NEW DATABASE: Updated state salary list

Kirk Ferentz is having a better year than Gov. Chet Culver.

Not only are his Hawkeyes 9-0, but the University of Iowa football coach will make about 23 times the $130,000 salary state law sets for the governor, who is slashing spending and laying off employees to keep the state's budget in the black.

Search the state salary database here

Ferentz isn't the only state employee who earns more than the governor. Now that Culver has agreed to give back 10 percent of his salary, nearly 200 judges are among the 2,343 state employees who earn more than Culver, according to the Legislative Services Agency's annual “salary book.” Before his self-imposed pay cut, there were 1,733 state employees earning as much as or more than Culver.

It's no longer a surprise that Ferentz and other coaches at the state universities are better paid than the governor. On the state pay plan, Ferentz is followed by UI basketball coach Todd Lickliter at $925,000 and Iowa State University basketball coach Greg McDermott at $$833,901.

UI professor Alan Reed is the highest-paid non-coach in the state at $793,339.

Lisa Bluder, the 13th highest-paid state employee at $546,126, is the highest-paid female employee, according to the salary book.

Bluder and UI President Sally Mason, who was paid $508,400, are two of just 10 women among the 100 highest-paid state employees, according to a review of the LSA data. Among the highest 499 salaries, the median salary for men was $245,805, compared to $148,359 for women, a Gazette analysis found.

The median is the middle value in a list of numbers, which in this case means half the people make more and half less than the median salary.

The data also shows that the median income for the 100 highest-paid men was $389,449 compared to $238,816 for the 100 highest-paid women.

The data also shows that 519 state employees were paid $200,000 or more.

Search the state salary database here