A new compensation database report reveals the average pay of a city manager in Los Angeles County.

The report reveals the average City Manager salary is $210,000, far less than the loudly publicized $800,000 salary of former Bell City Manager, Robert Rizzo.


The analysis on compensation data came from the Los Angeles Times and studied the total taxable compensation that cities reported paying their administrators in 2009. This included base salary and other taxable components such as housing, cars, cell phones, vacation pay, bonuses, etc.

The newspaper reported that more than 75 cities had provided information. According to the article released regarding the survey, the Times found that “determining the full compensation can be difficult and is often higher than the base salary that some cities have made public.”

From the L.A. Times report:

The Times analysis found cities with more residents and larger budgets tended to pay their chief executives more, but the exceptions were more notable than the rule. West Hollywood, a city of 36,000, had one of the county’s highest payouts: Paul Arevalo earned $285,496 last year. Beverly Hills, Palmdale and Bell Gardens also paid high salaries in proportion to their size.

Los Angeles and Long Beach, both large cities whose mayors oversee much of the executive staff, paid their administrators disproportionately low amounts.

But some large cities, including Pomona, LaVerne and El Monte, had lower-than-average salaries.

Wealthier cities did not necessarily pay their executives more. Like Bradbury, Rolling Hills, Hidden Hills and Sierra Madre all paid less than average.