Priced Out: Legislative Salaries as Institutional Exclusion

This study examines how legislative salary shapes descriptive representation in U.S. state legislatures, focusing on both candidate recruitment and electoral outcomes. I theorize that salary functions as an institutional gatekeeping mechanism that structures who can afford to run for office. Using state-level election data from 1974 to 2018 and variation in legislative pay, the analysis evaluates whether higher salaries expand candidate pools and improve representation for women and racial minorities. The findings show that increased salaries are associated with greater overall candidate entry, but these gains are concentrated among white and male candidates. Although women’s candidacy rises modestly, their legislative representation declines, and minority representation does not improve. These results suggest that while higher pay reduces barriers to entry, it may also intensify competition in ways that advantage already privileged groups, ultimately reinforcing existing inequalities in political representation.