NIH Salary Cap Increase

On January 29, 2024, the National Institute of Health (NIH) released new guidance regarding the salary cap, NOT-OD-24-057: Guidance on Salary Limitation for Grants and Cooperative Agreements FY 2024 (nih.gov), announcing that the Office of Personnel Management released new salary levels for the Executive Pay Scale that became effective January 1, 2024. Grant applicants and contract offerors can use the new salary limitation for Executive Level II of $221,900 when preparing grant applications and contract proposals. The new salary cap applies to awards from the NIH, CDC, AHRQ, SAMHSA, and other DHHS organizations. Some non-federal sponsors have salary caps. Read every solicitation carefully to determine whether a sponsor has a salary cap.

For awards issued in those years that were restricted to Executive Level II, including competing awards already issued in FY 2024, if adequate funds are available in active awards, and if the salary cap increase is consistent with the institutional base salary, grantees may re-budget funds to accommodate the current Executive Level II salary cap.

For a historical record of the salary cap, including effective dates, see: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/salcap_summary.htm