New DHHS Salary Cap Announcement

On April 03, 2025, the National Institutes of Health released NOT-OD-25-085, Guidance on Salary Limitation for Grants and Cooperative Agreements FY 2025, which gave notice of the new salary cap effective January 1, 2025.

The NIH salary cap increases to $225,700.

The notice states:

The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024 restricts the amount of salary to Executive Level II of the Federal Executive pay scale. The Office of Personnel Management recently released new salary levels for the Executive Pay Scale. Effective January 1, 2025, the salary limitation for Executive Level II is $225,700.

For active awards, including awards that have been issued in FY 2025 (continuation and new) that were restricted to Executive Level II, if adequate funds are available, and if the salary cap increase is consistent with the institutional base salary, recipients may rebudget funds to accommodate the current Executive Level II salary level. Recipients may not draw down funds, whether direct or indirect costs, to pay salaries above the salary rate limitation, and recipients must have established policies and procedures that are consistently applied regardless of the source of funds.

For new and ongoing awards from HHS, including NIH, the new salary cap is $225,700 starting January 1, 2025.

If you have any specific questions, please contact your pre-award office.