See what salary city of Charlotte employees make compared to their coworkers
The city of Charlotte employs about 8,300 full-time people to keep this rapidly-growing metropolis running on a $3.6 billion budget.
The city manager, Marcus Jones, makes the most money: his annual pay rate is $499,210. That’s more than the Mecklenburg County manager, who brings in about $420,000 a year.
Jones has served as manager since 2019, starting at a salary of $339,900.
The director of aviation, Haley Gentry, makes the most compared to her department colleagues. Her $342,122 annual pay rate is 3.7 times the median annual pay for the Air Administration Department running Charlotte Douglas International Airport, one of the busiest airports in the world.
That department employs 68 full-time people who manage a variety of airport-related work such as human resources, noise abatement, safety and real estate, to name a few.
Gentry has served Charlotte since 1991 and assumed official leadership of the airport in 2021. She’s the first woman to take the role, according to the city.
Gentry guided the airport through its COVID response, establishing a team that worked on building passenger confidence and protecting airport employees.
The Charlotte Observer routinely publishes public employee databases for local governments and educational systems. Check out Charlotte’s payroll, and reach out to us at cmcglade@charlotteobserver.com if you see something that warrants attention.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the total number of people employed by the city of Charlotte.
This story was originally published March 26, 2026 at 5:02 AM.
