WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Twenty-two of President Barack Obama's top advisers make the top White House salary of $172,200 per year - but there is one official who earns 30 percent more.
It's not Chief of Staff Denis McDonough. Not Obama's senior adviser and close friend Valerie Jarrett. Not Cecilia Munoz, who is overseeing White House efforts on immigration reform, nor Lisa Monaco, who advises Obama on homeland security and counterterrorism.
The best-paid person of the 460 people who work at the White House is Seth Wheeler, a senior adviser at the National Economic Council, who is crafting Obama's strategy on housing finance.
One of the newest appointees, Wheeler earns $225,000, according to the annual White House report on its $37.9 million payroll released on Friday.
Wheeler has been detailed to the role from the Federal Reserve where the pay scale is higher, a White House official explained.
It also means he earns more than his boss, Gene Sperling, the director of the National Economic Council, who earns the White House limit of $172,200.
At the Fed, Wheeler was chief of staff for the Office of Financial Stability Policy and Research.
