City of Seattle / Seattle Public Library / Librarian
Job-title file
Librarian
Manage collections and information services and help patrons with research and access.
91 employees hold this title in Seattle Public Library. Median total compensation for the role is $113,277, above the department median of $86,268.
- Employees
- 91
- Total payroll
- $10.1M
- Role median
- $113,277
- Agency median
- $86,268
- Comparison
- Above
What the records show
Role pay distribution
Pay distribution for this role
How total compensation varies among the 91 people in this role. Even for one job title, pay differs with seniority, step, overtime, and tenure. Each bar is a pay range; the far-right bar collects the highest earners.
Compared with the local labor market
Librarian pay vs. the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA area
Across all employers in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA area, the median wage for Librarians and Media Collections Specialists — about 1,590 people — is $101,780. Seattle Public Library pays a median base salary of $113,277 for this role, 11% above that figure — about the 61st percentile of local pay for the occupation.
Where Seattle Public Library sits in the local pay range
The bar is the range of annual wages for Librarians and Media Collections Specialists across every employer in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA area, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows Seattle Public Library’s median base salary for this role. Both figures are base pay only.
And across the country
Nationwide, the median wage for Librarians and Media Collections Specialists — about 133,790 people — is $68,270. Seattle Public Library’s median base salary is 66% above that national figure, above the 90th 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 Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA range relative to the national one.
Median total compensation for this role at Seattle Public Library is $113,277, 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
Librarian beyond City of Seattle
This role is reported in 32 jurisdictions. In City of Seattle, the median of $113,277 ranks #5 of 32. See Librarian across all of City of Seattle →
Highest-paying jurisdictions for this role
Median total compensation for comparable Librarianroles in other jurisdictions. Titles are matched by normalized name across sources, not identical job classification, and pay is not cost-of-living adjusted. Each bar links to that jurisdiction’s page for the role.
Record list
Employees with this title
Page 1
No employees match these filters.