The 2025 Salary and Benefit Survey (SBS) was published on July 9. There was a slight drop in the overall response rate compared to the 2024 SBS (the 2024 overall response rate was about 83%). The survey was open for data collection in late March and was ultimately closed in early June.
We understand that the annual SBS can be a big lift for busy city and town staff, and our Salary and Benefit Survey team is always ready to help survey takers complete their surveys during the data collection period. We’re always looking for ways to improve our survey experience for SBS. If you have ideas on how we can improve our survey collection efforts in 2026, please reach out to us at research@awcnet.org.
2025 SBS:
- 77.8% overall response rate
- 77.6% response rate from cities
- 79.5% response rate from counties
Below is some 2025 data for a few select cities and positions. You can find more historical data for in our report Overview of the AWC Salary and Benefit Survey.
City | Position | 2025 |
|---|
Tacoma | City Clerk | $144,420 |
Police Officer | $130,668 |
Sr. Engineer | $155,244 |
Yakima | City Clerk | $119,909 |
Police Officer | $104,707 |
Sr. Engineer | $152,952 |
Olympia | City Clerk | $155,184 |
Police Officer | – |
Sr. Engineer | $146,352 |
Pullman | City Clerk | $77,616 |
Police Officer | $107,028 |
Sr. Engineer | $99,180 |
Whitman Co. | County Clerk | $100,382 |
Sheriff Deputy | $88,584 |
Sr. Engineer | $129,972 |
The SBS is a longstanding, versatile tool for cities and counties to use in determining salaries and benefits for employees. We are thankful for the participation of local governments in filling out the survey and contributing to this great resource for members.