International firms, hospitality, finance sectors lead Kenya’s top payers
In the public sector, the hospitality sector, emerged as the highest-paying, with an employee earning an average annual wage of Sh2.9 million in 2024.
For Kenyans seeking high-paying opportunities in the formal sector, employment in international organisations or sectors such as hospitality, energy, finance and insurance offers some of the most lucrative prospects.
According to the 2025 Economic Survey by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), the aforementioned are among the top-ranking formal employment sectors in both public and private domains.
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This is based on the annual average wage earnings per employee for the one-year period that ended December 2024.
In the public sector, the Accommodation and Food Service industry, commonly referred to as the hospitality sector, emerged as the highest-paying, with an employee earning an average annual wage of Sh2.9 million in 2024.
Transportation and Storage, representing the transport sector, ranked second with an average wage of Sh2.6 million per employee, reflecting the growing investment and demand in logistics and infrastructure, especially around road, rail and aviation development.
Coming in third is the Finance and Insurance sector, where employees pocketed an average of Sh2.3 million annually.
Long considered a stable and prestigious field, the sector reportedly continues to offer robust earnings in both traditional banking and fintech innovations.
The Human Health and Social Work sector, largely comprising healthcare professionals and social service workers, ranked fourth at Sh1.8 million.
Rounding off the top five in the public sector is the Energy Sector, which includes electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning activities, with an average annual pay of Sh1.6 million.
In contrast, the lowest paying public sector jobs were in Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing, despite being widely regarded as the backbone of Kenya’s economy.
The average annual earnings for the sector stood at Sh573,535.
Mining and Quarrying came next as the second lowest paying sector, at Sh584,233, followed by Public Administration and Defence at Sh686,448.
On the private sector front, the top earners are those in activities of extraterritorial organisations and bodies, typically international institutions.
Employees in these firms earned an average of Sh4.3 million in the review year.
Other top earners in the private sector include the Energy sector (Sh2.5 million), Finance and Insurance (Sh2.4 million), and Administrative and Support Services (Sh1.9 million).
At the bottom of the private sector wage scale are water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation at Sh349,375, household activities such as caregiving roles at Sh353,316, and Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing at Sh420,791.
The report further reveals a rise in the total employees’ wages both in the private and public sectors during the year.
It says the nominal wage bill increased by 7.2 per cent to Sh2.9 trillion, partly attributable to the marked increase, in absolute terms, of employees in education and public administration and defence.
Wage bill refers to the total amount of money an organisation, company or government spends on employee salaries and wages.
“Private sector wage bill expanded by 7.7 per cent to Sh2.1 trillion in the year under review while the public sector’s increased by 5.8 per cent and accounted for 29.4 per cent of the total wage payments in 2024,” the report reads in part.
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