Complete report in PDF format

CONTACT: Lise Bang-Jensen

(518) 434-3100

New Yorkers can now search for the names, titles, base salaries and total wages of 409,878 individuals who were employed by the New York City government during 2009 at SeeThroughNY.net, the transparency website sponsored by the Empire Center for Public Policy.

The searchable database of city employees, obtained from the city Office of Payroll Administration, provides both base salary rates and total reported 2009 pay, including overtime.

A summary of the payroll data for major city agencies is available here.

SeeThroughNY allows New Yorkers to examine government expenditures on the Internet. It includes the wages of 1.5 million employees of state government, municipalities, school districts and public authorities. Also posted are pensions for retirees outside NYC, teacher and school superintendent contracts, pork barrel projects, legislative expenditures and a bench-marking feature to compare local government spending.

The Manhattan Institute for Policy Research is a leading a non-profit, 501(c)3 think tank. The Empire Center, based in Albany, launched SeeThroughNY on July 31, 2008. Since then, it has drawn more than 2.9 million unique visitors, who have downloaded millions of pages of data.

You may also like

132 NYSLRS Retirees Receive Pensions Over $200K in FY2026

A total of 132 retirees from the New York State and Local Retirement System (NYSLRS) were eligible to collect $200,000 or more in pensions during the 2026 fiscal year, according to , the Empire Center’s government transparency website. Among the 132 Read More

Port Authority Payroll Passes $1.2B as 20 Employees Collect $400k+

Twenty Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) employees collected more than $400,000 each in total pay last year, while average pay agencywide rose three percent, according to , the Empire Center’s government transparency website. The Por Read More

NYC Employee Pension Payments Rise To $6.2 billion

The pension plan covering most New York city government agencies, including the City’s subway system, had 62 members with pension payments of at least $200,000 last year, according to , the Empire Center’s transparency website. According to the d Read More

Fourteen NYC Educators Receive Over Half a Million Dollars in Pensions

Fourteen retired New York City educators received more than $500,000 in pension benefits in 2025, according to , the Empire Center’s government transparency website. The data was obtained from the New York City Teachers’ Retirement Read More

34 MTA Workers Made $200K+ In Overtime In 2025

Thirty-four employees of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) received more than $200,000 in overtime payments in 2025, as total annual pay surpassed half a million dollars for some, according to , the Empire Center’s governm Read More

Over Five Years Later, Arbeeny Family Support Still Critical to Promoting Government Transparency

Albany, NY — The Arbeeny family and the Empire Center are marking five years of partnership in remembrance of Norman Arbeeny, who passed away six years ago today after contracting COVID-19 in a Brooklyn nursing home.   To honor Nor Read More

Empire Center Breaks Down Albany’s Pork Barrel Spending

Albany legislators steered over $83 million in grants to 293 local projects between April and December 2025 , according to under a Freedom of Information Law request. The governor and state legislators hand-picked the grantees for mor Read More

SeeThroughNY updated with latest union contracts

New York’s of state and local government union contracts has been updated with the latest collective bargaining agreements for local teachers, police, firefighters, libraries, and public authorities. Among the on SeeThroughNY.net, the Empire Center Read More