The average pay for Connecticut state employees is higher than other New England states with similar pension systems, like Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and is much higher than the overall average pay in Connecticut, according to a review of each state’s pension actuarial reports and the latest salary averages from the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics and U.S. Census Bureau.
According to Connecticut’s latest pension valuation, six straight years of pay increases under both Gov. Dannel Malloy and Gov. Ned Lamont, saw the average state employee pay increase from $69,743 in 2018 when Lamont was elected to $94,675 in 2025, marking a 35 percent increase that outpaced inflation by $3,000.
That average also beat out the overall state average for all Connecticut employees by more than $18,000. According to the latest numbers from the federal government, the average salary in the state of Connecticut increased from $68,305 in August of 2018 to a little more than $76,000 as of May, 2024, an increase of 11.3 percent, and roughly $9,000 below inflation.
The U.S. Census Bureau placed the average income for households at $139,313, with higher averages for families and married couple families, and the average “nonfamily households” estimated as $79,634 as of 2024. Connecticut state employee pay averaged $90,982 in 2024, according to the pension valuation.
The average Connecticut state employee wage also beat out average state employee wages of nearby neighbors like Massachusetts by nearly $10,000.
According to Massachusetts latest 2024 pension valuation, which was updated in October of 2025, the average salary for the state’s nearly 91,000 state employees was $84,998: Rhode Island’s 2025 valuation placed the average state employee salary at $82,231; the average pay for state employees in Maine was $75,376, and Vermont and New Hampshire was $78,201 and $64,873, respectively.
Extending beyond New England to account for a higher cost of living, the average state employee pay in Connecticut still beat out large, wealthy, and public-sector union friendly states like New York, New Jersey, California, and Illinois.
These comparisons, however, are not necessarily apples to apples. Different states have different pension systems incorporating different sets of employees, which influences the calculation of the average state employee pay. For instance, leaving out higher education employees or including local government employees and teachers can shift the average pay lower.
Massachusetts, Vermont, and Rhode Island are most like Connecticut, in that they include higher education employees in their state employee pension system and therefore include the salaries as part of the overall average.
New York, on the other hand, combines state and local employees – not including New York City – and separates police and fire when assessing the average pay; California includes its state colleges and universities but excludes the University of California; Illinois and Maine have separate plans for higher education; New Jersey has a separate plan for state police, and some states like New Hampshire combine state employees and teachers into one system.
A measurement of total payroll increases as a percentage, however, may be a better comparison. Connecticut’s total payroll increased from $3.4 billion in 2018 to $4.6 billion by 2025, a 35 percent increase, while maintaining roughly the same number of employees.
During that same time period, Rhode Island saw a 31.6 percent increase in their state employee payroll by 2025; Massachusetts total payroll increased by 24.5 percent while adding roughly 3,000 employees, and Vermont increased 34 percent while maintaining roughly the same number of employees, according to a review of the relevant actuarial reports.
Gov. Ned Lamont is currently negotiating with the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalitions (SEBAC) on the next round of contractual wage increases, with some unions outside of the SEBAC umbrella already securing 2.5 percent pay increases plus step increases. State employees’ most recent contract ended in July.
Following wage freezes and benefit reductions throughout much of the 2010s due to budget deficits, state employees saw six years of wage increases starting in 2019, initially under a deal with Gov. Dannel Malloy and then a 2022 deal with Gov. Lamont. Although the unions have indicated some tension in the negotiations, the recent agreements struck with other labor unions combined with the state’s forecasted budget surpluses leaves the Lamont administration in a tough negotiating position.
The next governor, however, will also be faced with negotiating a successor agreement to the 1997 umbrella contract signed by Gov. John Rowland that dictates most state employee benefits, including pensions and retiree medical coverage. Originally a twenty-year deal, the contract was extended during the Malloy administration, partially in exchange for wage freezes and higher medical premiums.
Union flyers circulated among DOC workers claimed their pay has not kept up with inflation, when accounting for the wage freezes starting in 2016 when, according to the actuarial report, the average state employee wage bumped up before decreasing back to the 2014 average by the 2018 valuation.
Measured from 2016, the average state employee wage fell short of inflation by roughly $7,000; when measured from 2014, it falls short by $2,000.
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