This article was originally written by Patrick Joseph and was published on The Washington Post.
In September 2023, a group of officials from five states gathered in Denver. The purpose of their meeting? “To discuss and set goals to recruit and retain diverse and representative talent in the state government workforce,” according to the Council of State Governments (CSG), which organized the event.
The challenge before them was laid bare by a report months earlier from the Center for Economic and Policy research, which found that “state and local government employment struggled to recover following the Great Recession, and in some cases, these jobs never fully came back by the time the pandemic recession hit more than a decade later.” Similar data from the Economic Policy Institute puts state and local government employment at 2.3% below pre-pandemic levels, “as state agencies, school districts, and local governments have struggled to fill vacancies.”
Still, according to the CSG, state governments employed 3,825,097 full-time workers in 2022, roughly 1.5% of the total population, which makes them one of the largest employers in the country. Those state officials came away from Denver last year with a sense of optimism. As the CSG noted after the gathering, “Creating robust and diverse pipelines to state government careers is one way to fill these job shortages in the coming years.”
If you’re interested in exploring a career in state government, here are some things to consider.
The salary picture and perks
According to the CSG, state government employees tend to be older with more formal education compared to the national population—nearly 32% have a graduate or professional degree, compared to 15.7% of the national workforce. With higher levels of education, state employees have a median wage of $56,000 compared to the national population’s $52,000. At the same time, only 13% of state workers earn more than $100,000, compared with 18% nationally, which indicates “a higher prevalence of higher paid positions within the broader national labor market.” But state jobs come with job security, generous pensions, and robust healthcare benefits. Not to mention the fulfillment of working for the public good.
The career paths
Many jobs you could pursue in state government aren’t all that different from the private sector. One of the most obvious state careers is teaching, which comes with the benefits of summers off and tenure. Public health is another area with an array of roles in state government, which is also crawling with legal professionals like attorneys and judges. But really, state careers run the gamut—other sought-after employees include civil engineers, finance managers, economists, technologists, scientists, academics, and communications professionals.
The highest paid positions
In 2020, the financial news website 24/7 Wall Street published a list of the top three highest paid public employees in every state. Spoiler alert: if you aspire to be a university football coach, you’re in luck! Joking aside, other jobs on the list convey a more down-to-earth sense of potential career advancement and earnings potential, like New Jersey’s chief medical examiner ($288,148), Colorado’s deputy attorney for regulation ($326,762), and Alaska’s executive revenue director ($371,475).
For a bit of additional context, consider this October 2024 article from South Carolina’s Sun News highlighting the “six highest-paying state government jobs just opened up.” (Think regional medical director, tax policy division deputy director, chief information officer.) And you might also want to check out Stacker’s research into the “Best and worst paying states for public employees.”
Where to find a job
USA.gov suggests visiting your state government’s website and looking for a “careers” or “work with us” link. Calcareers.ca.gov, for instance, has “grouped our approximately 3,500 job classifications into the 22 major occupational groups,” ranging from “healthcare support” and “legal” to “arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media.” There’s also GovtJobs.com and Creersingovernment.com, which include a wealth of municipal- and county-level openings in addition to state positions.
State government jobs have their pros and cons. But it’s a career path worth considering, and one that reflects a wide array of expertise.
