Some of the city's highest paid employees are part of the San Francisco Sheriff's Office, with overtime pay driving overall compensation well into the high six figures for dozens of deputies and lieutenants — as well as for SFPD officers.

The Chronicle has done its annual analysis of city employee compensation, based on publicly available data, and for the period of July 2025 to June 2026, San Francisco's highest paid employee was Alison Romano, the chief executive and investment officer in the city's Retirement Services Department. Romano made $904,000 in total compensation, on a base salary of $455,000, with much of that apparently coming in bonuses.

But at just $1,000 below Romano, the city's second-highest-paid employee was Sheriff's Lieutenant Mercy Ambat, who came away with $903,000 in total compensation. Ambat's base salary was $213,500, but Ambat made $439,000 in overtime pay last year, with $176,600 going to retirement.

Six other members of the Sheriff's Department made over $800,000 last year, including four deputies who made triple their base salary in overtime.

By comparison, only two members of the SFPD made over $800,000, Sergeant Frank Harrell and Officer Brian Schaffer, both largely thanks to overtime pay. Over two dozen other SFPD officers made over $600,000 after overtime.

As the Chronicle notes, Fire Chief Dean Crispin has a salary of $436K per year, and he is not eligible for overtime — he made $63,000 in "other pay" and $70,000 in retirement compensation, as well as benefits, for a total of $609,000. Two other members of the SFFD made more: Battalion Chief Glen Kircher ($681K), and Captain Mary Tse ($613K), with around half of that compensation coming from overtime.

Mayor Daniel Lurie makes a salary of $409,000 that he donates all but one dollar of back to the city.

Other highly compensated city employees who don't work in public safety or law enforcement are Anna Langs, managing director of Retirement Services ($743K); David Francl, another managing director of Retirement Services ($726K); Susan Ehrlich, physician administrator in the Department of Public Health ($721K); and Tetyana Kemp, a third managing director of Retirement Services ($715K).

And for many of us who aren't making huge AI money right now, it's kind of upsetting seeing this graph of the sheer number of city employees making over $500K per year.

So, yes, it pays to work in the Sheriff's Department, or the SFPD, or, if you're not inclined toward law enforcement, find a career in retirement services for a major city. That's where the bigs bucks are at.

Photo by Noah Fetz