The highest-paid city of Oakland workers last year were mostly police officers, followed by firefighters, according to city data reviewed by The Oaklandside.

Ninety-nine police officers and firefighters took home total annual pay packages for 2025 exceeding $500,000, due mostly to overtime. Altogether, 103 city employees had compensation above half a million. In total, it cost the city $59 million to employ this elite group of workers. Two-thirds of them, or 67, were police officers, while 32 were firefighters. Only four worked for other departments.

The top earner in Oakland was police Sgt. Timothy Dolan, whose base pay and benefits, plus $398,000 in overtime, totaled $765,000 in total compensation. Dolan also ranked first in 2024 thanks largely to $490,000 in overtime, a pay package that raised eyebrows and led OPD’s Police Chief James Beere, then interim chief, to institute more limits.

The City Attorney’s Office, which employs dozens of lawyers, normally jobs that command high salaries, had only one staff member among the city’s elite ranks of workers with compensation topping half a million — that was the most senior person in the office, City Attorney Ryan Richardson.

Police officers received just over half of the city’s total payouts for overtime, or $42 million. The Fire Department came in second place, with its staff taking home about $32 million, or 38% of the city’s overtime spending. No other department came close to these two in terms of utilizing overtime.

City leaders say it’s necessary to use overtime because the police and fire departments are understaffed compared to the levels of service residents demand. Oakland is currently in negotiations with the seven unions that represent most of its full-time workforce, bargaining over pay, benefits, overtime rules, and other workplace policies.

Compensation for Oakland’s elected leaders mostly placed them in the middle of the city’s pay rankings, alongside parking control techs, librarians, rec center directors, and mechanics. Although councilmembers are all eligible for the same pay, their compensation differed because they are allowed to voluntarily decline pay raises. Charlene Wang took office in May 2025 following a special election, so her pay didn’t include the first four months of the year. And Kevin Jenkins served five months as Interim-mayor, increasing his pay.

See the pay and compensation data for all of Oakland’s city workers below.

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