Who makes the most money working for the US Postal Service (USPS), and where do they work?
An analysis of the latest salary data from the agency yields results that may surprise some.
For example, which geographic locations have the highest average salaries? Washington, DC? New York City? San Francisco? Those would be logical guesses based on the higher cost of living in cities such as these.
Here are the actual results:
Location | Average Salary |
---|---|
IN – Borden | $106,857 |
MD – Landover | $106,743 |
MD – Potomac | $104,686 |
MA – East Freetown | $96,467 |
ME – Cornish | $95,428 |
PA – Hegins | $94,450 |
OK – Chelsea | $93,291 |
NJ – Lanoka Harbor | $92,614 |
NH – Hinsdale | $91,039 |
OK – Blanchard | $90,535 |
Landover, Maryland and Potomac, Maryland are obviously close to Washington, DC. The other locations may be something of a surprise.
Some of them would be described as being in the middle of nowhere—certainly not very close to any large metropolitan areas. The apparent reason is that there are a few people in the Post Office facility in these towns and most are hourly employees. The Postmaster is these small towns is usually the only employee on an annual salary. Still, a salary of more than $90,000 in a town like Chelsea, OK with less than 2,000 people (and declining) and a per capita income of less than $13,000 isn’t a bad salary. Here is a photo of the facility in Chelsea.
Cornish, ME is similar in that the postmaster is only one employee there with an annual salary. There are about 1500 residents in the town. The other Postal employees are paid an hourly wage. The high average is the salary received by the postmaster.
The highest average salary is for the town of Borden, IN which has about 900 residents and a per capita income of about $18,000. The average $106,857 salary there is the postmasters salary as she is the only employee with an annual salary and the others are paid an hourly wage.
The median salary for a postmaster in 2013 was $65,150 in 2013. The postmasters in some of these small towns are considerably higher even there are often fewer employees and probably less mail in these areas with a small population. No doubt, seniority plays a role in the higher salary levels in these locations.
The highest salary by occupation is obviously considerably different than those based on geographic location. Here are the highest paid occupations in the Postal Service:
Title | Average Salary |
---|---|
Postmaster General (PMG) | $285,240 |
Deputy PMG/Chief, Govt. Relations | $254,874 |
Chief, Marketing and Sales | $250,335 |
Executive Vice President and CFO | $248,632 |
Executive Vice President, COO | $241,870 |
Chief Human Resources Officer | $241,870 |
Executive VP/General Counsel | $241,870 |
Secretary, USPS Board of Governors | $205,700 |
Vice President, Sales | $205,700 |
Vice President, Area Operations | $205,700 |
These are the highest paid individuals in the agency with one person occupying each position so the average is for that one person.
To search individual Postal and federal employee salaries, go to FedsDataCenter.com.