DOWNTOWN — The number of city workers earning $100,000 or more has almost doubled since 2013, a new report finds.
Some 4,813 employees collected six-figure paychecks as of last March, the Better Government Association concluded after examining payroll data.
The finding was based on base salary rates and does not include overtime or other forms of pay, the association said.
"The number of city workers taking home at least $100,000 in total compensation is even higher," the association said in its report.
The Chicago Police Department and Chicago Fire Department have 1,722 and 1,570 people, respectively, making six-figure salaries, up 20 percent from last year for both departments.
About one third of the Fire Department make $100,000 or more, the association said. That reflects the danger of the job, a Fire Department spokesman said.
The average salary in 2016 for all city workers is about $80,223 while the median is $84,450.
A spokeswoman for the city’s Office of Budget and Management told the association that the majority of city workers making $100,000 or more are union members who have annual raises built into their contracts.
Nonunion public safety personnel received a 5 percent increase in 2015, and other nonunion employees got a 3 percent raise, according to the spokeswoman.
“They hadn’t gotten the adjustment [in prior years], and then they got that adjustment in 2015,” the spokeswoman, Molly Poppe, said. “So, in 2015 you sort of had this meeting of all these different cost of living adjustments.”
The city's highest paid employee is Aviation Commissioner Ginger Evans, at $300,000 a year.
Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson is next, at $260,000, with Mayor Rahm Emanuel following at $216,210.
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