Dear readers,
Virginia lawmakers reached an 11th-hour budget agreement in June, ending months of negotiations and brinkmanship.
The major piece of Virginia’s budget is salaries for 170,000 state employees. The Virginia Center for Investigative Journalism at WHRO compiled and analyzed public data for these state employees. We’re publishing them in easily searchable databases.
Some interesting findings: A dozen state employees made more than $1 million in 2025. The University of Virginia employed several of the top earners. The salaries of elected leaders—even the governor – are modest compared to those of state-employed fund managers, researchers and agency executives.
The top earners may or may not surprise you – depending on how closely you follow college football.
For this project, data journalist Kunle Falayi submitted multiple public records requests, compiled and formatted data from more than a dozen state agencies and universities, and produced searchable tools and visualizations to compare and contrast public and private wages.
It’s specialized and labor-intensive journalism – and what VCIJ at WHRO knows is important to Virginians.
We’re a nonprofit newsroom telling the stories that matter most to you.
Thanks for your support.
Sincerely,
Lou Hansen
Senior Editor, Co-founder, Virginia Center for Investigative Journalism at WHRO
