Like millions of Americans throughout the country, you power be spending today glued to the TV or social media as Election Day predictions and results rotate in.
After months, and sometimes years, of campaigning, hours spent prepping, and thousands of dollars raised, 35 winners volition be sworn into the US Senate in January. Senate races in Michigan, Texas, Ohio, and Maine have been garnering headlines for months.
In supplement to their many new responsibilities in office, there are additionally a bunch of perks that arrive alongside being a top lawmaker, including several that final far beyond their period in Congress.
Here are several of the biggest bonuses of being a US senator.
A senator's lifelong pension can be up to 80% of their salary.
The Federal Employees Retirement System provides idiosyncratic pension plans to members of Congress, and the amount depends on their age, salary, and figure of years in the Senate.
Based on the congressional pay of $174,000 a twelvemonth for most senators (it hasn't been updated since 2009), an 80% pension provides a lifelong advantage of $139,200.
This places members onward of the bulk of Americans, for whom the 2025 median family earnings was $87,460, according to the Census Bureau.
If a associate of Congress dies in office, their family normally receives a $174,000 payout.
It's called a death gratuity, and it equals one twelvemonth of the member's salary, paid to an eligible subsister or next of kin.
By comparison, eligible survivors of armed forces personnel who die during on energetic duty or in certain reserve statuses obtain $100,000.
Every legislator gets an allowance from the authorities to run their offices.
The Senators' Official Personnel and Office Expense Account, or SOPOEA, is for authoritative agency operations, personnel salaries, travel, and another expenses.
It comes immediately from the US Treasury, aka our taxes. While the two senators from the identical province are allocated the identical amount of money, not all states obtain the identical amount.
It's according to a equation that takes population, extend from DC, and communication allocations into consideration.
There is a flat rate, which method all legislator volition obtain at smallest $677,100, although the 2026 Senate Appropriations Committee report showed that SOPOEA finances really ranged from $4,296,524 to $6,621,784, alongside an average of $4,664,423.
For 90 days following they depart office, members have admission to "franking" mail, or sending authoritative communication to their constituents.
You power be wondering, what's so particular concerning that?
Well, there's one big advantage to franking mail: You don't have to pay postage, which saves the legislator a lot of prosperity in the lengthy run.
Congressional benefits broaden beyond Capitol Hill, including liberated parking at DC-area airports.
Members of Congress, as fine as Supreme Court justices and diplomats, get liberated parking at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and Washington Dulles International Airport.
The perk dates rear decades, as shown in the photo complete of a car owned by a associate of the 105th Congress, parked at Reagan in 1998.
Senators additionally obtain preferential care concerning transporter client service.
A lobbyist told Roll Call in 2011 that most important airlines have dedicated client assistance phone lines to assistance those on Capitol Hill, and that senators can double-book flights.
During the TSA attack before this year, Delta suspended several of its perks for senators, specified as expedited security, although the particular array remained operational.
There's additionally the awesome haircuts.
The Senate Hair Care Services has been functioning since the first 19th Century, providing a assortment of grooming services including haircuts and manicures.
Don't ignore the personal subway, either.
The Capitol subway system, which runs below the Capitol and connects it to legislative agency buildings, has been in location since 1909. It consists of three lines: Two for the Senate and one for the House of Representatives.
According to the Architect of the Capitol (AOC), which operates the train line, it's there to "allow for harmless and expedient travel" for members to journey from their offices to chambers inside the Capitol to vote.
Senators get admission to fancy gyms that no one's allowed to see inside.
Per a 2011 ABC News report, senators paid $40 a duration for gyms armed alongside "flat-screen TVs, exercise machines and a swimming pool."
Former members can motionless bask on-site amenities including the House and Senate dining rooms.
Once you depart the Senate, that doesn't average your perks disappear. You motionless get admission to the gym, particular parking, materials through the Library of Congress, and dining facilities.
They can additionally motionless buy from the Senate Stationery Room, which carries many supplies and furnishings.
It's basically a Senators-only Staples that operates via the Senate Stationery Room Revolving Fund — so the revenue go rear into the store's prosperity and are used to restock inventory.
Senators get plentifulness of period in their residence states.
The Senate's calendar includes lengthy stretches distant from Washington.
Its 2026 schedule lists 133 days of planned recess periods, whenever senators are mostly rear in their states fairly than holding flat sessions in the chamber.
That period is not necessarily a vacation: Senators frequently use it to encounter constituents, clasp events, behavior oversight, and activity on legislation.
Ellen Cranley worked on an before type of this story.
Editor's Note: This narrative was initially published in January 2019 and was most lately updated in November 2026.
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Gabbi Shaw is a newsman on Business Insider's editorial partnerships team. She has covered entertainment, travel, food, and manner for Business Insider and Insider Inc.'s partners, including MSN, Apple News, and Yahoo since 2018, and her activity has taken her to iconic mansions of the Gilded Age, the Westminster Dog Show, Disney World, the Hamptons, and additional fast-food restaurants than she cares to remember.She graduated from Tulane University in 2017 alongside a flat in community health and now lives in New York City.
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