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Lower house

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State Lower Houses

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The term lower house refers to one of two state legislative chambers in a bicameral legislature. Forty-nine of the fifty states have a bicameral legislature and a lower house, with the only exclusion being Nebraska, which has a nonpartisan unicameral legislature.

Nebraska operated under a bicameral system until 1934, when voters approved a constitutional amendment to consolidate the two houses.[1]

Overview

Lower houses have a greater number of members than upper houses, and members tend to have shorter terms than upper house members. As of September 2025, lower houses also varied from state to state in a number of ways, including:

  • Term length - two years or four years
  • Session length - part time or full time
  • Term limits - some states limited the number of terms members can serve, most did not
  • Number of legislators - the number of lower house members per state varied from 40 to 400
  • Salary - annual salaries varied from none at all to $142,000 per year
  • Number of residents represented - out of all state houses, California's assembly members represented the most residents - 494,709 per representative, while New Hampshire representatives represented the fewest - 3,448 residents per representative.


Comparison of state lower houses

Chamber articleMembersParty controlTerm LengthTerm LimitSession start dateSalary
Alaska House of Representatives40Split2 yearsNoneJanuary 21, 2025 $84,000/year + per diem
Arizona House of Representatives60Republican2 years4 terms (8 years)January 13, 2025 $24,000/year + per diem
Alabama House of Representatives105Republican4 yearsNoneFebruary 4, 2025 $59,674.08/year
Arkansas House of Representatives100Republican2 years12 consecutive years; can return after a four-year breakJanuary 13, 2025 $44,356/year + per diem
California State Assembly80Democrat2 years12 years[2][3]December 2, 2024 $128,215/year + per diem
Colorado House of Representatives65Democrat2 years4 terms (8 years)January 8, 2025 $43,977/year for legislators whose terms began in 2023. $41,449/year for legislators whose terms began in 2021. + per diem
Connecticut House of Representatives151Democrat2 yearsNoneJanuary 8, 2025 $40,000/year
Delaware House of Representatives41Democrat2 yearsNoneJanuary 14, 2025 $45,291/year
Florida House of Representatives120Republican2 years4 terms (8 years)March 4, 2025 $29,697/year + per diem
Georgia House of Representatives180Republican2 yearsNoneJanuary 13, 2025 $17,342/year + per diem
Hawaii House of Representatives51Democrat2 yearsNoneJanuary 15, 2025 $60,180/year + per diem
Idaho House of Representatives70Republican2 yearsNoneJanuary 6, 2025 $16,684/year + per diem
Illinois House of Representatives118Democrat2 yearsNoneJanuary 8, 2025 $89,250/year + per diem
Indiana House of Representatives100Republican2 yearsNoneJanuary 8, 2025 $32,070.24/year + per diem
Iowa House of Representatives100Republican2 yearsNoneJanuary 13, 2025 $25,000/year + per diem
Kansas House of Representatives125Republican2 yearsNoneJanuary 13, 2025 $86.66/session day + per diem
Kentucky House of Representatives100Republican2 yearsNoneJanuary 7, 2025 $188.22/calendar day during session for legislators whose terms began before 2023. $203.28/calendar day for legislators whose terms began after 2023. + per diem
Louisiana House of Representatives105Republican4 years3 terms (12 years)April 14, 2025 $16,800/year; plus an additional $6,000/year as an unvouchered expense + per diem
Maryland House of Delegates141Democrat4 yearsNoneJanuary 8, 2025 $54,437/year + per diem
Massachusetts House of Representatives160Democrat2 yearsNoneJanuary 1, 2025 $73,655.01/year
Michigan House of Representatives110Republican2 years12 combined years in the LegislatureJanuary 8, 2025 $71,685/year + expenses
Minnesota House of Representatives134Split2 yearsNoneJanuary 14, 2025 $51,750/year
+ per diem
Mississippi House of Representatives122Republican4 yearsNoneJanuary 7, 2025 $23,500/year + per diem
Montana House of Representatives100Republican2 years4 terms (8 years)January 6, 2025 $104.86/legislative day + per diem
New Hampshire House of Representatives400Republican2 yearsNoneJanuary 8, 2025 $100/year
New Jersey General Assembly80Democrat2 yearsNoneJanuary 14, 2025 $49,000/year
New Mexico House of Representatives70Democrat2 yearsNoneJanuary 21, 2025 $0/year + per diem
New York State Assembly150Democrat2 yearsNoneJanuary 8, 2025 $142,000/year + per diem
North Carolina House of Representatives120Republican2 yearsNoneJanuary 8, 2025 $13,951/year
+ per diem and expenses
North Dakota House of Representatives94Republican4 years2 terms (8 years)January 7, 2025 $592/month
+ per diem
Ohio House of Representatives99Republican2 years4 terms (8 years)January 6, 2025 $71,099/year
Oklahoma House of Representatives101Republican2 years12 year cumulative
total, in either or
both chambers		February 3, 2025 $47,500/year
+ per diem
Oregon House of Representatives60Democrat2 yearsNoneJanuary 21, 2025 $35,052/year + per diem
Pennsylvania House of Representatives203Democrat2 yearsNoneJanuary 7, 2025 $106,422.33/year + per diem
Rhode Island House of Representatives75Democrat2 yearsNoneJanuary 7, 2025 $19,037/year
South Carolina House of Representatives124Republican2 yearsNoneJanuary 14, 2025 $10,400/year + per diem
South Dakota House of Representatives70Republican2 years4 terms (8 years)January 14, 2025 $13,436/year + per diem
Texas House of Representatives150Republican2 yearsNoneJanuary 14, 2025 $7,200/year + per diem
Utah House of Representatives75Republican2 yearsNoneJanuary 21, 2025 $293.55/legislative day + per diem
Vermont House of Representatives150Democrat2 yearsNoneJanuary 8, 2025 $843.32/week during session + per diem
Virginia House of Delegates100Democrat2 yearsNoneJanuary 8, 2025 $18,000/year for senators. $17,640/year for delegates. + per diem
West Virginia House of Delegates100Republican2 yearsNoneFebruary 12, 2025 $20,000/year + per diem
Wisconsin State Assembly99Republican2 yearsNoneJanuary 6, 2025 $57,408/year + per diem
Wyoming House of Representatives62Republican2 yearsNoneJanuary 14, 2025 $150/day
+ per diem
Washington House of Representatives98Democrat2 yearsNoneJanuary 13, 2025 $60,191/year for senators. $61,997/year for representatives. + per diem
Maine House of Representatives151Democrat2 years4 terms (8 years)December 4, 2024 $16,245.12 for the first regular session. $11,668.32 for the second regular session.
+ per diem
Missouri House of Representatives163Republican2 years4 terms (8 years)January 8, 2025 $41,070.14/year + per diem
Nevada State Assembly42Democrat2 years6 terms (12 years)February 3, 2025 $130/legislative day + per diem
Tennessee House of Representatives99Republican2 yearsNoneJanuary 14, 2025 $28,405.96/year + per diem


Footnotes

  1. ↑ Governing, "Uniquely Unicameral," January 2006
  2. ↑ According to the Chief Clerk of the California State Assembly, "Assembly Members who were first elected to the State Legislature on or after the passage of Proposition 28 may serve 12 years in the Assembly, or a combination of service in the Assembly and Senate as long as the combined terms do not exceed 12 years. However, Members elected to the State Assembly prior to the passage of Proposition 28 may serve a maximum of three two-year terms established by the passage of Proposition 140, in 1990."
  3. ↑ California State Assembly Office of the Chief Clerk, "Elected Officials," accessed September 21, 2025
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