If you have ever wondered what the folks at city hall are taking home, there is now a searchable way to find out. The News & Observer has rolled out an updated database listing base annual pay for city and town employees across the Triangle. From small-town clerks to big-city managers and first responders, the tool lays out how municipal payroll dollars are spread around. It tracks only base salary, so overtime, bonuses and any other supplemental pay are not included.
What the database includes
According to The News & Observer, the data set is built from payroll records the paper requested and received from Triangle municipalities between January and March. It records base annual salary only. Public-school payrolls are excluded, and overtime, bonuses and other extra pay are left out, which makes the figures a conservative snapshot of what municipal employees earn. The paper notes that the information comes directly from municipal payroll files, not from private-sector surveys.
From Wendell to Raleigh
The update covers a wide spread of local governments, from small towns to the region’s biggest city. The newspaper points to tiny Wendell, which it says employs fewer than 100 municipal workers, alongside larger Triangle hubs. At the other end of the scale, the City of Raleigh reports roughly 7,000 employees in its FY2026 budget documents and is proposing 9 to 11 percent pay increases for most full-time staff as part of a compensation plan, according to City of Raleigh materials. If those raises win approval, they could quickly reshuffle where certain names land in the current salary snapshot.
Why pay numbers matter for hiring
Public-safety salaries loom large in municipal payrolls and are central to how cities recruit and keep staff. Local reporting shows Raleigh and Durham have turned to pay bumps and hiring events to try to fill vacancies, which helps explain why police and fire jobs often sit near the top of city salary charts. When one city boosts pay for high-demand roles, it can influence who signs on, who stays put and how neighboring agencies respond.
Who tops the payrolls
Across Triangle municipalities, senior executives and public-safety leaders tend to dominate the highest base-salary slots. City managers, police chiefs, fire chiefs and department directors frequently appear near the top. Technical leaders, such as senior engineers and public-works supervisors, also rank high in several jurisdictions, reflecting tight labor markets for specialized skills. Keep in mind that the rankings are based on base pay alone and do not show how overtime or bonuses might change total compensation.
Search the updated salaries
Residents who want to see specific numbers can pull up individual pay records and compare across towns and cities through the searchable database at The News & Observer. The files represent the payroll snapshots the paper received, so they may not capture very recent hires, pending raises or any supplemental pay that sits on top of base salary. For questions or corrections about a particular entry, the newspaper lists contact details with the database.
That level of transparency around municipal pay gives people concrete numbers to reference when they talk about budgets, staffing and local priorities. It also makes it easier to track how future budget decisions might push take-home pay higher. As cities move through budget season and consider new raises or staffing plans, the rankings in that database are likely to shift, and coverage will follow along.
