Methodology & Data Sources

This page explains where SenatorDB’s data comes from and how our numbers are calculated. Our aim is transparency: every figure on the site is derived from public records or reputable open datasets, and we describe the methods below so you can judge the data for yourself. SenatorDB is an independent, non-partisan project and is not affiliated with the U.S. Senate or any government body.

Voting records & scores

Roll-call votes come from the official record published by the U.S. Senate at senate.gov. From those votes we compute three measures:

Party unity — the share of a senator’s decisive votes (“Yea” or “Nay”) that align with the majority position of their own party. A higher score means a senator votes with their party more often; it is a descriptive measure of partisanship, not a judgment of quality.
Missed votes — the share of roll-call votes recorded as “Not Voting” out of all roll calls held during the senator’s current term.
Delegation agreement — for the two senators representing the same state, the share of shared decisive votes on which they voted the same way.

Scores are calculated over the current Congress and refreshed as new votes are recorded. Only recorded “Yea”/“Nay” votes count toward party-unity and agreement percentages; absences are handled separately in the missed-votes measure.

Net worth estimates

Net worth figures are estimates, not exact valuations. Members of the Senate file annual financial disclosure reports with the Senate Office of Public Records in which assets and liabilities are reported in broad ranges (for example, “$1,000,001 – $5,000,000”) rather than precise amounts. Because of this, and because personal residences are generally excluded from disclosure, any single net-worth number is inherently approximate.

We display the reported low and high ends of a senator’s disclosed range where available.
For rankings and averages we use the midpoint of that range.
Where filings are ambiguous or contested, we cross-reference published estimates from third-party outlets, including Quiver Quantitative, CelebrityNetWorth, Forbes, and Business Insider. Estimates that remain unresolved are labeled “Disputed.”

Treat these figures as directional — useful for comparison and ranking, but not as audited financial statements. The underlying filings can be searched at the Senate’s Electronic Financial Disclosure (eFD) portal.

Stock trades

Under the STOCK Act of 2012, senators must publicly disclose securities transactions within 45 days of execution. We aggregate those disclosures from the Senate Electronic Financial Disclosure (eFD) system via the open-source Kadoa Congress Trading Monitor.

Transaction amounts are disclosed in ranges, not exact dollar figures.
A trade is flagged “Late” when the filing was submitted after the STOCK Act’s 45-day deadline.
Disclosures often reflect trades made by a spouse, dependent, or a managed account, and disclosure does not imply any wrongdoing. We report what was filed; we do not allege conflicts of interest.

Biographical & committee data

Names, party, state, dates of service, birthdates, contact details, and committee assignments are compiled from official U.S. Senate and Congressional sources. State flags and locator maps are drawn from Wikimedia Commons.

How current is the data?

Voting and stock-trade data is refreshed on an ongoing basis as new records are published, and many pages display a “data current through” date reflecting the most recent underlying record. Because disclosures are filed on statutory delays, the very latest activity may not yet appear.

Corrections

We work to keep this information accurate, but errors happen. If you spot a mistake or have a question about these methods, please email [email protected] — we welcome corrections.

See also our About page and Privacy Policy.