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11 employers in St. Clair County paid $145,570,252 combined for public employee salaries in 2020, ranking it 11th among Michigan counties, according to the Michigan Government Salaries Database.

Public employees in Wayne County earned the most in 2020, receiving $1,296,720,539 in total. Publicly funded staff work in a variety of organizations, from school districts to state departments.

The data was gathered by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a nonprofit research and educational institute.

Rank	County	Employee count	Amount spent
1	Wayne County	26,534	$1,296,720,539
2	Oakland County	21,175	$1,051,678,542
3	Macomb County	15,141	$720,755,975
4	Kent County	13,328	$566,903,019
5	Genesee County	6,881	$319,424,754
6	Washtenaw County	6,747	$295,501,579
7	Ottawa County	5,913	$253,889,949
8	Ingham County	5,617	$249,665,713
9	Kalamazoo County	5,548	$223,762,737
10	Muskegon County	3,581	$150,060,119
11	St. Clair County	3,289	$145,570,252
12	Livingston County	3,081	$140,751,761
13	Jackson County	3,040	$137,999,653
14	Saginaw County	3,298	$134,136,430
15	Monroe County	3,342	$129,454,622
16	Calhoun County	2,798	$120,223,613
17	Berrien County	2,760	$113,670,867
18	Bay County	2,533	$102,739,563
19	Grand Traverse County	2,290	$93,757,828
20	Eaton County	2,163	$85,894,621
21	Allegan County	2,129	$85,829,433
22	Van Buren County	2,217	$85,321,988
23	Lenawee County	2,015	$82,163,227
24	Midland County	1,460	$64,153,586
25	Shiawassee County	1,447	$59,096,618
26	Lapeer County	1,353	$55,536,890
27	Montcalm County	1,375	$55,125,321
28	Clinton County	1,238	$53,564,865
29	St. Joseph County	1,374	$51,387,917
30	Marquette County	1,298	$50,366,338
31	Tuscola County	1,108	$44,508,412
32	Newaygo County	1,057	$43,303,164
33	Barry County	1,042	$42,717,585
34	Mecosta County	942	$42,591,869
35	Ionia County	1,060	$41,840,598
36	Isabella County	984	$40,949,725
37	Gratiot County	922	$37,802,590
38	Branch County	937	$36,152,542
39	Cass County	933	$34,872,962
40	Clare County	789	$32,683,441
41	Houghton County	751	$30,714,226
42	Wexford County	773	$30,631,980
43	Mason County	655	$30,542,286
44	Sanilac County	715	$30,509,537
45	Huron County	725	$28,875,219
46	Delta County	782	$28,874,765
47	Hillsdale County	763	$28,195,726
48	Chippewa County	678	$27,962,647
49	Charlevoix County	585	$27,075,542
50	Emmet County	514	$26,003,309
51	Alpena County	639	$23,682,806
52	Iosco County	554	$21,964,098
53	Dickinson County	558	$20,553,532
54	Roscommon County	515	$19,027,750
55	Otsego County	408	$18,599,335
56	Osceola County	425	$16,585,863
57	Cheboygan County	385	$16,478,797
58	Menominee County	438	$15,765,684
59	Oceana County	417	$15,445,709
60	Antrim County	417	$14,365,962
61	Manistee County	377	$14,352,013
62	Leelanau County	353	$13,382,786
63	Gladwin County	296	$11,441,610
64	Gogebic County	303	$10,102,322
65	Missaukee County	253	$10,030,082
66	Arenac County	244	$9,240,231
67	Benzie County	201	$9,049,118
68	Kalkaska County	237	$9,042,185
69	Ogemaw County	230	$7,936,629
70	Mackinac County	234	$7,465,309
71	Crawford County	168	$7,238,808
72	Presque Isle County	158	$6,293,137
73	Iron County	158	$6,193,288
74	Alger County	182	$5,617,254
75	Baraga County	145	$4,946,644
76	Ontonagon County	131	$4,492,117
77	Oscoda County	122	$3,937,033
78	Alcona County	77	$3,094,091
79	Schoolcraft County	77	$3,017,805
80	Montmorency County	90	$2,936,320
81	Lake County	56	$2,487,894
82	Luce County	58	$2,292,711
83	Caledonia County	68	$1,616,072
84	Keweenaw County	3	$64,976