What They Earn: Arlington County Salary Database

Editor's note: The database portion of this report is down, temporarily. We are working to fix this as quickly as possible. Thanks for your patience!

Did you know the Arlington Public Library chief makes more than the head of the county's Parks and Recreation Department? Or that the county's human resources director makes more than the sheriff?

While the average job in Arlington pays more than $100,000 — second only to Manhattan, according to the Business Journals — fewer than 1 in 10 of Arlington County's 3,500-plus employees earn that much.

As of March 1, Arlington County had 3,543 full- and permanent part-time employees, according to a salary database the county provided at Patch's request.

That breaks down to 3,304 full-time employees and 239 part-timers. The above database includes full-time employees. Click here to view a database of part-time employees.

Arlington's highest-paid employee makes nearly $253,000 annually; it's lowest-paid, about $27,000 a year.

In January, the Arlington County Board gave a 5-percent raise to County Manager Barbara Donnellan and County Attorney Stephen MacIsaac, along with a 10-percent raise to Clerk Hope Halleck.

Board members approved those raises with no public discussion, agreeing to vague contract amendments that failed to tell anyone watching them exactly what they were doing. The county only explained the raises after reporters asked about them.

Thanks to those raises, three of Arlington's top employees are now the second-highest paid among their peers in Northern Virginia, according to a comparison by the Washington Post.

The county last raised its living wage, the lowest amount it will pay an employee, about a year ago, to $13.13 per hour.

The Arlington County Board is weighing a $3.4 million proposition that would give pay raises to most employees in next year's budget.

How to Use the Salary Database

Though made informally, the county treated Patch's inquiry as a Freedom of Information Act request. As such, the county provided each employee's name, position, department and hourly rate. Salaries were extrapolated by multiplying each hourly rate by 2,080.

To search the database, simply enter a first and/or last name, specify a department or job title you are interested in, and click "search." Leave the name fields blank for an entire department or countywide list.

Click on a column name to sort your results in ascending or descending order by that column.

Some employees use different titles or different names in their daily business. The county's director of communications, Diana Sun, for instance, is listed in the database as Diana Solymossy and her actual title is assistant county manager.

The Arlington County Employees' Retirement System has two employees, included here because the county handles their payroll.

The above database includes base salary information only; bonuses and other compensation are not included.

This database is limited to county government employees. It does not include Arlington Public Schools salary information.