This article looks at the best paying government jobs. Government jobs may not pay as well as private sector jobs, but the benefits and pension are very attractive. Government jobs are also very secure, which is something attractive during a bear market or a pandemic!
In fact, due to a collapse in interest rates in 2020, the value of a pension went way up! It took a lot more capital to generate the same amount of risk-adjusted income. Therefore, government jobs were even more valuable than ever before due to those pensions.
Before I get into the best paying jobs, I'd like to share a couple ridiculous articles about the government that will make you appreciate government jobs more.
First Article About The Government
The first article talks about how the US Army fudged $6.8 trillion in accounting entries back in 2015 to balance its books. The Defense Department's Inspector General said the Army lacked receipts and invoices to support those numbers or simply made them up. What?
“At first glance adjustments totaling trillions may seem impossible. The amounts dwarf the Defense Department’s entire budget. Making changes to one account also require making changes to multiple levels of sub-accounts, however. That created a domino effect where, essentially, falsifications kept falling down the line. In many instances this daisy-chain was repeated multiple times for the same accounting item,” Scot J. Paltrow writes.
While the government goes after regular folks who get their taxes wrong because there are so many rules, it turns a blind eye on $6.8 TRILLION in accounting errors? This seems like a huge double standard and an abdication of responsibility.
An army spokesman later downplayed the significance of the improper charges, and said the real error in question is “only” about $62.4 billion. Come on now. $62.4 billion is still a massive amount of money that has vanished into thin air.
$62.4 billion a year in misappropriated funds can:
- Create 1,248,000 new social worker jobs paying $50,000 a year
- Create 624,000 new teaching jobs that pay $100,000 a year
- Line the pockets of 62,400 corrupt officials by $1,000,000 a year
- Really line the coffers of 1,000 contractors by $62,400,000 a year
“Nobody knows where the money is going,” said Franklin Spinney, a retired military analyst for the Pentagon and critic of Defense Department planning. But actually we do know where the money is going.
It's going into the pockets of the top 0.1% government employees charged with handling the budget in the form of under the table money, salaries and bonuses and the pockets of companies that receive defense contracts.
Second Article About The Government
The second article talks about how San Francisco has an annual budget of $9.6 billion, more than 13 other States in America! Now the annual San Francisco budget is over $15 billion!
Reporter Heather Knight writes, “In 2010, the budget totaled $6.4 billion in a city with 805,000 people, meaning the city spent nearly $8,000 per capita. Six years later, the $9.6 billion budget is paying for services for 865,000 residents, or $11,100 per capita. Inflation explains a little of that increase, but certainly not all of it.” In other words, the city of San Francisco grew by 7.45%, but the budget ballooned by 50% in six years. That is out of control!
We know it's much easier to vote to raise taxes on other people especially if you don't have to pay more yourself. Illustrative of this is a SF law passed in 2011. As originally proposed, all SF residents would pitch 1-3% of their gross income in to raise $6.8B for public education.
The majority pushed back against this proposal and the legislation was changed to charge only those making $200,000 or more, ignoring entirely the fact that there are people making less than $200,000 who also have kids. As a result, only $2.5B was raised. But the majority is the majority, and in an election, the majority always wins.
Due to these enormous budgets, there is a tremendous amount of government grift in San Francisco, New York City, and other major cities around the country. Government employees, if they have enough power, can supplement their income by accepting bribes.
Inefficient Government Spending Is Why Working For The Government Is Great
In San Francisco, if someone graffiti's your garage door, you will get fined by the city if you don't remove the graffiti at your own expense within a short window of time. Homeowners are responsible for maintaining all the trees on public property outside their house even if they didn't plant them.
Further, if the public sidewalk outside your property is cracked, you must pay to fix it too. You would think with a $9.6 billion budget, the city would be responsible for maintaining its own property. Nope. Let's not get started about the homeless situation and the poor public transportation system.
Finally, roughly 20,000 of San Francisco's 39,000 employees make over $100,000 a year. Now that is impressive! So that's where the $9.6 billion budget is mostly going annually.
The San Francisco Department Of Public Works is corrupt! They have nothing better to do than annoy homeowners with the smallest problems while big issues are at work.
The Best Paying Government Jobs
There's an old saying, “If you can't beat them, join them.”
Since nobody can properly oversee the government unless you want to be fined or thrown in jail, it's a good idea for everybody to do three things if you want to get rich:
1) Identify the income threshold where the government starts going after you. Based on consistent political rhetoric and existing tax rules, this income figure is around $200,000. However, the income number may be adjusted higher or lower depending on your location's cost of living.
2) The more you make over $200,000, the more you need to try to work less or question your life's purpose. Ask yourself whether it's really worth killing yourself at a job or a business that isn't helping society just so you can earn more money. You can do much better donating your time and money to better causes than the government can.
For those of you who want to earn much more than $200,000 a year, I say give it a shot to get it out of your system. After you succeed, I suggest you take things down a notch. Over the long run, it's really not worth it. Life is so much more enjoyable if you can actually enjoy it. See how a family of four and a family of three spend $200,000 a year. It's a comfortable living.
3) Apply for various government jobs. Government has only gotten bigger over the years thanks to bigger budgets. Meanwhile, people depending on government welfare has continued to grow, especially after the coronavirus pandemic has put millions of Americans out of work and into the arms of enhanced unemployment benefits.
K-Shaped Economy
It's a travesty that so many people in America are getting rich, while so many more people are getting poorer. If we have money and opportunity, it's our duty to help those who do not have similar good fortune. By not teaching more people how to fish, the government stifles the aspirations of its citizenry. I really hope Financial Samurai can help more people achieve financial independence.
What is going on folks? The system appears to be failing and the coronavirus pandemic has certainly increased the failing by the government to support its citizens.
I want to believe that the internet helps democratize access to information and enables people to make better decisions. Helping others achieve financial freedom is one of the key reasons why I've published 3X a week for free since 2009.
However, these growth rates are scary! How can a nation as rich as ours have such a large percentage of people who are financially suffering? We must do more to help those who have less.
The Best Government Jobs That Pay Well
Here are some of the best paying government jobs. Government jobs can provide high pay and stability. Unfortunately, just like in the private sector, the most lucrative jobs are also the hardest to get.
Top Five Highest Paying Jobs That Nobody Can Get
1. NCAA Football Coach: $1.75 Million
2. President of a Public College: $425,000
3. President of the United States: $400,000
4. Chief Justice of the United States: $258,000
5. Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court: $248,000
The Highest Paying Jobs That Normal People Can Get
1) Astronomer – $116,072
2) Attorney – $114,240
3) Financial Manager – $101,022
4) General Engineer – $100,051
5) Economist – $94,098
6) Computer Scientist – $90,929
7) Chemist – $89,954
8) Criminal Investigator – $88,174
9) Microbiologist – $87,206
10) Architect – $85,690
11) Statistician – $81,524
12) Librarian – $78,665
13) Accountant – $78,030
14) Chaplain – $76,511
15) Ecologist – $76,511
16) Human Resources Manager – $76,503
17) Health and Safety Specialist – $73,003
18) Air Traffic Controller – $72,049
19) Budget Analyst – $71,267
20) Correctional Officer – $67,140
21) Nurse – $65,345
22) Technical Engineer – $63,951
23) Border Patrol Agent – $63,550
24) Medical Technician- $59,840
25) Customs Inspector – $59,248
Source: Govcentral.monster.com
The Highest Paying Government Agencies
Here are more best paying government jobs.
| Agency | Average Salary |
| FARM CREDIT SYSTEM INSURANCE CORPORATION | $171,827.30 |
| SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION | $162,856.89 |
| FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY | $154,969.54 |
| COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION | $151,844.57 |
| ARCTIC RESEARCH COMMISSION | $149,688.67 |
| NAT CTR FOR VET ANALYSIS AND STATISTICS | $148,947.33 |
| COMMISSION TO ELIMINATE CHILD ABUSE | $146,080.00 |
| MEDICARE PAYMENT ADVISORY COMMISSION | $139,032.54 |
| NATIONAL COUNCIL ON DISABILITY | $138,220.27 |
| MEDICAID & CHIP PAYMENT & ACCESS COMM | $133,954.98 |
| AMES RESEARCH CENTER | $133,735.20 |
| MARINE MAMMAL COMMISSION | $133,129.63 |
| ARCHITECTL & TRANS BARRIER COMPLIANCE BD | $131,564.17 |
| CIVILIAN BOARD OF CONTRACT APPEALS | $130,440.43 |
| DEFENSE NUCLEAR FACILITIES SAFETY BOARD | $130,317.34 |
| PRIVACY AND CIVIL LIBERTIES OVERSIGHT | $129,676.57 |
| FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE CORPORATION | $129,436.18 |
| FARM CREDIT ADMINISTRATION | $128,692.38 |
| DOMESTIC NUCLEAR DETECTION OFFICE | $128,329.48 |
| OFFICE OF NATIONAL DRUG CONTROL POLICY | $128,077.82 |
Source: Fedsmith.com
If you want to apply to the myriad of US Federal government jobs, please check out USAjobs.gov.
Further, we learned that public transportation janitors and elevator technicians can make multiple six-figures if they work overtime.
Please don't believe you can't make six figures when plenty of government workers are.
Try Freelancing To Earn Income As Well
Although there are a great many well-paying government jobs, you might not want to be locked into The Borg for a couple decades before you can receive a miracle pension for life. Therefore, in order to get some of that honey money, being a government freelancer may be a better way to go.
Here are some positives for being a freelancer:
Pay – Freelancer almost always earns more than a full-time government employee. The downside is usually no benefits.
Relatively easier to get – It's not easy getting a government job. For example, only about 3% pass the Foreign Service entrance exam. By contrast, contracting companies may be less restrictive with their selection process.
Double or triple dip – Freelancer is great because you can earn money in multiple ways without restriction. For example, I can simultaneously earn money running Financial Samurai, consulting with a fintech company, teaching tennis, driving a car, and contracting with the government. If you work FT for the government, however, your outside earning avenues may be restricted.
If you want to have the benefits of being a freelancer and a full-time employee, perhaps consider working full-time at a government contractor like Lockheed Martin, Northrup Grumman, and SAIC.
Related: How To Be A Rockstar Freelancer
Focus On Big Trends To Get Rich
If you want to get rich, not only should you try and land yourself one of the best paying government jobs that pays a nice pension. You should also focus on big long-term trends to get rich.
For example, In 1999, I joined the Asian equities department of an investment bank because it seemed obvious the Asian region would experience explosive growth over the coming decades. In 1997 I had been an exchange student for six months in Beijing, Shanghai, and Chengdu and seen the potential. It was a good ride until everything went to hell 10 years later due to the US housing crisis.
In 2009, I started Financial Samurai partly because i believed the internet would continue to grow by leaps and bounds. It was evident back in 1999 as well, but I didn't know anything about websites and just needed to get a damn job to prove I hadn't wasted four years of my life in college.
In addition to mobile, virtual reality, self-driving cars, and the internet of things, big government is one of the strongest trends for the remainder of our lifetimes.
In addition, we found out in 2025 that big government employees can also get great severance packages! President Trump's administration offered over 2 million federal government employees an 8-month salary buyout if they resign. That's pretty darn good to me!
Demographic Shifts In The Future
In 2020, I think it's evident there will be a large demographic shift towards lower cost areas of the country thanks to the global pandemic and the rise of working from home.
First, there will be an increased demand in your city for single family homes in less densely populated areas within or near your city. If you no longer have to commute 5X a week, the need to be near work no longer matters.
Second, 18-hour cities will benefit from long-term migration trends from citizens who just don't want to be in 24-hour cities anymore. As a result, I'm investing in the heartland and in 18-hour cities through real estate crowdfunding.
Platforms such as Fundrise and CrowdStreet are my two favorite to sign up and explore for free. I've personally invested $810,000 in real estate crowdfunding to diversify and earn more income passively.
If You're Leaving A Job
Best paying government jobs are everywhere. Please negotiate a severance instead of quitting if you want to find a government job.
If you negotiate a severance like I did back in 2012, you not only get a severance check, but potentially subsidized healthcare, deferred compensation, and worker training. Since you got laid off, you're also eligible for up to 27 weeks of unemployment benefits. Having a financial runway is huge during your transition period.
To learn how to negotiate a severance and be free, pick up a copy of How To Engineer Your Layoff. The book is recently updated for post-pandemic work life. Use the code “saveten” at checkout to save $10.
I first published the book in 2012 and have since expanded it to over 200 pages thanks to tremendous reader feedback and successful case studies. It was recently updated with new case studies, resources, and more. Check it out today.
The Best Paying Government Jobs For 2025 And Beyond is a Financial Samurai original post. Join 60,000+ readers building wealth by subscribing to my free weekly newsletter.
I think that the reason more people are on benefits IS because the country is more advanced. As technology gets more and more advanced, it needs fewer and fewer people to work. We, however, are making more and more robots AND more and more humans.
As soon as we’ll have inteligent cars enter mass market, we’ll really begin to both the upsides and the downsides of technology, as a huge amount of jobs are in the transportation business and all of those jobs will be in peril.
Sam watch War Dogs. It’ll make your head spin. I had no idea about the method of assigning government weapons contracts until I saw that movie. I think public pensions will be the first big domino to fall, followed by Medicare, then Social Security
ken, the answer is yes, of course you do. m
Yup, that is what I figured. Thanks for your help.
Florida is a much cheaper place to live than DC metro.
F.S., the best government job is the one I have! I serve as a Patent Examiner for the Patent and Trademark Office. In addition to my federal employment comprising six figures, benefits, matching TSP, etc., I can live anywhere in the contiguous US (plus Puerto Rico) without any change to my income (e.g. locality pay). There’s overtime and bonuses as well (due to backlogs of applications) and the job is challenging! I chose to live in Florida as opposed to DC metro. one day, I will follow your lead/lifestyle and maybe even get an FS consultation!! cheers :), m
Is it an online job, or do you go into an office 8-5?
the job is a work-at-home function (aka “hoteling”) requiring high speed internet in order to connect to the office VPN. you are expected to be actively working during established work hours. and, it is a production-based job, requiring you to complete a certain amount of work, all of which has a required deadline. of note, the function requires putting in 2 years at the office in Alexandria, VA but once you earn your wings, you may choose to hotel or work from home. the agency will also pay for advanced courses, such as, law school.
Interesting. Is there any way to get more information about these positions?
sure. usajobs.gov and insert “patent examiner” as a keyword. looks like right now there are examiner jobs for mechanical, electrical and computer engineers. Alexandria, va is the main office but there are 4 other regional offices in dallas, Detroit, silicon valley and Denver. may you get a job in lower cost of living area. Living in DC-metro murdered my income!
Hmm, I’m in the Denver area right now… Do I need any kind of background related to those fields to get hired or do my job?
Well, here is the hard data on the obscene salaries of SF public service workers:
Sam,
Speaking as an astronomer, I’d like to point out that the salary you’ve given for my profession is well above the median (if it’s a national figure). Also, it is a field that it is very difficult to get a job in. Most astronomy PhDs don’t work as astronomers. The skills we have, however, are quite useful in many fields.
Thanks for sharing Liam. Are you up for sharing your years of experience and salary range? Do you work in the government or in the private sector?
Sam,
I’m just a humble Cali state employee. I’ve been in education for over twenty years and have seen my salary range from low five figures (< $30,000/yr) to low six figures. A large advantage is I have a pension, if it's still there in twenty years. I have been other things as well and there's no doubt in my mind that a technical background gives you flexibility. I was once offered a job teaching English on the spot in Southern China while I was traveling, mainly based on my technical background.
For people who actually do astronomy (research, i.e. The Blessed Few) or even teach, salaries vary wildly. Full professors at most unis make six figures (maybe $300,000/yr at the high end), but aside from private colleges/unis, aren't they all gov't employees? Researchers are usually dependent on grant money, which is largely from NSF, NASA or even DoD. So most astronomers have a gov't connection to their pay. There are also many who are less than Full Profs, however, and they may not make much above $60,000/yr and many others work as contingent labor in part-time pools in the higher ed of our country. Others who may get decent pay have what we call "soft money," which is attached to time-limited grants and can lead to being on a brutal treadmill to keep the money coming.
BTW, love the blog and it's my first time commenting. But then you were talking about my profession :) I have been teaching my wife, who's a neophyte investor, your mantra: "Over time, the graph goes up and to the right." I'm surprised how few of my colleagues don't understand retirement investing in spite of many having PhDs. I was at a presentation about a 403b plan (we don't get matching, sadly), and pointed out that the presenter's growth estimate (of 8%/yr) was too optimistic. The only faculty who followed this up with me were all from the Business department! Everyone else seemed to take the projections at face value.
One thing I like about how you present things here on FS is that you remind me of how fun investing can be. Maybe if the schools approached it from that point of view, more would take it up from a young age – if they taught financial literacy at all.
I don’t understand this constant infatuation with the $200k annual income number.
I know that taxes go up as you hit higher incomes, but why $200k? In Manhattan, that is a 20-something salary and you can’t survive on that as you build a family. Also, the rates go up minimally at each level. Let’s say you are making $200k and then suddenly you start making $300k. You may pay an extra 5-6% of that extra $100k (if you count all taxes). In other words, you will still have another $60k+ in your hands at the end of the year after taxes, or $5k per month (enough for a decent 1-bdrm rental).
It’s a strange number, imo.
While it’s true that $200,000 is not that much money in Manhattan it is the sweet spot to “enough money” that provides maximum happiness in most parts of the country. You don’t have to kill yourself to earn that much. And you don’t have to pay ever increasing amounts of taxes while you are killing yourself.
Just look back to the time when you made $50,000, $100,000 $150,000, $200,000, $300,000, $500,000, $1,000,000 etc. Can you honestly say you were much happier making $500,000 than you were when you were making $200,000? My thoughts are based off careful tax and lifestyle analysis after making all these figures. $200,000 – $250,000 is all one really needs to be happy.
What is it that you do where you are making much more than $200,000 and what is your workload now? I think you mentioned you are 40 and looking to buy a place with your new wife in Manhattan? Maybe it’s because you haven’t started to burn out yet where you feel it’s worth making a lot more? Everybody has a different tolerance for length of work.
In Manhattan, I would shoot for $500,000 steady state for a family of four to live very comfortably. And if you were lucky enough to buy in Manhattan 10+ years ago, then perhaps $300,000 is all you need.
Thx
TVA executives account for at least the top 5 government paid positions.
There are tons of police officers and sheriff’s deputies in California making well over $100k per year. In fact, there are even a few agencies that START at (or around) $100k per year.
Santa Clara Police Department starts @ $112k per year
San Jose Police Department starts @ $99k per year
Berkley Police Department starts @ $94k per year
Many other agencies all over the state (not just the bay area) start at a little less but reach $100k just after a few years of service. Just a thought for those thinking about a career in law enforcement… if you want to make six figures… look to California.
I don’t think these numbers are high. They are well deserved. In fact, I would propose higher pay for police officers, fire fighters, 311 staff, 911 staff, and teachers. The higher the pay, the higher the quality of service.
But yes, there are a lot of well paid jobs in this service work.
I agree Sam, and support the concept of higher quality of service in return for higher pay. I’m always willing to speak to my customers about the dangers of being a “life course persistent offender”, the criminological factors behind their perpetrated crime, or the exact legalities of “reasonable suspicion” and “probable cause” that led me to detain and arrest in the first place! However, most want to quibble over nonsensical issues and my ability to educate and inform is severely curtailed. C’est la vie.
The whole Democratic party’s agenda is based on larger government to oversee the larger numbers of people on welfare, transfer millions of corporation jobs overseas NAFTA, TPP.
Expect more welfare because all the department, plant, manufacturing, assembly jobs are no longer in our country. Expect more people to be hired as government overseers of the millions on welfare. Expect the clintons personal wealth to reach $200 million as corporations continue to pay them $500,000 for ‘a hr speech’ which is really just asking the corporation what they want to happen then modifying the laws, or putting together acting bodies to make the corporation’s wish come true.
Wow that’s nuts about both of those articles. That is a crazy amount of money to go unaccounted for. And the SF budget is totally nuts too. I love SF but don’t think I’ll stay here for the long term bc it’s so expensive tax-wise and in terms of living expenses compared to so many other places.
Ah football coaches.. In my college, the football coach got paid $4m+ a year. What a fantastic business to be in! A lot of misjudgments when someone says they’re a public servant for sure.
I agree with the marginal value of an extra dollar. I don’t think happiness goes beyond $200k. Right now, I’m fighting for every extra dollar that I can bring home, but after a certain extent, I know that it’s not going to matter that much to me.
Sam:
Good details, but some of those charts conveniently stopped at year 2012. Also, most of the focus in increasing welfare — is from the period of 2008-2012 ** We all know why with the Worst Recession in history ** We all heard headline stories of laid-off Wall street bankers – going around in costly Suits, and Sports-cars — but shopping for groceries with “Food Stamps” !!
And Worse-yet, the “PROJECTIONS” are also based convinienty on 2008 data.
Ideally – we are just now-a-days seeing stable economy, job growth, reduced un-employment — and in a year I bet my pretty PENNY that those projections will be off by 30%-50% by the time 2016/2017 data comes out in late 2017 !!
As economy improving (or is it ?)., not only the “Welfare” growth stops, the trend will actually “reverse” as people move from “welfare-rolls” to “Payrolls”
I think – this article and data-points serve a point highlighting Govt spending, and (some? or lot?) its inefficient ways. But – those years/projections appear to use “convenient” time-periods.
BTW – can you contrast with the “Govt budget” Vs the Welfare doled-out for those respective years !? Also, it be cool to know “Govt deficit due to Wars” Vs “Welfare growth” — for the “Same period” !!
Thanks
SC
Check out the chart on the welfare forecast over the next 10+ years. Also compare that to the US population growth, which is not as fast. If you have any welfare charts or government spending charts to 2016 I would love to have them and I would post them up here. Thank you for your contribution
I am a former Fed employee, who left a 6 figure salary and cushy situation behind b/c I felt my soul was dying.. I’ve worked in DC and in field offices around the country, and now freelance (with only about 10 years experience).
I make slightly more money, but I work from home, control my own projects, and don’t have to punch the clock and stare at beige walls of a cubicle all day.
Let me say this – most government employees I worked with are lazy, dumb, and unmotivated. I’m not sure they started their careers bright eyed and bushy tailed, but the way the system is set up, there is ZERO incentive to work hard – their salaries and career tracks are pretty much on a timer. Ride a desk and you’ll magically become solidly middle class.
One thing you should know though – the old school pension is no more. That was phased out about 20 years ago and the “new” FERS retirement system is much more like a 401k, though with the lowest fees of any such program around. (Before someone corrects me, yes there is still a small pension component to FERS, but it basically is equal to a couple hundred dollars a month.)
And now, all employees who have been hired since 2014, have to pay 4.4% towards that small FERS pension, a significant increase from the .8% contribution before 2013.
Ouch! “lazy, dumb, and unmotivated” kind of harsh no? What department in particular? I can see how it’s hard to get motivated by only minimal raises and a very rigid promotion structure. But getting a government job seems relatively difficult (college education usually required), so not sure they can be considered mostly dumb at least.
I suppose you’d think so, but I can assure you it’s not uncommon for some feds (I knew several) which do literally nothing all day – and their bosses can’t fire them, for several reasons – and who get a “3 out of 5” rating every year due to pressure from management so that OPM doesn’t come down on the agency for poor performance.
I was in a small agency, personnel wise, but we we under the Federal Department of Transportation. Literally billions handled by our agency, annually.
As far as how hard it is to get a job – depends upon your job code – I hold a B.A. nothing special, and had no experience in the job I applied for. I simply came in at the bottom of the journeyman level at a relatively young age, and rode the escalator up. The government in some cases prefers staff to have no training so that they can train based on their own criteria and preferences. Just my experience, anyway.
I’m right there with you on your commentary, especially re: SF. However, it appears that the data in those charts about US expenditures are not per capita. That would be much for interesting – and more relevant – apropos of the above analysis on spending growth in SF. Maybe it is per capita and then shocking indeed.
Just divide by the population. Easy peasy. I can’t do all the thinking and analysis.
Very cool website. I’ve been recommending it to friends. I’m already doing several things you’ve recommended, but I’m learning a lot, too. Question for you: why don’t you put dates on your articles?
Sam brilliantly re-purposes his articles by updating them often, thereby keeping his traffic reading older articles for which his time investment has already been accounted. Excellent approach with excellent results.
The true benefit of a government job is that no one looks sideways at you when you work a 40-hour work week.
My husband is a federal worker with a six-figure salary and only twice in seven years has he had periods of long hours (they lasted for several months). Our quality of life is much better now than when we both had jobs in the financial sector.
That said, you do have to tolerate a small percentage of dead-weight employees who don’t seem to do anything. And management can seem incredibly incompetent…but that can be said of too many places.
Dead-weight employees are very common in the private sector too, which is why there is so many consistent rounds of firing.
But yeah, quality of life seems great. A good strategy may be to make some bigger bucks in the private sector for the first 20 years, and then move into a higher government rank role the final 20 years. Seems like what a lot of people in Congress do.
Sam,
Thanks for the great post.
I’m retiring from the Army next month. I’ve been quite lucky to have had multiple great duty stations, and great training (both military and civilian) as a physician.
In coming to a decision for my next work experience, I’ve done quite a bit of research on whether to take a normal civilian job at a regular hospital, hire on in a military hospital as a GS employee, or take a position as a freelance contractor.
Some helpful information for those looking at bidding on government contracts would be to look at FBO.gov (federal business opportunities). The opportunities listed there are impressive, and cover many different lines of work. It is free and pretty easy to obtain the designation as a sole proprietor or a business to be eligible to compete for contracts. Just go to SAM.gov (system for award management) and register.
While disheartening to hear of large amounts of money unaccounted for, I am fairly encouraged that there are very real checks and balances on contracts. There are fairly strict laws on fair and balanced open competition for businesses. For individuals contractors, the laws are also clear in that total compensation for any individual can not exceed the salary of the president, or $400K. Even then, individuals need to do their research and have good market rationale for their bids for the work that is solicited.
It turns out that the GS system, with very good benefits, would have given me the same base salary as what I will be paying myself with the contract I recently signed. I decided to go with the contract so that I would receive a 1099 and be able to utilize a solo 401(k) and maximize that as much as possible. While I won’t have any of the GS benefits, I will still be able to pay low premiums for my family for healthcare, and I won’t have any restrictions from being able to perform some moonlighting at other hospitals.
I consider myself quite lucky, as I still get to take care of military family members full time and get paid well (quite a bit more than my current military salary).
Great to hear and congrats! And you also have a pension, yes?
That’s interesting that nobody can make more than the President.
What is your impetus for retiring from the Army if your contract job puts you back in a similar role?
thx
There is no way a librarian is earning 78k/year. When I worked for the FL DOS in their State Library I was doing website design. This was back in 2005, but I was making $32k and librarians were making 29k for FTE. And that was on the high end; librarians elsewhere were making less than that, and sometimes a lot less.
12) Librarian – $78,665 ?!?!?!?!?!?
Man, what a stress free job with good money. What was I thinking going the engineering route.
Hi Sam,
Shocking info from the charts you presented. I thought since we are out from our 2008 Recession, the jobs market is great thus people do not need welfare/food stamps as much. I heard on the radio several months back that a cause may be that there are many jobs available, but not enough qualified applicants and thus wonder if people aren’t motivated enough to enhance education/skills because they feel they can get these economic benefits anyway.
SMM,
I was thinking somewhat similarly, but then I checked out more recent data, and they confirm your impression.
“SNAP caseloads began falling in 2014 and continued falling in 2015. SNAP caseload growth slowed substantially in 2012 and 2013, and caseloads fellby about 2 percent in 2014 and another 2 percent in 2015. For more than two years, fewer people have participated in SNAP each month than in the same month one year earlier. The number of people receiving SNAP has fallen by 2.6 million people since peaking in December 2012.[4] In 42 states, the number of SNAP participants was lower in December 2015 than in December 2012.”
From the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, March 2016. “SNAP Costs and Caseloads Declining”
So SAM, it is not like you to be lazy or set up an article for clickbait, but why are you using info from 2012? There is much more recent info available, and they seem to tell a different story. In fact, your data represent the peak–the biggest distortion from the currrent state.
I’ve added a more up to date chart on SNAP that shows recipients up to 2015 after digging more. The number of participants is fading, but it is still 100% higher than it was 10 years ago, and the economy is larger and stronger than then as well. So what gives?
Also, why no mention of the trillions in fudged accounting and the huge $9.6B SF city budget? Why turn a blind eye? What is your background? thx.
Thanks SAM–I am impressed by how quickly you are responding to East Coast morning comments!
My comment was solely around the point that the data seemed to be dated, when recent data is available. I don’t dispute that the level is high–in fact, I see it as an extension of the lack of wage gowth, even as we seem to be at a point of full employment in the economy: there is something holding back the “typical” response to a shortage of labor, which includes wages and overall employment level. The overall tone of your story is not negated by using up-to-date trends.
My background is in private industry. As a resident of the Midwest, I can only shake my head at the excesses of SF–real estate prices, taxes, wages, etc. I am no fan of the military-industrial complex, but my first response to vociferous criticism is: what would you do differently? Is the problem inherent in the size of the military? And yet, is the size needed to perform the tasks we have assigned it? Certainly, 50 state militias would have their own issues of coordination of duties and burden on border states. (think EU issues with immigration) So, the root cause is to ask what we are committing to–something I don’t think we have seriously revisited since the end of the cold war.
Cool. If I could easily find more recent charts, I would have posted them. But I’m glad you and another brought up the desire for even more recent charts. I take all reader input into consideration to make the posts better after being published. That’s one of the beauties of blogging.
My goal is to point out the government double standard of going after its citizens, but not going after itself.
My second goal is to highlight that if you want to make money, you must follow the money. The trillions in misappropriated funds and the $9.6B SF gov’t annual budget as an example WILL be used for jobs beyond greasing people under the table. It is too hard to fight the government due to existing laws.
You constantly talk about how the internet has made access to information so easy. One of the topics it is making more accessible is government assistance programs. It’s easier than ever to sign up for welfare and food stamps, so it makes sense that more people are doing it.
I have argued before on my site that it is kind of stupid to not sign up for these programs if you qualify. It might even make sense to go out of your way to qualify. Why work a miserable minimum wage job when the government will support you? People seem to be wising up to this, and it could get very expensive.
Hey, I think it’s awesome that you’re going to be a substitute teacher. Kids need as much help as they can get.
About the government, WTF! $6.8 trillion, oh wait $62 billion. Sounds more improper accounting. We spend way too much money on the military. Couldn’t we at least get the accounting, right?
About the social programs, the homeless population here is increasing pretty quickly and a lot of people needs help. The cost of living is increasing too fast for the people on the edge. It’s sad and getting worse.
Hi Sam!
The process might look different for state or local government, but the vast majority of federal government contractors will be getting benefits from their contacting firms (Lockheed, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, CACI, SAIC, Bearing Point, etc etc). Some benefits will be way worse (eg no pension), but some will be better (eg Feds get no paid maternity leave).
The biggest issue with being a contractor is the lack of career advancement potential. You will be managed by Federal employees, who will move up the GS scale, while you mainly make lateral moves. IMO, you’re trading short term monetary compensation for long term comp (including a pension) and career progression. My wife is a Fed, and considered becoming a contractor early in her career. I’m glad she didn’t, as after 14 years she is now a GS 15 managing a staff of 30+ contractors.
You listed professions, but the easier way to look at Federal salaries is to look at the GS schedule for different localities, including locality pay and potential housing allowances. There are different steps (which indicate tenure), but I want to say a GS 15 in the Northern Virginia area should be earning in the $120-140k range.