PublicPayData

California · 2025 pay

How much do Los Angeles employees make?

$93,085typical pay, counting everyone paid in 2025

$38,479 – $150,930what most people earned

Includes everyone paid during 2025, including part-year and seasonal workers. The source doesn't show who worked the full year.

LA City Controller publishes pay by position without employee names, so there is no name search here.

Common jobs: Not ListedPolice Officer IIRecreation Assistant

✓ Official data from LA City ControllerMatches the agency's latest releasecontroller.lacity.gov ↗

How is pay spread across workers?

A year of pay for a lower-paid, typical and higher-paid worker (counting everyone paid), and the top earner, split into regular pay, overtime and extra pay.

$38,151

$93,152

$150,967

$948,271

Lower-paid workerearns more than 1 in 4 coworkers

Typical workerright in the middle

Higher-paid workerearns more than 3 in 4 coworkers

Highest paidone person

Regular payOvertimeExtra pay

Is pay going up?

Yes. Typical pay went from $84,712 in 2017 to $93,085 in 2025 (+10%).

What changed since 2024

  • −20.9%Typical pay went down from $117,685 to $93,085.
  • +3.1%Typical raise for the 59,298 people paid in both 2024 and 2025. About 31% got a raise of 10% or more.
  • 7,202 new7,202 people were paid for the first time in 2025, and 1,747 people paid in 2024 were no longer on the payroll.
  • +10%Since 2017, typical pay has gone from $84,712 to $93,085, while the number of people paid went up from 63,238 to 66,500.

The agency updates it every pay period.

Pay slip · 2025

A typical worker's year

Los Angeles

9years of
official data
2017–2025
Average pay of people in the middle of the pay range
Regular pay$78,734
Overtime$10,120
Extra pay$4,298
Total for the year$93,152

Average of the 3,325 workers in the middle of the pay range. Does not include benefits.

Official source: Los Angeles City Controller, controller.lacity.gov ↗
Matches the agency's latest release

Worth knowing about pay at Los Angeles

What stands out in the payroll data, checked against the rest of our data before it is shown.

  • 5 of 10

    For 5 of the 10 highest paid at Los Angeles, overtime was more than a third of their pay (Fire Battalion Chief, Fire Assistant Chief).

    On regular pay alone, 5 of them would not have made the top 10.

  • +30%

    Since 2017, total pay at Los Angeles went up 30% while the number of people paid went up 5%.

    Counts everyone paid during each year. Not adjusted for inflation.

Pay by job

Jobs held by 5 or more people in 2025.

JobPeopleTypical payMost earnSince 2024
Not Listed4,909$17,887$1k – $91knew
Police Officer II3,709$158,045$143k – $180k▲ 12.4%
Recreation Assistant3,435$9,195$2k – $19k▼ 17.2%
Police Officer III1,991$188,555$168k – $219k▲ 9.8%
Administrative Clerk1,722$53,018$32k – $67k▼ 0.2%
Firefighter III1,684$211,509$178k – $252k▲ 2.7%
Senior Administrative Clerk1,213$65,021$48k – $84k▼ 23.3%
Management Analyst1,146$101,489$72k – $126k▼ 12.0%
Special Program Assistant II979$23,695$20k – $24k▲ 11.5%
Security Officer840$83,757$54k – $107k▼ 9.1%
Customer Srvc Reptv793$48,994$41k – $58knew
Refuse Collection Truck Operator II742$115,637$102k – $127k▲ 0.8%
Electrical Engineering Associate737$86,123$69k – $102knew
Police Sergeant I607$203,990$184k – $232k▲ 11.8%
Locker Room Attendant563$5,189$2k – $12k▲ 2.7%

How many people earn what

  • Under $10k8,589
  • $10k – $30k6,967
  • $30k – $50k2,930
  • $50k – $70k6,262
  • $70k – $90k7,347
  • $90k – $110k6,501
  • $110k – $150k11,063
  • $150k or more16,841

Includes part-time and seasonal workers, which is why many earn under $10k.

Pay by department

DepartmentPeopleTypical pay
Water and Power13,361$80,978
Police12,209$161,272
Recreation and Parks11,324$11,970
Fire3,946$216,443
Airports3,584$106,652
Public Works - Sanitation3,432$112,883
Transportation2,140$93,881
Library1,804$48,778
General Services1,633$94,297
Public Works - Street Services1,232$101,960
Harbor1,225$111,114
Building and Safety1,109$137,525

Common questions

How much does a Los Angeles employee make?

The typical employee was paid $93,085 in 2025: half of the 66,500 people paid earned more, half earned less. Most earned between $38,479 and $150,930.

Why do so many people earn very little?

The list includes everyone who got a paycheck during the year: part-time, seasonal and short-term workers, and people who joined or left partway through. 8,589 people (12.9%) were paid under $10,000.

Does this include benefits like health insurance or pension?

No. It is the pay people received: regular salary or wages (79.7% of all pay), overtime (14.7%) and extra pay such as allowances, longevity and severance (5.7%).

Where does this data come from, and when is it updated?

From Los Angeles City Controller (controller.lacity.gov). Our figures match the agency's latest release; the agency updates it every pay period.

"Typical pay" is the median: half earn more, half earn less. "Most earn" is the middle half of workers. Figures are calculated by PublicPayData from the official dataset; 1,720 records with $0 or negative pay are left out. How we calculate this · Corrections & removals