State Controller Malia M. Cohen has published the 2023 self-reported payroll data for state departments, superior courts, and California State University institutions on the Government Compensation in California website.

The data covers more than 399,000 positions and approximately $28.87 billion in total wages.

The newly published data were reported by:

• 24 CSU institutions (116,235 employees);

• 56 superior courts (20,884 employees); and

• 157 state departments (262,097 employees).

The data showed that the Lake County Superior Court has 45 employees, with a total of $3,364,732 in wages and $602,804 in health and retirement contributions.

The top five jobs include the four judges’ positions, ranging in pay annually from $219,046 to $233,901, and in retirement and health contributions from $1,073 to $23,376, and the court executive officer, which makes $214,882 in annual pay and $39,610 in retirement and health contributions.

Among state department jobs, the highest paid position is the chief investment officer of the California State Teachers' Retirement System, who receives $1,739,709 annually, followed in the top five by the following:

• Chief investment officer, Public Employees' Retirement System: $1,604,690.
• Deputy chief investment officer, California State Teachers' Retirement System: $1,143,143.
• Deputy chief investment officer, California State Teachers' Retirement System: $1,031,286.
• Chief executive officer, State Teachers' Retirement: $984,623.

Users of the site can view compensation levels on maps and search by region, narrow results by name of the entity or by job title, and export raw data or custom reports.

California law requires cities, counties, and special districts to annually report compensation data to the State Controller’s Office.

The State Controller’s Office also maintains and publishes state and CSU salary data. However, no such statutory requirement exists for the University of California, California community colleges, superior courts, fairs and expositions, First 5 commissions, or K-12 education providers; their reporting is voluntary.

Two superior courts — Alameda and Tuolumne — either did not file or filed a report that was noncompliant.

The site contains pay and benefit information on more than two million government jobs in California, as reported annually by each entity.

As the chief fiscal officer of California, Controller Cohen is responsible for accountability and disbursement of the state’s financial resources. The controller has independent auditing authority over government agencies that spend state funds.