Long Island accounted for 350 of the 400 local government employees in New York outside New York City who were paid more than $300,000 in fiscal year 2025-26, according to payroll data submitted to the New York State and Local Retirement System (NYSLRS). Police officers held all ten of the region’s highest-paid positions.

Statewide, the 179,222 employees of New York’s counties, cities, towns and villages outside New York City were paid a total of $12.0 billion in fiscal year 2025-26, an average of $67,037, according to the Empire Center’s annual What They Make 2026 report. The 37,210 employees of Nassau and Suffolk counties and their cities, towns and villages averaged $84,874, the highest of the state’s nine regions outside New York City. Their police and fire personnel averaged $167,646, also the highest of any region.

Long Island’s local governments paid a total of $3.16 billion. A total of 34.1 percent of their employees were paid $100,000 or more, the highest share of any region and compared with about one in five statewide. A total of 1,213 were paid more than Governor Hochul’s $250,000 salary, more than three-quarters of the statewide total.

Among the findings:

• The highest-paid local government employee in the state was Alan Bakker of the Village of Northport police department, which lists him as its chief, at $485,632. Long Island employees held 20 of the 25 highest-paid local government positions in the state.
• Nassau County employees averaged $114,732, the highest of any county in the state, and 52.8 percent were paid $100,000 or more. Suffolk County, third among counties at $96,981, had the state’s largest county payroll, $1.08 billion for 11,085 employees.
• Suffolk County had 211 employees paid more than $300,000, and Nassau County had 101. Suffolk’s 2,643 police personnel averaged $170,077, and Nassau’s 2,417 averaged $167,308.
• All 12 village police departments in the state that averaged more than $200,000 per officer are on Long Island. Lake Success led at $250,424 for 19 officers. The Village of Oyster Bay Cove’s 14 employees averaged $201,804, the highest average of any village in the state.
• Glen Cove’s 57 police and fire employees averaged $185,555, the highest for any city in the state.
• The Port Washington Police District’s 79 employees averaged $159,384, second among special districts statewide with at least 10 employees.
• East End resort communities had the highest payroll costs per year-round resident in the state: $7,944 in the Village of East Hampton and $2,078 in the Town of Shelter Island.

Ten Highest-Paid Local Government Employees – Long Island

The amounts listed do not include fringe benefits such as health insurance and employer pension contributions. On Long Island, 37 employees were reported at exactly $350,000 and 41 at exactly $250,000, the federal and state pension earnings limits, so their actual pay was likely higher.

Payroll records for every Long Island county, city, town, village and special district can be searched at the Empire Center's transparency website, SeeThroughNY.net. The full statewide report, What They Make 2026, includes searchable pay figures for every local government outside New York City.

The Empire Center is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit think tank based in Albany.

Source for Northport: Northport Village Police Department.