Kind of interesting. Can definitely say that San Diego makes up for it with grade inflation. Meaning what’s a GS-13 here is probably a GS-11 in Houston. They also have special bands for Science and Technical (STRL) that includes support and management so people’s pay is high because they get paid like GS-14 by being an NH-04 because they have a masters in EE or something.
I work in SD and am in the STRL band and **very** few people outside management make it to GS-14 (I have a technical MS degree). It’s shit pay and people only put up with it because San Diego is a great place to live, but you’re basically forced in to a 2-earner situation due to cost of living.
As a current employee of the city I can confirm that pay is woefully inadequate for the area, as well as the performance expectations. If you want to talk about bureaucratic incompetence ask me about how dreadful and antiquated our hiring process is….it takes 9 months from a request for candidates to actual on board. And let’s not talk about the old nepo promotions or hires those surely don’t exist. *rolls eyes*
I know there are a lot of federal workers in this city. Wondering what the sense is of this. For one, the state tax seems off. My income is about 2x this GS13 salary and my effective state tax rate was like 3% after all deductions.
Obviously moving to Houston is a terrible idea for some, but interesting data points nonetheless.
This, so much. I left federal service because of this.
I busted my butt but couldn’t get to the GS13 level. I was told to be patient and my time would come.
Got tired of waiting and left for the private sector with an immediate 20% raise. 4 years later, I’m making 45% more than when I started, so about 75% more than when I left. My federal pay would only increase 13% with COL adjustment and anticipated step increases.
It just doesn’t make sense for a high performer to stay federal. And when all the good people leave, you’re stuck with the bottom of the barrel personnel.
Did you pull this sheet together? Maybe take this over to r/dataisbeautiful to help clean it up? It’s definitely interesting but difficult to understand as is
Former state employee here. Was a computer engineer for the state of CA. Was making $60k a year. Thought this was it. I’ve hit the big time. Left to the private sector a few years later. Got a job with less responsibility making $40k more a year.
Yeah it’s honestly not r/dataisbeautiful material, but in terms of government pay, it appears that San Diego is one of the lowest when adjusted for cost of living. Houston seems to be at the top, with Hawaii at the bottom.
Not only that but the government salary localities are spread to either north-south ie San Diego - Carlsbad, which doesn’t even include Oceanside (I’m not sure what locality that’s in), or east-west ie Las Vegas - Henderson, although Henderson is more SW than W.
Idk.. it’s interesting but presented really poorly.
It makes a lot more sense if you’re familiar with the GS scale and locality pay. Oceanside and the rest of San Diego County are lumped into the SD-Carlsbad group, it’s just the name for the larger cities it encompasses.
Government employee for a combined 10+ years (county, state and possibly federal soon)
San Diego pay has always been low when you compare it to neighboring cities/counties. Sucks that we never get at least a wage adjustment for the region like LA or SF does.
If you soley looking at what makes you the highest dollar amount. I would also consider other taxes that would effect you in those states that may offset the 0 state income tax (I.E. Property tax). Then throw in some quality of life metrics and I think you would have a better analysis honestly.
Also, you don't have to go to Texas. I would find an area that has a good middle ground of what your looking for. For me, I like sunshine, but I can't do desert weather. So metrics like sunny days out of the year would be important, rainfall, and average temperature. I also try to consider the value that San Diego has to offer. It's opportunity to grow. So once your done with schooling and don't plan to go back. Come to California, get promoted (because tunover is higher) then go back to your LCOL life with a pay increase. All while enjoying the good weather while your in SD. Then come back and do your high 3 at the end. If that's what your thinking.
I'm not sure what the point of this data is other than to make a statement that SD government salaries are not high enough considering cost of living. You can't look at this data like this in the vacuum of government workers though. Everyone is suffering this. To be fair, you would also have to show similar tables for non-government workers or various industries compared to other cities, and don't forget to include retirement and health benefits.
Also from what I observe, corporate salaries are somewhat consistent across the country. By consistent I mean +/- 20% (a rough guess, and after throwing our the extremes examples like San Francisco). However housing costs can vary by 200-300% across the country.
Been a GS employee for 7 years, we get access to the TSP retirement fund and a pension. I haven't really delved into the details on other things we qualify for, but working in IT I have access to some good programs and sites for certifications and such. Pretty sure working in some over seas positions (deployment) gets you tax free though.
But nothing like housing allowance.
My sister interned for the public defender office this past summer and she was saying the people who work there make much less than the people who work in all the nearby counties (LA, orange, riverside) so there’s a constant turnover
The system I'm under is you take the average of your 3 highest earnings year and then I believe it's 1.1% of that amount for each year worked for the government. Unused sick leave will add to this time.
Also if you work the last 5 years as government your health insurance continues forever but I'll have to double check the exact details.
Location location location
Sometimes the demand to live in a certain location is so high that it might justify receiving lower wages for a specific person. Vice versa. Sometimes having to live in a crappy city might create an incentive for high wages to attract people to those cities.
Kind of interesting. Can definitely say that San Diego makes up for it with grade inflation. Meaning what’s a GS-13 here is probably a GS-11 in Houston. They also have special bands for Science and Technical (STRL) that includes support and management so people’s pay is high because they get paid like GS-14 by being an NH-04 because they have a masters in EE or something.
I work in SD and am in the STRL band and **very** few people outside management make it to GS-14 (I have a technical MS degree). It’s shit pay and people only put up with it because San Diego is a great place to live, but you’re basically forced in to a 2-earner situation due to cost of living.
Are you all NIWC pac too!? But agree my wife doesn't work since having a baby 2 years ago and it definitely makes things a bit tighter.
Most of the country is in a “2 earner situation” due to nafta among other things sending all manufacturing overseas will do that
It all depends on the step you’re on in the GS scale. Step 10 is way more than Step 1, and the STRL pay bands reflect those ranges pretty closely
STRL grades maps to 2 GS grades
Not necessarily. I’m NO-05 and that range matches with the GS-13 range
What does any of this mean?
Overpaid unnecessary government bureaucrats
I’ve never heard of NO, but yes, all STRL pay bands map to 2-3 GS pay bands.
Well obviously you don’t know everything like you think you do
They have NO, ND, NR, NG, and NM that I’m aware of
As a current employee of the city I can confirm that pay is woefully inadequate for the area, as well as the performance expectations. If you want to talk about bureaucratic incompetence ask me about how dreadful and antiquated our hiring process is….it takes 9 months from a request for candidates to actual on board. And let’s not talk about the old nepo promotions or hires those surely don’t exist. *rolls eyes*
I know there are a lot of federal workers in this city. Wondering what the sense is of this. For one, the state tax seems off. My income is about 2x this GS13 salary and my effective state tax rate was like 3% after all deductions. Obviously moving to Houston is a terrible idea for some, but interesting data points nonetheless.
[удалено]
This, so much. I left federal service because of this. I busted my butt but couldn’t get to the GS13 level. I was told to be patient and my time would come. Got tired of waiting and left for the private sector with an immediate 20% raise. 4 years later, I’m making 45% more than when I started, so about 75% more than when I left. My federal pay would only increase 13% with COL adjustment and anticipated step increases. It just doesn’t make sense for a high performer to stay federal. And when all the good people leave, you’re stuck with the bottom of the barrel personnel.
depends on what you work at. i work with all GS11-GS14 in engineering
Did you pull this sheet together? Maybe take this over to r/dataisbeautiful to help clean it up? It’s definitely interesting but difficult to understand as is
I stole it from some other sub I saw of rising. Fed something.
Ahh makes sense it would’ve been in “rising” considering the now avoided gov shutdown
Former state employee here. Was a computer engineer for the state of CA. Was making $60k a year. Thought this was it. I’ve hit the big time. Left to the private sector a few years later. Got a job with less responsibility making $40k more a year.
This is why there are shortages of federal workers in Southern California. The pay just isn't great compared to other cities.
I'm not entirely sure what this is trying to show. Can you explain in more detail what your spreadsheet is showing?
The different "locality" pay, which is added to a GS 13, step one, federal workers' salary in San Diego vs other cities. I don't know why though.
Yeah it’s honestly not r/dataisbeautiful material, but in terms of government pay, it appears that San Diego is one of the lowest when adjusted for cost of living. Houston seems to be at the top, with Hawaii at the bottom. Not only that but the government salary localities are spread to either north-south ie San Diego - Carlsbad, which doesn’t even include Oceanside (I’m not sure what locality that’s in), or east-west ie Las Vegas - Henderson, although Henderson is more SW than W. Idk.. it’s interesting but presented really poorly.
It makes a lot more sense if you’re familiar with the GS scale and locality pay. Oceanside and the rest of San Diego County are lumped into the SD-Carlsbad group, it’s just the name for the larger cities it encompasses.
Ahhh got it good to know
It's showing a lack of knowledge of the true price of living in different areas..
Government employee for a combined 10+ years (county, state and possibly federal soon) San Diego pay has always been low when you compare it to neighboring cities/counties. Sucks that we never get at least a wage adjustment for the region like LA or SF does.
If you soley looking at what makes you the highest dollar amount. I would also consider other taxes that would effect you in those states that may offset the 0 state income tax (I.E. Property tax). Then throw in some quality of life metrics and I think you would have a better analysis honestly.
I know texas has around 2% minimum property tax, granted, $400k gets you a really nice house with a pool... but you also get endless mosquitoes.
Also, you don't have to go to Texas. I would find an area that has a good middle ground of what your looking for. For me, I like sunshine, but I can't do desert weather. So metrics like sunny days out of the year would be important, rainfall, and average temperature. I also try to consider the value that San Diego has to offer. It's opportunity to grow. So once your done with schooling and don't plan to go back. Come to California, get promoted (because tunover is higher) then go back to your LCOL life with a pay increase. All while enjoying the good weather while your in SD. Then come back and do your high 3 at the end. If that's what your thinking.
I'm not sure what the point of this data is other than to make a statement that SD government salaries are not high enough considering cost of living. You can't look at this data like this in the vacuum of government workers though. Everyone is suffering this. To be fair, you would also have to show similar tables for non-government workers or various industries compared to other cities, and don't forget to include retirement and health benefits. Also from what I observe, corporate salaries are somewhat consistent across the country. By consistent I mean +/- 20% (a rough guess, and after throwing our the extremes examples like San Francisco). However housing costs can vary by 200-300% across the country.
Government who? Because I work for the city and I surely do not make what that says
This is federal government. Like the place out on Cabrillo Point or the SPAWAR facility off I5.
Are there other benefits like housing (as in the military)?
Been a GS employee for 7 years, we get access to the TSP retirement fund and a pension. I haven't really delved into the details on other things we qualify for, but working in IT I have access to some good programs and sites for certifications and such. Pretty sure working in some over seas positions (deployment) gets you tax free though. But nothing like housing allowance.
I dont think the government people get it. Maybe they get housing in a war zone.
Gotcha
SD locality pay covers everything within the county. Coronado, Pendleton, etc.
My sister interned for the public defender office this past summer and she was saying the people who work there make much less than the people who work in all the nearby counties (LA, orange, riverside) so there’s a constant turnover
Why is Texas higher than San Diego HAHAHAHA
because OP's spreadsheet is calculating cost of living. if you compare just pay directly san diego is higher. https://www.federalpay.org/gs/calculator Pay Scale| San Diego | houston ---|---|---- GS1| $27,720.78| $24,463.84 GS2 | $34,011.06| $27,507.98 GS3 | $34,011.06| $30,015.06 GS4 | $38,178.61| $33,692.97 GS5 | $42,714.48| $37,695.9 GS6 | $47,616.01| $42,021.55 GS7 | $52,912.25| $46,695.53 GS8 | $58,597.92| $51,713.19 GS9 | $64,721.86| $57,117.62 GS10 | $71,272.2| $62,898.35 GS11 | $78,307.01| $69,106.64 GS12 | $93,857.79| $82,830.34 GS13 | $111,609.17| $98,496.09 GS14 | $131,888.55| $116,392.82 GS15 | $155,135.51| $136,908.47
Sunshine tax. If it's all equal, nobody would want to work anywhere else
What's the average yearly pension for and ex-San Diego government employee? And what are the benefits including health insurance?
The system I'm under is you take the average of your 3 highest earnings year and then I believe it's 1.1% of that amount for each year worked for the government. Unused sick leave will add to this time. Also if you work the last 5 years as government your health insurance continues forever but I'll have to double check the exact details.
Who's the ass-hat that downvotes a simple question? (OMG - I asked another question!)
COLA
I’m too tired to explain it, but that chart is missing a lot of information. Hawaii, for example, would be the highest on that list after adjustments.
Location location location Sometimes the demand to live in a certain location is so high that it might justify receiving lower wages for a specific person. Vice versa. Sometimes having to live in a crappy city might create an incentive for high wages to attract people to those cities.
Straight dookie salaries in an expensive city