Panhandle Times

State Auditor's Office paid an average compensation of $86,856 during 2020, this was more than the public employee average of $51,794, according to data compiled by The Texas Tribune.

The highest-paid public employee in Texas was Brian Guthrie, who earned $754,275 as the executive director at the Teacher Retirement System.

The national median hourly wage is $19.14 according to the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. According to the OECD, the average yearly wage in the US is more than $60,000.

When calculating average compensation, only employees categorized as full-time were included.

Rank	Employee	Amount Earned
1	Lisa Collier	$181,128
2	Verma Elliott	$169,325
3	Angelica Ramirez	$166,663
4	Angie Welborn	$162,426
5	James Timberlake	$161,706
6	Cesar Saldivar	$154,440
7	Sharon Schneider	$136,737
8	Jo Guzman	$135,152
9	Hillary Eckford	$131,669
10	Michael Simon	$130,397
11	Dennis Bushnell	$130,046
12	Michael Stiernberg	$128,831
13	Courtney Ambres-Wade	$128,283
14	Michael Clayton	$128,076
15	Jennifer Wiederhold	$127,596
16	Barry Holcomb	$127,028
17	Rebecca Beachy	$126,596
18	Robert Smith	$126,500
19	Lauren Godfrey	$124,020
19	Justin Griffin	$124,020
21	Michelle Feller	$123,225
22	Garth Faigley	$123,113
23	Joyce Inman	$120,530
24	Michael Dula	$119,909
25	Debra Serrins	$119,814
26	Willie Hicks	$117,480
27	Emery Boston	$117,069
28	Anca Pinchas	$116,076
29	Stacey Williams	$115,699
30	Ileana Barboza	$115,362
31	Aysem Tamur	$115,116
32	Dana Musgrave	$114,812
33	Michael Yokie	$114,496
34	Jules Hunter	$112,543
35	Carol Oberrender	$112,254
36	Robert Pagenkopf	$111,492
37	Jennifer Brantley	$111,195
38	Mary Wise	$110,640
39	Gregory Adams	$109,593
40	Jennifer Lehman	$109,155
41	Jeannette Garcia	$108,438
42	Kelley Ngaide	$108,240
43	Robert Bollinger	$107,861
44	Juan Sanchez	$107,524
45	Sonya Tao	$106,525
46	William Morris	$105,739
47	Fabienne Robin	$103,973
48	Robert Kiker	$103,523
49	Kelsey Arnold	$103,451
50	Ann Karnes	$103,392
51	Amadou Ngaide	$103,201
52	Jeffery Patschke	$102,000
53	Denise Becker	$101,937
54	Philip Stringer	$101,634
55	Lilia Srubar	$100,153
56	Tessa Mlynar	$99,179
57	Anna Howe	$99,122
58	Laraine Tai	$98,914
59	Charles Wilson	$98,708
60	Kathryn Hawkins	$97,658
61	Blythe Valenzuela	$97,196
62	Sarah Jane Puerto	$96,191
63	Matthew Owens	$95,950
64	Joseph Kozak	$95,802
65	Rebecca Franklin	$95,788
66	Thomas Mahoney	$95,309
67	Judith Millar	$95,037
68	Krista Steele	$94,132
69	Morgan Burandt	$93,784
70	Pamela Bradley	$92,951
71	Janet Milkovic	$92,324
72	Robert Burg	$92,145
73	James Armstrong	$92,142
74	Eric Ladejo	$91,258
75	Namita Pai	$90,442
76	Scott Labbe	$89,707
77	Jerod Heine	$88,383
78	Benjamin Keyfitz	$88,155
79	Kelly Bratton	$87,911
80	Christopher Walling	$87,843
81	Jeffrey Criminger	$87,818
82	Bianca Pineda	$87,806
83	James White	$86,538
84	Aaron Daigle	$85,698
85	Orlando Sauceda	$83,500
86	Ryan Belcik	$83,450
87	Cody Smith	$82,261
88	Melissa Jones	$82,000
89	Adam Ryan	$81,505
90	George Gaydos	$81,085
91	Fuente Rogelio De La	$81,000
92	Nakeesa Shahparasti	$80,332
93	Quang Tran	$79,903
94	Jennifer Duran	$79,800
95	Link Wilson	$79,720
96	Taylor Huff	$79,588
97	Joseph Fredrick	$79,350
98	Valerie Bogan	$79,243
99	John Woodruff	$79,000
100	Jacqueline Thompson	$78,624