ICMA is making available to its members the results of the CAO Salary Survey in tables that show the mean, median, minimum, and maximum salaries by population group within each state.

Results show variation among states and population groups. Among the population groups, there is a consistent decline in median salary as population size decreases.

It is important to keep in mind that although 2,556 CAOs responded, 4,528 did not, so it is unknown how those salaries would have affected the statistics. In addition, there is no “typical” city or county, and therefore there is no “typical average salary.” These statistics should not be used for benchmarking, but they are informative.

Setting CAO compensation should be in accordance with the ICMA Guidelines for Compensation and reflect the characteristics of the community, such as number of employees, services delivered, median income, labor market conditions, and other factors.

To access this premium content for members in the Knowledge Network, click here for city data; click here for county data. Additional analysis can be found in The 2012 Municipal Year Book, which will be available in April.