After matriculation at a high school in Gmunden and one year abroad in England, she studied law at the University of Salzburg.

There, specializing in residential rights and tenancy law, she earned an excellent reputation acting on behalf of 25,000 investors defrauded by the WEB-IMMAG building trust company.

[1] In 1994, she started her political career as a member of the Salzburg federal state government, where she acted as chairperson of the Austrian Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) from the beginning.

[1] On 31 March 2001, Burgstaller was elected as the first woman to head Salzburg's Social Democratic Party with an approval of 98% of delegates.

[3] After a major financial scandal striking the administration of Salzburg State she sustained a historic loss in the elections on 5 May 2013.