Sturgis-Coldwater News

Five employers in Branch County paid $38,032,339 combined for public employee salaries in 2019, ranking it 38th among Michigan counties, according to the Michigan Government Salaries Database.

Public employees in Wayne County earned the most in 2019, receiving $1,326,879,155 in total. Publicly funded staff work in a variety of organizations, from school districts to state departments.

The data was gathered by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a nonprofit research and educational institute.

Rank	County	Employee count	Amount spent
1	Wayne County	29,337	$1,326,879,155
2	Oakland County	23,352	$1,094,858,726
3	Macomb County	16,653	$745,515,163
4	Kent County	14,615	$592,586,498
5	Genesee County	7,646	$332,575,346
6	Washtenaw County	7,641	$318,634,871
7	Ingham County	6,337	$261,099,503
8	Ottawa County	6,475	$257,792,993
9	Kalamazoo County	6,278	$237,269,040
10	Muskegon County	3,946	$154,116,216
11	St. Clair County	3,658	$149,946,212
12	Livingston County	3,442	$143,785,868
13	Jackson County	3,333	$142,152,320
14	Saginaw County	3,720	$138,033,927
15	Monroe County	3,768	$134,701,959
16	Calhoun County	3,272	$127,407,034
17	Berrien County	3,110	$117,959,999
18	Bay County	2,850	$108,141,147
19	Grand Traverse County	2,537	$96,575,114
20	Eaton County	2,457	$90,783,544
21	Van Buren County	2,422	$89,119,739
22	Allegan County	2,349	$87,590,680
23	Lenawee County	2,250	$86,395,442
24	Midland County	1,628	$65,451,372
25	Shiawassee County	1,641	$61,387,267
26	Lapeer County	1,521	$58,356,514
27	Montcalm County	1,538	$57,442,986
28	St. Joseph County	1,583	$54,691,155
29	Clinton County	1,392	$54,304,204
30	Marquette County	1,405	$51,978,193
31	Tuscola County	1,244	$46,455,110
32	Newaygo County	1,170	$44,163,876
33	Mecosta County	1,051	$43,903,773
34	Isabella County	1,117	$43,834,484
35	Barry County	1,139	$43,521,528
36	Ionia County	1,144	$42,809,034
37	Gratiot County	1,003	$38,439,631
38	Branch County	1,062	$38,032,339
39	Cass County	1,061	$36,349,594
40	Clare County	914	$35,148,619
41	Houghton County	856	$33,431,115
42	Wexford County	854	$31,815,963
43	Sanilac County	777	$31,721,550
44	Mason County	730	$31,291,346
45	Delta County	893	$30,715,132
46	Huron County	783	$30,532,596
47	Hillsdale County	850	$29,984,685
48	Chippewa County	758	$29,844,826
49	Charlevoix County	623	$27,914,528
50	Emmet County	553	$27,257,752
51	Alpena County	705	$24,417,275
52	Iosco County	611	$23,068,515
53	Dickinson County	591	$21,723,812
54	Roscommon County	617	$20,521,548
55	Otsego County	460	$19,100,951
56	Osceola County	460	$17,572,151
57	Cheboygan County	418	$17,425,377
58	Menominee County	521	$16,393,237
59	Oceana County	477	$16,059,533
60	Manistee County	446	$15,149,696
61	Antrim County	458	$14,687,484
62	Leelanau County	388	$14,049,782
63	Gladwin County	309	$12,110,189
64	Gogebic County	375	$11,420,331
65	Missaukee County	269	$10,275,283
66	Arenac County	256	$9,372,085
67	Kalkaska County	258	$9,339,955
68	Benzie County	228	$9,239,100
69	Ogemaw County	263	$8,749,735
70	Mackinac County	266	$7,949,691
71	Crawford County	183	$7,949,409
72	Presque Isle County	184	$6,448,050
73	Iron County	167	$6,344,060
74	Alger County	214	$5,937,191
75	Baraga County	171	$5,432,311
76	Ontonagon County	152	$4,821,487
77	Oscoda County	140	$4,131,923
78	Alcona County	80	$3,309,853
79	Schoolcraft County	94	$3,289,812
80	Montmorency County	103	$3,190,198
81	Lake County	71	$2,900,316
82	Luce County	63	$2,488,172
83	Caledonia County	74	$1,736,422
84	Keweenaw County	4	$62,171