The 2022 New York state government payroll detailing pay records for individuals who last year worked in the state’s executive, legislative or judicial branches is now searchable on SeeThroughNY, the Empire Center’s government transparency website.

State employee pay totaled $18.2 billion, up from $17.8 billion in 2021. The number of people who worked for the state at any point during the year rose from 289,006 to 292,113. The average full-time employee salary (not including overtime or other additional pay) was $72,590, up from $71,482 in 2021. The 2022 data also show:

• The highest-paid state employee was Robert Corona, CEO of SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse ($919,123). The next four highest paid employees were:
  • Felix Vicente Matos Rodriguez, CUNY Chancellor ($758,161);
  • Gary Bie, Vice President for Health System and Strategy at SUNY Stony Brook ($748,362);
  • Francis Brunicardi, Dean of SUNY Downstate Medical Center ($712,041); and
  • Maurice Linguist, SUNY Buffalo’s head football coach ($697,409).
• Charles Priorie, SUNY Stony Brook’s head football coach, was the only other coach among the top 100 highest paid employees, receiving $459,583.
• Forty-seven employees on the state payroll received over $500,000; 4,159 employees received over $200,000; and 57,824 employees received over $100,000.
• Eighty-four of the top 100 highest paid employees were SUNY employees. Forty-one of these were from Downstate Medical Center.
• A total of 903 state employees—all executive branch workers—were paid more than the governor’s statutory salary of $250,000.

The pay data do not reflect the added taxpayer cost of pension contributions, health insurance and other fringe benefits, which can add 40 percent or more to an employee’s compensation.

The Empire Center, based in Albany, is an independent, not-for-profit, non-partisan think tank dedicated to promoting policies that can make New York a better place to live, work and raise a family.