Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey Is Not The Highest Paid City Official

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey is receiving an annual salary of $126,500. But this does not make him the highest paid official in the city.

Minneapolis actually pays its public officials well. However, the mayor’s salary is only good at 100th place among workers in the city. The average salary of a Minneapolis worker is estimated to be $55,000. On the national level, the medium salary of a mayor is pegged at $72,483. He gets a higher pay compared to the mayors of Washington, DC; Boston, MA and Chicago, IL, as per Comparably.

When compared to the salaries of other mayors in the U.S., the Minneapolis mayor’s compensation pales in comparison. Pay per city varies according to its size and population. According to a 2018 Biz Journals report, San Francisco mayor London Breed was the highest paid mayor in the U.S. with $301,000 base salary. On the other hand, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who leads a municipality that has a greater population than San Francisco, takes home a $258,750 salary.

Mayor Frey has drawn flak from his constituents and on social media after saying he is not supporting calls to defund the city police department. The city council threw full support to defund the police department after a global uproar happened when police officer Derek Chauvin allegedly killed George Floyd, a black man wrongfully accused of a crime. Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck that contributed to his death. The city council vowed to do everything in its power to dismantle the police department, according to FOX News.

Frey reiterated his commitment to support police chief Chief Medaria Arradondo in resolving community issues moving forward. Arradondo, as chief of Minneapolis police department, gets to take home $176,000 annual salary. Additionally, there are more positions in the local government that are receiving more than Mayor Frey. Mark Ruff, Chief Financial Officer of the Finance department has $180,000 annual salary, Jeff Johnson of the City Convention Center is paid $183,000 while Assistant City Coordinator William Doll from the Information Technology department is being compensated $187,000 per year.

Before becoming Minneapolis mayor, Frey served as an employment and civil rights attorney. He won in 2018 and became one of the youngest elected mayors in the history of Minneapolis. The protests are still ongoing in different parts of the U.S. with some resorting to violence and looting. Celebrities and athletes have joined in some of the marches on the streets and have called on to have peaceful protests amid Black Lives Matter demonstrations.