Town of Ramapo police officers held four of the five highest-paid local government positions in the Mid-Hudson region during fiscal year 2025-26, led by Daniel Hyman at $421,338, the second-highest local government pay in the state, according to payroll data submitted to the New York State and Local Retirement System (NYSLRS).

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 Mid-Hudson region’s 36,128 employees averaged $80,584, second only to Long Island among the state’s nine regions outside New York City. Its general employees, who averaged $69,003, were the best paid of any region.

Local governments in Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster and Westchester counties paid a total of $2.91 billion. A total of 32.1 percent of their employees were paid $100,000 or more, compared with about one in five statewide. A total of 318 were paid more than Governor Hochul’s $250,000 salary, and 46 were paid more than $300,000.

Among the findings:

• Yonkers had the highest average pay of any city in the state, $120,425 for 2,251 employees, and 94 Yonkers employees were paid more than $250,000. The four highest-paying cities in the state, Yonkers, New Rochelle, Rye and Peekskill, are all in Westchester County.
• The three highest-paying towns in the state are in the region: Ramapo ($118,105), Orangetown ($101,728) and New Windsor ($101,255).
• Westchester County employees averaged $100,435, second only to Nassau among the state’s counties, and 46.1 percent were paid $100,000 or more.
• Outside Long Island, the best-paid police departments in the state were in the Mid-Hudson: Clarkstown ($196,893 average), Stony Point ($195,674), Ramapo ($193,084), Bedford ($180,978) and Haverstraw ($177,065).
• New Rochelle’s 160 firefighters averaged $166,211, the highest of any fire department in the state with at least 20 members. The Hartsdale Fire District’s 39 employees averaged $178,212, the highest of any special district in the state with at least 10 employees.
• Local government payrolls cost $1,214 per resident in the Mid-Hudson, the highest of any region. White Plains had the highest payroll cost per resident of any city in the state, at $1,480. In Westchester County, the county and all of its cities, towns and villages together spent $1,512 per resident.

Highest-Paid Local Government Employees – Mid-Hudson

The seven employees reported at exactly $350,000 tie for sixth place and are listed alphabetically. That figure is the federal pension earnings limit, and eight more employees in the region were reported at exactly $250,000, the Tier 6 limit, so their actual pay was likely higher. County correction officers are classified as general employees in the NYSLRS data. The amounts listed do not include fringe benefits such as health insurance and employer pension contributions.

Payroll records for every Mid-Hudson 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.