Austin News

Commission on Jail Standards paid an average compensation of $54,544 during 2021, this was less than the public employee average of $55,188, according to data compiled by The Texas Tribune.

The highest-paid public employee in Texas was Beau Michelle Le, who earned $608,850 as the chief scientific officer at the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas.

The national median hourly wage is $19.14 according to the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. According to the OECD, the average yearly wage in the US is more than $60,000.

When calculating average compensation, only employees categorized as full-time were included.

Rank	Employee	Amount Earned
1	Brandon Wood	$121,020
2	Wendy Wisneski	$60,000
3	Jason Ross	$56,000
4	Carol Bernhard	$54,000
5	Jason Jouett	$51,960
6	Lupe Moreno	$51,000
7	Leslie Speir	$50,600
8	Valerie Woehl	$50,521
9	Cano Kaitlin Lopez	$50,400
10	Will Turner	$50,295
11	Michael Gravitt	$50,100
11	Byron Shelton	$50,100
11	Elizabeth Thomas	$50,100
11	Alicia Soto-Barker	$50,100
15	Courtney Elrod	$46,500
15	Martin Arnold	$46,500
15	Jay Ablon	$46,500
18	Melvin Bowser	$46,100