Mary Salas of Chula Vista was the sixth-highest paid mayor in California in 2015, while San Diego's Kevin Faulconer was 10th, according to government salary data released by the state Controller's Office Wednesday.
According to the state figures, Salas was paid $136,785 and received more than $50,000 in health and retirement benefits. Faulconer earned $96,974, with around $19,000 in benefits.
The Controller's Office data encompasses 668,240 positions that generated a total of more than $42 billion in wages in 2015, in 54 counties and 459 cities that submitted their salary information.
Of the more than 450 California cities that reported last year's salaries, Oceanside had the highest average employee salary among the 18 municipalities in the region, ranking 80th overall. The Oceanside average salary was $64,097.
Chula Vista was 87th at $63,093 and San Diego 100th at $60,938.
Vernon, in Los Angeles County, had the highest average salary for municipal employees at $107,848.
Among California's 58 counties, San Diego ranked 16th, with an average salary of $58,972.
The county with the highest average salary was Santa Clara, home of pricey Silicon Valley, at $81,808.
According to the Controller's Office, average wages in city governments increased by more than 3 percent from 2014 to 2015, from $61,724 to $64,058. For counties, pay rose by almost 5 percent, from $60,831 to $63,823.
Pay data for state government, the California State University, superior courts, and special districts for 2015 will be released later this summer.
