The cost of living in Columbia and Richmond counties is low compared to the national average but salaries paid by local governments are even lower.
Both Richmond County’s 5,122 employees and Columbia County’s 1,316 are paid far below the national averages for government workers, according to the OpenPayrolls website, a site that republishes government salaries it obtains from government entities.
Richmond county employees are paid 29.8 percent less than the national average for government employees and 27.5 percent less than the national average for county employees, according OpenPayrolls.
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Columbia County employees are paid 20.4 percent less than the national average for government employees and 17.8 percent lower than the national average for counties.
These percentages are based on 2019 salaries, the latest year available.
The average salary in Columbia County is $49,073, while in Richmond County, it is $43,273.
The highest paid Richmond County employee in 2019 was Herbert Judon. Judon’s salary in 2019 was $190,387, according to OpenPayrolls.
By comparison, Atlanta-Hartsfield General Manager John Selden earned $280,000.01 in 2018, the latest year for which Atlanta salaries are available. His salary is 410.4 percent higher than that of his co-workers on the Atlanta city payroll and 354.3 percent higher than the national average for government employees.
The highest paid Columbia County worker is County Manager Scott Johnson. He earned $187,362.10 in 2019.
County Manager Richard Anderson was Fulton County’s highest paid employee in 2018 with a salary of $258,824.93.
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City of Atlanta workers are also paid under the national average, according to the OpenPayroll website, but they are closer to the average than Richmond and Columbia county employees are. The average city employee salary in Atlanta was $56,315 in 2018, the latest year for which information is available. That puts Atlanta workers at 8.6 percent below the national average for government workers and 17.3 percent below workers in other cities.
The cost of living in the Augusta is 13 percent lower than the national average. For an eye-opening comparison, the cost of living in Augusta is 98 percent less than that of San Francisco, Calif., according to website salary.com.
The cost of living in Evans, on the other hand, is 4 percent higher than the national average. The biggest contributor to the greater cost of living is housing. The median home cost in Evans is $256,400, according to the Best Places to Live website. The median home cost in Georgia is $186,400, and $231,200 nationally.
In 2020, “Money” magazine rated Evans as the best place to live due to its reasonable cost of living. According to the magazine, Evans had the lowest cost of living of any area with similar high incomes.
Debbie Reddin van Tuyll is Editor-in-chief of The Augusta Press. Reach her at debbie@theaugustapress.com
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