Los Angeles County / Public Defender / Mental Health Program Manager II
Job-title file
Lead staff and operations — set priorities, allocate resources, and oversee program delivery.
1 employees hold this title in Public Defender. Median total compensation for the role is $282,953, above the department median of $178,093.
Compared with the local labor market
Across all employers in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA area, the median wage for Medical and Health Services Managers — about 23,740 people — is $134,230. Public Defender pays a median base salary of $177,032 for this role, 32% above that figure — about the 72nd percentile of local pay for the occupation.
The bar is the range of annual wages for Medical and Health Services Managers across every employer in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA area, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows Public Defender’s median base salary for this role. Both figures are base pay only.
And across the country
Nationwide, the median wage for Medical and Health Services Managers — about 597,080 people — is $123,860. Public Defender’s median base salary is 43% above that national figure, about the 78th percentile of pay for the occupation nationally.
Local and national wages differ for reasons beyond how well a job pays — cost of living, the mix of employers, and local demand for the occupation all move the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA range relative to the national one.
Median total compensation for this role at Public Defender is $282,953, which includes overtime and employer-paid benefits. The benchmark above excludes both, so total compensation is deliberately not compared against it.
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.
Compare departments
Mental Health Program Manager II is held in 3 Los Angeles County departments. In Public Defender, the median of $282,953 ranks #1 of 3.
Median total compensation for the Mental Health Program Manager II role in other Los Angeles Countydepartments (highest first). Each bar links to that department’s page for this role.
Record list
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Mental Health Program Manager II/Public Defender
Dana Cherry is a Mental Health Program Manager II at Public Defender. 2025 total compensation came to $282,953.