Report: Most of New York State's highest paid government employees work on LI

Long Island employs nearly 90% of the highest-paid government employees in the state outside of New York City, with virtually all working in law enforcement, according to new data analyzed by a conservative-leaning Albany think tank.

The annual What They Make report, released on Wednesday by the Empire Center for Public Policy, found of the 400 local government employees paid more than $300,000 in fiscal 2025-26, 350 worked on Long Island.

That's down from 382 Long Island employees earning more than $300,000 in 2024 and 363 in 2025,  Empire Center president Zilvinas Silenas said.

Suffolk County, the data showed, employed 211 of those top earners last fiscal year while another 101 worked for Nassau County. Long Island's remaining top earning employees worked for local cities, towns and villages, the report said.

The reports measure total reportable compensation, including base salary, overtime and retirement payouts for unused vacation and sick leave. The figures do not include city employees and exclude fringe benefits such as health insurance and employer pension contributions.

"Taxpayer-funded six-figure average wages are not sustainable in the long run, especially in New York, which is losing population — and taxpayers — to other states," Silenas said. "New York needs to take a serious look at how much it pays government employees and what quality of services taxpayers receive in return."

Most top earners work on LI

The payroll data, submitted to the State and Local Retirement System, shows 20 of the 25 highest-paid workers statewide work on the Island, led by the top earner — Northport Village Police Chief Alan Bakker, who brought in $485,632 last year. Bakker's pay the year before, the Empire Center said, was $257,547.

A message left for Bakker was not returned.

Police officers and supervisors held all 10 of the Long Island's highest-paid positions, which also include members of the Nassau and Suffolk police departments, and the chief of the Lake Success Police Department.

Department officials did not respond to requests for comment.

"Those egregiously high payments, especially those produced by gaming the overtime system, need to be seriously investigated," Silenas said. "The systems that allow a select few individuals to take home nearly half a million dollars must be dismantled with extreme prejudice. They are a mockery of honest public servants and an affront to taxpayers, most of whom have never even dreamed of earning that kind of money."

Statewide, the nearly 180,000 employees employed by New York’s counties, cities, towns and villages were paid a combined $12 billion between April 1, 2025, and March 31, 2026, or an average of just over $67,000, the data shows.

More than 5,700 employees across the state appear to be on the payrolls of two or more local governments, based on matching names and hire dates, the Empire Center said.

But average annual salaries were considerably higher on Long Island.

For example, the more than 37,000 Long Island government employees averaged almost $85,000 last year, the highest of the state’s nine regions outside the city.

Long Island's police and fire personnel, meanwhile, averaged $167,646 — also the highest of any region, the group found. The region's nonpolice or fire workforce averaged $67,511, the report said.

For perspective, more than 1,200 Long Island employees, predominantly Suffolk County employees, were paid more than Gov. Kathy Hochul last year, who takes in $250,000 annually, the data shows.

Nassau tops in pay

Nassau employees were the highest paid of any county workforce, averaging $114,732, while nearly 53% of the county's 7,841 employees were paid $100,000 or more, the report found.

The county's payroll totaled $900 million, down from about $1 billion the year prior, as its head count fell by 467, the report said.

Nassau also had seven correction officers that were paid more than $300,000, down from 46 the year before, with an average salary of $131,567, the data shows.

A spokesman for Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, the GOP nominee for governor in November, did not respond to a request for comment.

Suffolk County had the largest county payroll in the state — totaling $1.08 billion for its 11,085 employees — although it ranked third in highest salaries, at an average of just under $97,000, the data shows.

Suffolk’s 2,643 police personnel averaged $170,077 in earnings, just eclipsing Nassau’s 2,417-member  police workforce, which averaged $167,308, the report found.

Suffolk also accounted for 21 of the 30 correction officers statewide that were paid more than $300,000, figures show. Suffolk correction workers averaged $141,576, the highest in the state, the data shows.

A spokesman for Suffolk County Executive Edward P. Romaine did not respond to a request for comment.

And it's not just the two largest Island police departments driving up salaries, the report found.

A dozen village police departments statewide, all on Long Island, averaged more than $200,000 in officer salaries, the data shows.

They were led by Lake Success [$250,424], Sands Point [$237,588], Great Neck Estates [$232,721] and Lynbrook [$230,618], the report found.

The Village of Oyster Bay Cove's 14 total employees, the data indicates, averaged nearly $202,000, the highest of any village in the state.