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Jurisdiction file

Cook County, Illinois employee salaries and total compensation

Source file: Cook County, Illinois — Employee Payroll / ingested Jun 19, 2026

In 2018, Cook County, Illinois reported 22,030 employees across 133 departments, with a total payroll of $393.4M. The highest-paid distinct record was Delvin Jones (Department of Transportation and Highways) at $155,194.

Latest year
2018
Employees
22,030
Average pay
$17,856
Mean total compensation
Total payroll
$393.4M
Departments
133
Top record
$155,194

What the records show

Department analytics

Median pay and headcount show where payroll dollars concentrate and which agencies define the jurisdiction’s compensation profile.

Largest departments

The 12 departments employing the most people in 2018. Bar length is headcount. These departments drive most of the payroll and set the overall pay mix.

Highest-paying departments

Departments ranked by median total compensation — the typical employee's pay. High medians usually signal specialized or professional workforces (e.g. medical, legal, or public-safety agencies) rather than across-the-board higher pay.

Compared with the local labor market

Cook County, Illinois pay vs. the surrounding job market

Across 16 roles that match a standard occupation, Cook County, Illinois’s median base salary runs 75% below the median wage for the same work in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN. 0 of those roles pay above the local median and 16 pay below it.

Roles compared
16
Above local median
0
Below local median
16
Typical gap
−75%

This covers the 212 employees (1% of the workforce) in roles whose job titles map to a standard occupation. Titles that are too generic to match one — broad classification series, and job families the survey reports by academic field — are left out rather than guessed at, so the figure describes the comparable subset, not the entire payroll.

Benchmark: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2025). BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) covers all employers in the area — private, non-profit, and government alike — so this is a comparison against the whole local labor market for the occupation, not against private-sector pay. OEWS wages are straight-time pay and exclude overtime, shift differentials, and employer-paid benefits, so the government figure shown here is base pay on the same basis. Total compensation is not comparable to it. Job titles are matched to the closest standard occupation, so the comparison is between similar work rather than an identical job classification.

Trend

Year over year

How Cook County, Illinois's total payroll, headcount, and average pay changed across the 3 published years. Average pay is total payroll divided by employees.

YearTotal payrollEmployeesAverage pay
2016
$420.3M
—
25,267
—
$16,634
—
2017
$433.6M
▲ 3.2%
23,644
▼ 6.4%
$18,337
▲ 10.2%
2018
$393.4M
▼ 9.3%
22,030
▼ 6.8%
$17,856
▼ 2.6%

Department index

Open an agency file

Department pages break down pay distributions, common job titles, and the employees behind the latest published payroll.

133 departments

Department of Corrections3,869$18,305
Stroger Hospital of Cook County3,852$17,293
Clerk of the Circuit Court, Office of the Clerk1,489$14,793
States Attorney1,127$19,386
Court Services Division1,075$21,301
Ambulatory Community Health Network674$13,550
Public Defender647$25,639
Bureau of Health623$13,772
Juvenile Temporary Detention Center613$18,398
Cermak Health Services611$9,995
Police Department595$21,970
County Clerk551$2,440
Adult Probation Department542$22,023
Office of the Chief Judge522$15,781
Department of Facilities Management481$24,050
Judiciary394$250
Juvenile Probation389$22,399
Provident Hospital323$17,365
County Assessor271$17,235
Department of Transportation and Highways263$21,645
County Clerk Election Division Fund231$730
Sheriff's Administrative and HR226$15,707
Public Guardian206$21,000
Social Casework Services180$21,388
Technology Policy and Planning141$26,090
Recorder of Deeds130$13,486
Board of Review118$17,961
Medical Examiner109$14,955
Department of Public Health90$19,143
Sheriff Administrative & HR84$13,224
County Treasurer78$20,687
Office Chief Administrative Officer78$16,070
Revenue76$16,907
Bureau of Health Services, CORE Center75$15,197
State's Attorney70$2,506
Medicaid Expansion66$10,638
Off of Professional Review Integrity65$18,809
Oak Forest Health Center58$7,988
Sheriff Information Technology56$11,664
Office of the Sheriff46$15,026
Department of Human Resources44$19,140
Building & Zoning41$26,260
Juvenile Temporary Detention Center, Health Services41$24,073
State's Attorney, Child Support Enforcement39$15,038
Managed Care39$6,212
County Comptroller34$19,960
Chief Procurement Officer29$23,083
Office of Asset Management25$22,403
Sheriff's Merit Board25$7,107
Risk Management24$18,231
Forensic Clinical Services24$17,345
Department of Environmental Control & Sustainblty22$19,574
Emergency Management Agency21$26,807
Planning & Development21$24,231
Emhs Homeland Security21$17,919
Office of the President19$22,179
Sheriff's Information Technolo18$6,812
Budget & Management Services18$19,808
Office Inspector General17$26,673
Department of Public Health, Supplemental Nutrition (WIC)16$10,982
Enterprise Resource Planning14$27,208
Public Administrator14$16,383
Office Under the President13$2,661
Contract Compliance13$19,975
Cc Works Administrative Cost Pool13$10,228
Treasurer Tax Sales Automation13$2,816
Department of Public Health, IDPH Health Services11$15,402
Office of the Chief Financial Officer11$21,556
State's Attorney, Appellate Assistance Program10$21,221
County Auditor10$18,130
Land Bank Authority10$21,012
Office County Commissioner10$20,769
Supportive Services10$17,842
Sheriff's Office, Child Support Enforcement9$19,222
Sheriff9$2,793
Treasurer9$640
Administrative Hearing Board9$15,726
Human Rights and Ethics8$21,220
Off Economic Development8$25,388
Justice Advisory Council8$15,145
Intergovernmental Agrmnt/Etsb8$16,874
Bureau of Administrative8$2,092
Clerk of the Circuit Court, Child Support Enforcement8$13,341
Mft Illinois First (Ist)8$10,966
State's Attorney, Mayer Brown Civil Program7$15,246
Clerk of the Circuit Court6$2,468
Ninth District5$20,354
Sixteenth District5$22,885
Eighth District5$17,763
Fourth District5$17,309
Seventh District5$12,919
First District5$18,846
Chief Judge5$2,338
Macarthur Safety and Justice5$5,057
Fifteenth District5$16,154
P&D Community Development5$18,730
Thirteenth District5$22,885
Second District5$18,723
Tenth District5$14,918
Sixth District5$19,385
Twelfth District4$22,572
Fourteenth District4$25,182
Fifth District4$22,497
Seventeenth District4$22,211
Bureau of Economic Development4$2,911
Board of Election Commissioners, Election Fund4$22,753
Third District4$22,439
Department of Public Health, Illinois Department of Human Services3$9,448
Eleventh District3$24,231
Zoning Board of Appeals3$25,002
Department of Public Health, Bioterrorism Preparedness3$5,569
Professional Investigators3$11,804
State's Attorney, Sexual Assault Division3$14,067
Engineer to Order2$11,623
State's Attorney, Complex Drug Prosecutions2$22,310
Macarthur Internat'l Education2$284
State's Attorney, Community Justice Center2$15,461
Department of Environmental Control, Air Pollution2$16,269
Assisted Outpatient Treatment1$18,087
Department of Public Health, Breast and Cervical Cancer1$12,778
Office of Economic Development1$5,566
Public Defender, Mitigator Project1$23,188
State's Attorney, Victim Sensitive Interview1$21,584
Justice Advisory Council, Family Justice Improvement1$15,650
Department of Environmental Control, Illinois Science Foundation1$13,653
Sh Idhs Women, Infants, and Children1$16,546
Department of Environmental Control1$19,037
County Law Library1$11,629
Facilities Management1$3,994
Department of Public Health, Illinois Tobacco-Free Communities1$18,690
Department of Public Health, Health Inspections Intergovernmental1$12,111
Cc Lead Poisoning Prevention1$17,854
Bureau of Human Resources1$2,608