Salary Research
How to Look Up Government Salaries by State (2026 Guide)
By Personpages Research Desk · June 25, 2026 · 10 min read
Government salaries in the United States are public information. Every federal employee, every state worker, almost every county and city employee — their base pay is on the record. The only hard part is knowing where to look.
Federal employees: FedScope and FederalPay.org
The Office of Personnel Management publishes the entire federal workforce through FedScope. The fastest consumer-facing mirror is FederalPay.org, which lets you search by name across roughly 2 million federal workers. You will see grade, step, agency, location, and base pay. Bonuses are listed when available.
State employees: one database per state
Each state runs its own portal. Texas uses the Tribune's Government Salaries Explorer. California uses Transparent California. New York uses SeeThroughNY. Florida uses Florida Has a Right to Know. If your state is not on this short list, search "[state name] employee salary database" — every state has one, even if it is buried.
County and city: harder, but possible
Roughly 80% of U.S. counties and most cities of 50,000+ publish salary data. Smaller jurisdictions often require a public records request, which by law they must answer within 10-30 days depending on the state.
Teachers, professors, and police
Public-school teacher salaries are usually in the state database. University faculty at public institutions are too — and often in a separate, easier-to-search university transparency portal. Police salaries are public but may exclude overtime, which can double a base salary in large departments.
What about private-sector workers?
Private salaries are not public. This is where Personpages fills the gap — we estimate private-sector compensation from job title, employer size, tenure, and location, calibrated against the same public-sector data and BLS OEWS surveys. The estimate is a band, not a single number, and we show you the reasoning.
A quick workflow
- Start with the federal database if there's any chance they work for the government.
- If they're a state, county, or municipal employee, go straight to the state portal.
- If they're private-sector, run a Personpages lookup — the AI estimate is usually within ±15% of the real number for white-collar roles.
Try it
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Search any name, age, and city. Free preview shows the income band, location, and employer.
Start a search →Frequently asked questions
Are government salaries really public?▾
Yes. Under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act and state-level equivalents, the base pay of federal, state, and most local government employees is public record. Bonuses, overtime, and benefits are sometimes excluded.
Can I look up a teacher's salary?▾
Yes, if they teach at a public school or university. Search your state's employee salary database. Private school teacher salaries are not public, but can be estimated from role, school size, and location.
Is it legal to look up someone's government salary?▾
Yes. Government salary databases are explicitly published for public access. Using the information for an FCRA-regulated decision (hiring, lending, housing) still requires a consumer reporting agency.
Why isn't my city's salary data online?▾
Cities under ~50,000 people often don't post salaries proactively, but they must release them on request. File a public records request — by law they have 10-30 days to respond depending on your state.