Here are the highest-paid public employees in Georgia

An Atlanta Journal-Constitution analysis breaks down who these top earners are and how much they made. It’s a cast of familiar faces, with just six $1 million newcomers in the last fiscal year.

Not all of the salaries are funded by taxpayer dollars. Some are supplemented by outside sources, like athletic associations, or paid for by fees.

University system employees

More than half the $1 million earners work in athletics at the University of Georgia and Georgia Tech.

Topping the list is University of Georgia head football coach Kirby Smart, who earns more than every other state employee in Georgia. In fact, Smart earns more than any other football coach in the country, according to USA Today.

His salary is reported at $13.8 million — a 13% increase from the $12.2 million he earned in the 2024 fiscal year.

For reference, that could pay for the combined salaries of all 179 employees at the Georgia Department of Veterans Services.

The AJC found 123 other state and local departments and offices that could each pay their entire workforce with Smart’s salary. That includes a half dozen technical colleges, 46 county boards of education, 171 employees at the State Accounting Office and 590 employees at the Jekyll Island Authority.

The second-highest salary belongs to Brent Key, head football coach at Georgia Tech, who earned $3.8 million, an increase from the roughly $3 million he earned in the 2024 fiscal year. Third on the list is University of Georgia men’s basketball coach Michael White, who raked in $3.7 million, up from the $3.6 million in the prior fiscal year.

Starting in 2019, the University System of Georgia began reporting affiliate funding from outside organizations, like athletic associations, as part of reported salaries.

Affiliate funding is not reported for other employees, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the state is footing the bill for their entire paycheck. Some are funded by cash from their organizations or other sources.

For example, more than 90% of Smart’s salary comes from affiliate funding, but he also consumes a lot of those outside resources. Out of all of the reported affiliate funding coming to University of Georgia employees, 43% goes to Smart’s salary, according to data obtained by the AJC from the Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts.

Outside of athletics, Georgia’s other high-paid employees include specialized doctors and university leadership.

Two cardiothoracic surgeons and one neurosurgeon at Augusta University earn between $1 million and $1.6 million each.

Georgia Tech President Ángel Cabrera is the top paid university president with $1.2 million. University of Georgia President Jere Morehead follows with $1 million.

Both are out-earned by athletics directors though. The Georgia Tech former vice president and director of athletics and the University of Georgia’s chief athletics administrator each earned roughly $1.4 million.

State agencies

The president and CEO of the Georgia Ports Authority, Griff Lynch, is the only state agency employee to earn more than $1 million in the past fiscal year.

“During his term as president and CEO from 2016 to 2025, revenues increased 133%, container volumes are up 56% and auto volumes are up 30%,” Alec Poitevint II, chairman of the Georgia Ports Authority Board, said in a written statement.

A spokesperson for the agency said the money for the salaries paid to its employees does not come from state taxpayers but from income earned at the port. In an email, the spokesperson said that trade through Georgia’s ports yields $10 billion in collected federal taxes, $3 billion in state taxes and $3 billion in local taxes annually.

Charles Cary, chief investment officer of the Teachers Retirement System of Georgia, is the second-highest-paid state agency employee. However, he is the only person to leave the list of $1 million earners from last year with his salary taking a dip from more than $1 million to $957,000.

Cary oversees the retirement fund for teachers in the state’s public schools and employees of the University System of Georgia.

“The salaries of the investment team are based, in part, on performance from prior fiscal years and are designed to remain competitive with similar fund managers nationally,” said Jason Branch, executive director of the Teachers Retirement System of Georgia, in a statement.

Branch noted the fund had a 12.2% return in the 2025 fiscal year.

Some of the employees who had top earnings at state agencies are no longer in these roles.

Frank Poe retired as executive director of the Georgia World Congress Center Authority at the end of 2024 and received a one-time, retirement payout based on his 15 years of service, according to a statement from a spokesperson from the organization.

Cliff Pyron, the former chief commercial officer at the Georgia Ports Authority retired at the end of 2025. He was serving in a transitional role as an adviser to his successor.

Government leaders

The vast majority of state employees — more than 99% — earned less than $250,000.

That includes some of the state’s top leaders. Gov. Brian Kemp earned $185,000 and Lt. Gov. Burt Jones earned about $102,000.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger earned about $129,000, and Attorney General Chris Carr earned about $149,000.

Local boards of education

The former superintendent of the Gwinnett County Board of Education, Calvin Watts, earned the most among employees for local boards of education collecting $875,000 last fiscal year. That’s a jump from his prior salary of $475,000, according to the state database. The board terminated his contract in April of last year, which triggered a buyout of nearly $675,000 according to Gwinnett Daily Post.

Cobb County School District Superintendent Chris Ragsdale had the second highest salary in this group, earning more than $571,000.

In a statement, a district spokesperson said Ragsdale’s 11 years on the job makes him one of the longest-serving superintendents in the state, overseeing a district with a budget of more than $1.8 billion.

“Cobb’s leadership stability has directly led to the highest academic performance in the metropolitan area,” the statement said.

Other superintendents disputed their salaries as defined in the data. Each state or local organization submits salary and travel data to the Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts. The department does not audit this information.

Former superintendent of Baldwin County Noris Price said in a written statement that the amount cited includes her annual salary, all employee benefits and compensation for accumulated vacation days throughout her tenure. She said that her annual base salary was $230,000.

According to the Fulton County School System, Superintendent Michael Looney’s current annual salary is $393,000, instead of the $509,000 listed in the state’s data available online.

“The (state) website has incorrect information based on additional benefits that were mistakenly added as salary when reporting‚” a spokesperson for the school system said in a statement.

Atlanta Public Schools said in a statement that the base salary for superintendent Bryan Johnson is $386,000.