View Riverside County's Highest Paid Workers By City: CA State Controller's List For 2024

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — Who gets paid the most to work in Riverside County? According to a report released Wednesday by the California Controller's Office, the 10 highest-paid officials work in public safety and public health.

The agency published its 2024 "Government Compensation in California" analysis, which shows how taxpayer funds were spent in the previous year and who received what for being on the public payroll.

"This report is a vital tool in promoting fiscal transparency and accountability in local government," Controller Malia Cohen said. "Californians deserve to know how public funds are being spent and who is being paid with their tax dollars."

The individual who received the most significant income in county government was an unnamed staff psychiatrist for the Riverside University Health System's Department of Behavioral Health. The individual received a total of $540,881, a large part of which may have been related to overtime claims.

In Riverside County, the highest-paid employees were in the Police and Fire departments, followed by the city manager. The highest-paid city officials, according to the report, were in the following top 10 cities:

1. Riverside
2. Corona
3. Palm Springs
4. Murrieta
5. Moreno Valley
6. Hemet
7. Menifee
8. Temecula
9. Cathedral City
10. Indio

In the city of Riverside, the police, fire, and city manager were among the highest-paid employees in 2024.

In Corona, the highest-paid employees were in the Police and Fire departments, followed by the city manager.

In Palm Springs, the highest paid officials included the Police Department, City Manager and Fire Department.

In Murrieta, the highest-paid officials were the Deputy Fire Chief, City Manager, and Police Chief.

In the 2023 report, Sheriff Chad Bianco was identified as the county employee with the largest composite compensation at $593,518. In 2024, the sheriff, who is running for governor on the Republican ticket, did not even land in the top 100, taking a backseat to union-represented master investigators and lieutenants, who grossed salaries well in excess of $400,000.

Amounts documented by the controller's office include base pay, overtime and lump sum disbursals, which are often tied to banked vacation and sick leave time that wasn't used, sometimes for years, but then cashed out.

The second-highest paid in 2024 was an unnamed bureau commander in the District Attorney's Office, whose composite salary last year was $539,539. The D.A.'s office could not immediately confirm the reasons for the significant earnings, though they were possibly bundled into a retirement payout.

Figures showed the next in line was another RUHS psychiatrist, who received $536,644, followed by Director of Behavioral Health Dr. Matthew Chang, whose total intake last year was $522,783. Chang has consistently ranked in the top 10 in the 2020s.

Nos. 5-8 on the list were additional psychiatrists, whose annual earnings ranged from $476,513 to $520,277.

Riverside University Health System-Medical Center CEO Jennifer Cruikshank, whose total comp last year was $470,253, ranked No. 9, according to the report.

Rounding out the top 10 was an unnamed psychiatrist assigned to Detention Health Services, geared to inmates, for which the doctor was paid $468,619 in 2024.

County CEO Jeff Van Wagenen was at No. 30, with total compensation of $399,214, according to the report.

The five members of the Board of Supervisors were way down the list for annual comp packages, making less than many deputy district attorneys, deputy public defenders, registered nurses, sheriff's administrators, pharmacists, assistant medical directors and others. A "senior legislative assistant" for one of the supervisors was even paid well above his or her boss at $341,794 in 2024, according to data.

The supervisors' composite pay ranged from $143,042 to $226,359 in 2024, with Supervisor Kevin Jeffries, who retired at the end of December, at the bottom because he consistently declined pay raises. The man elected to fill his seat, Jose Medina, assumed the same salary, vowing to voluntarily freeze his compensation in keeping with the tradition established by his predecessor.

The controller's website indicated the average pay for a county employee last year was $65,739. County government is the single largest employer in Riverside County, maintaining more than 25,000 positions. Roughly $2.23 billion in total wages were paid in 2024.

The data is available at www.publicpay.ca.gov, where you can break down the report by city and county.