The estimated annual salary of Los Angeles City Council members in 2021, not including the $66,000 a year toward pensions, which is about $35,000 more annually than the governor of California makes. Gil Cedillo and Kevin de León, two councilmembers involved in the leaked audio recording in which they were a part of a racist conversation, have refused to resign from their positions and so continue collecting their salary. The discrepancy between the councilmembers’ salaries and the average income of their constituents is especially jarring. The median household income in de León’s district is approximately $44,000, with about 26 percent of people living in poverty; the average in Cedillo’s district is just under $50,000.
