U.S. Federal Government (non-Defense) employee compensation

Across 120 roles that match a standard occupation, U.S. Federal Government (non-Defense)’s median base salary runs 20% above the median wage for the same work in U.S.. 105 of those roles pay above the local median and 15 pay below it.

Roles compared

120

Above local median

105

Below local median

15

Typical gap

+20%

This covers the 804,295 employees (71% of the workforce) in roles whose job titles map to a standard occupation. Titles that are too generic to match one — broad classification series, and job families the survey reports by academic field — are left out rather than guessed at, so the figure describes the comparable subset, not the entire payroll.

Benchmark: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2025). BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) covers all employers in the area — private, non-profit, and government alike — so this is a comparison against the whole local labor market for the occupation, not against private-sector pay. OEWS wages are straight-time pay and exclude overtime, shift differentials, and employer-paid benefits, so the government figure shown here is base pay on the same basis. Total compensation is not comparable to it. Job titles are matched to the closest standard occupation, so the comparison is between similar work rather than an identical job classification.