Who are Texas' highest paid state employees?

AUSTIN (KXAN) — A biennial report published by the Texas State Auditor's Office on Thursday includes a list of Texas' 40 highest-paid management employees, as well as recommendations for pay raises based on the office's study of comparable jobs.

The SAO notes that its analysis used data from June 2024. Some of the positions may have seen a 5% raise in September, the office noted.

Its analysis did not include judges, public universities, elected officials and any self-directed/semi-independent agency. The state's 2023 budget law decided the agencies that would be part of the report.

The top 40 list represents a combined $11.4 million expense by Texas.

Texas' Top Four

So who is Texas' highest-paid employee? The Cancer Prevention and Research Institute's Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Michelle M. Le Beau, joined the institute in 2021. She makes $639,300 each year.

The next highest-paid employee, and the highest-paid executive, is Texas Department of Public Safety director Steven McCraw. He takes home a yearly base pay of $345,250. He's set to retire at the end of 2024, but the report recommends moving his successor's pay grade up another level.

Texas Department of Transportation executive director Marc Williams is the third highest paid, earning $344,000 each year. That job also has a SAO recommendation for a raise in the report.

Fourth is the executive in charge of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, which earned an annual base pay of $325,000. That job is currently held by interim commissioner Sarah Keyton -- she took on the role after the SAO collected its data.

State Agencies, by the numbers

Just one agency made up nearly a third of the list—the Texas Department of Transportation. Its top employees, titled as deputy director IVs and IIIs. The median pay for TxDOT deputy director IVs was $280,463, and $264,235 for deputy director IIIs.

TxDOT's top employees, which held 11 spots on the list, took home a combined $3,426,802.

The Health and Human Services Commission's highest earners had the next largest total of $2,379,548. Its nine positions on the list were deputy director IIs, with a median pay of $259,088.

You can search the top 40 list below. The article continues after.

Pay Raises?

The report recommends the state create a new "pay group" for executive state employees, which would max out at $390,908. The DPS director and TxDOT executive director would be in that new group if the change is adopted.

"The salary ranges for the Schedule of Exempt Positions have not been increased since fiscal year 2016," the report states. "Based on the market analysis and review of pay compression at some state agencies, adjustments to the salary ranges may be necessary to provide more flexibility to agencies to offer competitive compensation to executive officers."

According to the report, 27.5% of the top 40 were executive officer positions.