City of Philadelphia / Executive Director
Role across City of Philadelphia
Executive Director
Lead staff and operations — set priorities, allocate resources, and oversee program delivery.
28 people hold the Executive Director role across 12 departments in City of Philadelphia, with a median total compensation of $30,900. Among 16 jurisdictions where this role is reported, City of Philadelphia ranks #15 by median pay.
- Employees
- 28
- Median pay
- $30,900
- Departments
- 12
- Cross-jurisdiction
- #15 of 16
Compared with the local labor market
Executive Director pay vs. the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD area
Across all employers in the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD area, the median wage for Chief Executives — about 4,120 people — is $292,770. City of Philadelphia pays a median base salary of $39,862 for this role, 86% below that figure — below the 10th percentile of local pay for the occupation.
Where City of Philadelphia sits in the local pay range
The bar is the range of annual wages for Chief Executives across every employer in the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD area, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows City of Philadelphia’s median base salary for this role. Both figures are base pay only.
And across the country
Nationwide, the median wage for Chief Executives — about 204,350 people — is $213,990. City of Philadelphia’s median base salary is 81% below that national figure, below the 10th 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 Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD range relative to the national one.
Computed over the 21 of 28 people in this role paid at least $25,000 in base salary. The rest are part-year or part-time records, whose actual pay isn’t comparable to a full-time annual wage.
Median total compensation for this role at City of Philadelphia is $30,900, 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 jurisdictions
Executive Director pay in other jurisdictions
Where Executive Directors are paid most
Median total compensation for comparable Executive Director roles in other jurisdictions (highest first). Titles are matched by normalized name across sources, not by identical job classification, and pay is not cost-of-living adjusted. Each bar links to that jurisdiction’s page for this role.
Within City of Philadelphia
Departments with this role
Largest City of Philadelphia departments for this role
Departments in City of Philadelphia employing the most people in this role. Each bar links to that department’s page for the role.