BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — Every year the State Controller’s Office releases data on the salaries and benefits of government workers across the state.
The government compensation data released by Controller Malia Cohen includes numbers of education workers who are funded by the state, universities, courts, along with cities and counties across the state.
Part of the data deciphers which city and county employees rake in the biggest paychecks each year.
17 News has dug through the numbers and found that in 2025, the highest paid Kern County employee was the County Counsel, who raked in about $402,277, according to the Controller’s Office data.
“The County of Kern is committed to transparency and accountability in the use of public funds. In accordance with state law, employee salary and compensation data are reported annually to the California State Controller’s Office and made available to the public,” a spokesperson with the county said.
Besides for the county’s legal service, employees with the Kern County Fire Department also earned big paychecks last year.
“The highest-paid positions typically include executive leadership and public safety personnel, who may earn additional compensation for overtime, special assignments, or other factors,” the county spokesperson said. “The total compensation figures reported by the State Controller reflect not only base salary, but also overtime and other forms of pay, which can vary from year to year.”
Zooming in on the City of Bakersfield, many of the top ten city employees who earned the most money in total wages last year were within the Bakersfield Police Department.
In fact, six out of ten top-earning Bakersfield employees from 2025 were working in the department. The position that earned the most money last year was a police sergeant making about $320,533.
A spokesperson with the City of Bakersfield said the city’s Finance Department provides the salary data to the State Controller’s Office each year but that job salaries are listed online with all positions and salary ranges.
These numbers come as the total salaries across the entire City of Bakersfield are collectively increasing.
City salaries totaled $192,972,021 in 2025, up 8.1% from 2024, which totaled about $178,366,160, per State Controller data. There were 2,300 employees working for the city in 2025.
In turn and distributed to Kern County’s 9,584 employees, the county’s total salaries totaled $741,001,484 — an increase of 6.48% since 2024, which totaled $695,877,755, according to Cohen’s office.
To take a deeper dive into the data — or to explore beyond Bakersfield and Kern County — find the Controller’s Office data here.
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