JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Nearly all of Missouri's 25 highest-paid employees work for the state's mental health agency, according to 2019 salary data from the Missouri government.
Except for Missouri HealthNet director Todd Richardson, the state's highest-paid employees are all in the Department of Mental Health. Nineteen of them are psychiatrists, one is a staff physician specialist, three are medical administrators and one is a special assistant official and administrator. Dr. Sekhar Vangala, a psychiatrist in Farmington, is once again the state's highest-paid employee, with 2019 compensation of $418,569. He earned roughly the same amount in 2018.
Gov. Mike Parson earned $133,821 in 2019. The office of the governor, which employed 51 people in 2019, had the highest average pay per person, at $43,883. The agency with the lowest average pay was agriculture, at $12,095 per person.
For all 75,233 state employees, the average salary was $28,173 and the median was $27,566.
Click here to view the name, title and total compensation for the 25 highest-paid state of Missouri employees in 2019.
