San Francisco: Just 28 Residents for Each City Worker...Democratic Socialism good until you run out of other people's $$$

Given that one out of every 28 residents in San Francisco is on the city payroll, one can only wonder how a city like San Diego can get by with just one city worker for every 137 residents.

Using the Census Bureau's 2011 Annual Survey of Public Employment and Payroll, the Washington Examiner calculated the ratio of residents to city workers for American cities with a population of at least 200,000.

Washington, D.C., has the lowest ratio, just 25 residents for each city employee, and Bakersfield, Calif., has the highest — 246 residents per employee.

Washington "has the distinction of providing services that in many other places are often split among multiple levels of government, including state, local, and county authorities," the Examiner notes.

"Bakersfield's population has quadrupled in the last 40 years, and its public employee workforce may have lagged behind."

San Francisco is right behind Washington on the list of 107 cities. With a population of 805,235, the city has 28,660 employees, with an average annual salary of $90,702 and an annual payroll of more than $2.56 billion.($90,702 ???!!!!)

New York has the highest payroll, $18.6 billion, with 252,701 city workers — one for every 32 residents — earning an average of $74,270.

But those figures don't tell the whole story. The Census Bureau excludes all teachers and education professionals from being counted as city workers, and yet they make up the largest single group of local government employees. It also doesn't count employees of separate divisions such as the Baltimore City Housing Authority and the Chicago Park District.

Other large cities with low ratios include Baltimore, which has only 43 residents per employee, Denver (49 residents), Cleveland (50), St. Louis (50), Philadelphia (51), Atlanta (51), New Orleans (52), and Seattle (56).

Bankrupt Detroit has 61 residents per city worker, more than 19 cities on the list.

Los Angeles has 73 residents per employee, Chicago has 78, Houston has 95, and Miami, 101.

Bakersfield has 1,410 employees and a population of 347,483.

Other cities with high ratios of residents to workers include Fremont, Calif. (241 residents per employee); Irvine, Texas (233); and Las Vegas (225).