Which Wake County employees earn the most money? Browse our top 10 database and more

Public employee salary data gives insight into government workforces. That’s true with state government employee salaries and university system salaries data.

It’s also the case with local government data. An analysis of Wake County’s salary data, as of Sept. 23, 2021, shows the following:

• Wake County employs almost 4,600 people, from deputy sheriffs to librarians and budget analysts to medical personnel.
• The median salary is about $53,000.
• There are about 400 temporary workers.
• The highest paid employee is Jose Cabanas-Rivera, Chief Medical Officer with Emergency Medical Services, who earns $311,761 a year.
• Six of the top ten highest paid Wake County employees are medical professionals.
• The Health and Human Services Department employs the most workers with 1,540 and a median salary of $52,853.

The top ten earners are listed below followed by a chart showing the number of employees and median salary by department.

The complete database is searchable and sortable here.

This story was originally published October 14, 2021 at 5:45 AM.