine, and Connecticut. Legislative directors make the most in New York with an average salary of $105,342. Whereas in Pennsylvania and Maine, they would average $96,375 and $94,938, respectively. While legislative directors would only make an average of $90,631 in Connecticut, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. District of Columbia
$119,211
Avg. Salary
2. New York
$105,342
Avg. Salary
3. Rhode Island
$89,950
Avg. Salary