Pa. Gov. Josh Shapiro will soon become the top-earning governor in the U.S. after an automatic cost-of-living pay bump goes into effect on Jan. 1.

Shapiro, a Democrat up for re-election next year who is often named as a 2028 presidential contender, was already the second-highest paid state leader after New York Gov. Kathy Hochul. At about $245,000 this year, Shapiro earned about $5,000 less than Hochul, whose salary according to state law for the past few years has been $250,000.

But along with dozens of other Keystone State officials of both major parties, the new year will bring Shapiro a salary increase of 3.3% — in his case about $8,000, to $253,870.

Governors across the U.S. average an annual salary of roughly $167,000, according to Business Insider.

Pennsylvania, the fifth most populous state, with more than 13 million people as of July 2024, has its pay for top officials and the automatic raises established by state law.

The increases have led to the critical battleground state's governor's salary rising above all over others.

Other Pennsylvania officials receiving the 3.3% raise include Republican Treasurer Stacy Garrity, who will earn more than $211,000 next year.

Garrity this summer announced a bid to oust Shapiro, and she has been endorsed by the state GOP.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, at about $242,000, is the third-highest paid governor in the country. Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey earns more than $222,000, and Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson receives a salary of almost $219,000. Vermont Gov. Phil Scott earns $234,000, placing him among the top five in the country, while the Vermont Legislature has pushed for increases for its relatively low-paid state lawmakers, according to VTDigger.

The lowest-paid governor is Maine Gov. Janet Mills, who earns $70,000.

Others who are independently wealthy, such as another Democratic presidential contender, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, and Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, do not accept their annual state salaries.

Garrity has the same salary and will see the same increase as Attorney General Dave Sunday and Auditor General Timothy DeFoor.

Lt. Gov. Austin Davis will go from $206,436 to $213,248 in January.

Large state agency heads, meanwhile, including transportation, education, environmental protection, health, corrections, and labor and industry, will receive increases that put them over the $200,000 mark, according to a state notice from the Office of the Budget earlier this month.

The pay raises also included cost-of-living adjustments for heads of medium-sized and smaller departments and members of several state boards and commissions.

The budget office said the pay raises were based on the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers for the Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland area for the past year, as reported by the U.S. Department of Labor in August.

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