Best educated offices are ranked by calculating an average education score for current staff. The education score is based on degrees held (e.g., a PhD is weighted more heavily than a Bachelor's degree) and the U.S. News Best Colleges rank of the awarding institution (e.g., a top-10 national university is weighted more heavily than a 101st ranked liberal arts college).
Annual salary rates are an estimation of the salary payments a staff member would receive for a particular position if that position were held for an entire year. This number is calculated based on actual payments received and the number of days he or she held that position. Annual salary rate data only includes staff working in full-time, permanent positions. Where a staffer works for a single member in multiple offices concurrently (e.g., in both the personal office and a leadership or committee office) all salary payments are considered together in calculating the annual salary rate. If a staffer works in different positions that do not overlap (e.g., a promotion within an office, or leaving one office to accept a new position in a different office), annual salary rates are calculated and included separately for each sequential position. Staffers who are shared among multiple member offices during a particular time period are excluded from the data, as are positions held for fewer than 30 days in a year.
