Etc.

Want top pay? Then maybe you shouldn't run for governor

Public service, rather than salary, may be the main motivation for some state governors, three of whom return their pay to the public treasury, according to the website Stateline.org, which is devoted to state government and funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts. Governors essentially working gratis, of course, don't really need the money. They are California's Arnold Schwarzenegger (R), whose $206,500 salary – the highest in the nation – is turned back, Tennessee's Phil Bredesen (D), and New Jersey's Jon Corzine (D), who accepts only $1 a year. The lowest gubernatorial salary is $70,000, in Maine, which has kept the status quo for 20 years. The average salary for all 50 governors is $124,398. The states with the highest and lowest governor's salaries, and the respective amounts:

Highest
⁊ California $206,500
⁊ New York 179,000
⁊ Michigan 177,000
⁊ New Jersey 175,000
⁊ Virginia 175,000

Lowest
⁊ Maine $70,000
⁊ Arkansas 80,848
⁊ Tennessee 85,000
⁊ Colorado 90,000
⁊ North Dakota 92,483