Public Sector Salary Transparency: A Guide to Transparent California, SeeThroughNY & More

Every U.S. state now publishes at least some of its public payroll online. A handful of state-run and nonprofit databases have turned that raw data into fast, name-searchable lookups. If you want to know what a specific government employee earns, these are the primary sources — not aggregator sites, not LinkedIn guesses.

Transparent California

Transparent California is the largest single public payroll database in the country, covering ~2 million California state, county, city, school district, and special district employees. Search by name, agency, or job title. You will see base pay, overtime, "other pay" (allowances, bonuses), and total benefits cost — usually within one year of the fiscal close.

What it's good for: Any California public employee, including UC and CSU faculty, police and fire (where overtime often doubles base pay), and city managers.

What it misses: Federal employees stationed in California, private contractors paid through state agencies, and the current year — data typically lags by 6-12 months.

SeeThroughNY

SeeThroughNY, run by the Empire Center, is the equivalent for New York. It covers state agencies, authorities, public schools, SUNY/CUNY, and most counties and municipalities. Payroll, pensions, and contracts are all searchable.

What it's good for: NY state workers, NYC municipal employees, teachers across all NY public school districts, and retirees drawing state pensions (pension data is a separate tab most people miss).

What it misses: A few small municipalities that don't report on schedule, and federal workers in NY.

The other state portals worth knowing

• Texas — Texas Tribune Government Salaries Explorer covers ~660,000 state, university, and select local employees.
• Florida — Florida Has A Right To Know covers state agencies and universities.
• Illinois — Better Government Association Payroll Database covers state, county, city, and school employees.
• Ohio — Ohio Checkbook covers state payroll plus most opt-in local governments.
• Washington — Washington State Fiscal Information publishes state employee pay.

If your state isn't listed, search "[state name] employee salary database" — every state has one, even if the interface is 2007-vintage.

Federal employees are separate

None of the state databases cover federal workers. Use FederalPay.org for the ~2 million federal civilian workforce (military pay tables are separate and rank/step-based, not name-searchable).

Where these databases fall short

Official payroll databases are exact for the people they cover, but they only cover public employees, and they lag the current year by 6-18 months. They tell you nothing about:

• Private-sector workers (the ~85% of the workforce that isn't on a government payroll)
• Contractors, consultants, and 1099 earners
• Employees at government-funded nonprofits (some appear, most don't)
• Anyone who left government service more than a few years ago

Where Personpages fits

For anyone not on a public payroll — private-sector employees, contractors, self-employed professionals — Personpages estimates compensation from job title, employer, tenure, and location, calibrated against the same BLS OEWS data the government uses internally. It's an AI-derived estimate, not a payroll record, and we label it that way on every page. For a government employee, always use the state database first; it's exact. For everyone else, an estimate is usually the only option.

A practical workflow

1. If they might be a government or public-school employee, start with the state database (or FederalPay for federal roles). It's free, exact, and definitive.
2. If they're private-sector, run a Personpages lookup for a calibrated estimate.
3. If they've moved between sectors, do both — the government record shows historical pay, and the estimate covers the current private-sector role.