Controller Malia M. Cohen Releases Salary Compensation Data on California's Local Government Workforce

SACRAMENTO - California cities and counties reported approximately 751,117 positions and nearly $94.4 billion in total compensation during calendar year 2025, according to new payroll data released today by State Controller Malia M. Cohen.

The annual report, compiled from compensation information submitted by cities and counties to the State Controller's Office, offers one of the most comprehensive public snapshots of California's local government workforce and how taxpayer dollars are invested in employee compensation.

"Public trust starts with public information," said Controller Cohen. "Every Californian deserves easy access to reliable information about how taxpayer dollars are spent at the city and county level. By publishing this data each year, we're giving the public the tools to explore, compare, and better understand compensation across local government."

Among this year's findings:

• California cities and counties reported approximately 751,117 public employees, earning nearly $72.3 billion in wages during 2025.
• The City of Hayward reported the highest average employee wage among California cities, followed by Atherton and San Francisco.
• Santa Clara County, Alameda County, and Los Angeles County reported the highest average employee wages among California counties.
• 16 cities and one county failed to submit required information or provided incomplete data.

California law requires cities, counties, and special districts to annually report employee compensation information to the State Controller's Office. In addition to local governments, the Controller's Office publishes payroll information for state departments and the California State University system and voluntarily collects compensation data from the University of California, superior courts, community college districts, K-12 education agencies, First 5 Commissions, and Fairs and Expositions.

Since its launch in 2010, the Government Compensation in California website has become one of the nation's largest public compensation databases, containing salary and benefit information for more than two million government positions reported annually by California public agencies.

The interactive database allows users to:

• Search employee compensation by government entity or job classification.
• Compare salary and benefit data across jurisdictions.
• Explore compensation information geographically through interactive maps.
• Download customized reports and raw datasets for independent analysis.

The Government Compensation in California database is available at the Government Compensation of California website .