[edwinland]

Adding up his list, we get 461,712 Federal employees making over $100,000 per year.

I found a reference in the Congressional Record to a Senate committee that examined the Federal workforce in 1948-49 and found:

"It began by taking a complete inventory of all positions in the Government paying $9,975 and above. There are approximately 3,000 positions in that category in the Government"

$9,975 in 1949 is a bit more than $100,000 today ($112 to be exact).

So by this math, the number of people in government making WAY more than the average American is now one hundred and fifty three times greater than it was at the end of WWII and the giant New Deal expansion of government in the 930s-1940s.

[edwinland]

Please pardon the typos in the post.

And the link to the Congressional Record is here:

https://www.congress.gov/bound-congressional-record/1949/01/13/senate-section

See page 186.

[tired&retired]

Veterans Affairs is on the top of the list due to the number of Dr’s.

Interesting as the VA paychecks say Dept. Of Defense as employer.

[PGR88]

Thanks to massive Fed.gov, and a printed, fiat currency that allows it.

[NicoDon]

People make a lot out of this 100k number. It sounds like a lot of money to most reasonable people, and its thrown around a lot in rants against the government and government employees.

MOST federal employees live in the DC Metro area. The cost of living there is much higher than what is normal elsewhere in the country, as are many major metro areas in the nation. Columbus Ohio pays better than Mansfield Ohio, but Columbus is nothing on an area like LA or Chicago. My point is, cost of living is never factored into these numbers. Articles will rant about government employees making over 100k in retirement, but those emploees worked their entire careers in major metro areas like LA or Chicago and then retire and move somewhere with a normal cost of living.

[Pollard]

Here is a listing of agencies with the highest number of employees who are paid at least $100,000.

Number of Employees	Agency Name
95,458	DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
59,075	DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
46,752	DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
44,873	DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
35,010	DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
30,440	DEPARTMENT OF TREASURY
24,924	DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
15,946	DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
14,371	DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR
13,996	SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION
13,688	NAT AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
12,443	INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE
11,145	ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
8,725	DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
7,284	DEPARTMENT OF STATE
6,846	DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
6,844	GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION
5,358	DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT
4,345	FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE CORPORATION
4,189	SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Keep in mind that the number of employees in each agency varies widely. For example, in 2017, OPM reported that among cabinet-level agencies, the Department of Veterans Affairs had more than 342,000 employees while the Department of Justice had about 112,000 and the Department of Agriculture had over 73,000.

[BradyLS]

Government exploded under Johnson, too. Every sttempt to merely hold the line on growth causes the left and statists to howl about “draconian cuts.”

[DoodleDawg]

The agency with the most employees making over $100,000 is almost certainly the Department of Defense. Any officer O-5 and above has a base pay of over $8350 a month.

[V_TWIN]

I’ll admit I didn’t read the article however location must be factored in. e.g. a fed gov employee in one state may not make as much as an employee at the same rate makes in another state.

Living in Fla I didn’t make what my counterparts made in California.

[brianl703]

In Northern Virginia, as of several years ago, the average salary for Federal employees was $113k. It is higher now.

[Vermont Lt]

While the $100k level sounds juicy...it is not such a big deal these days. In order to live in the locations where the Fed Government operates you must pay a decent salary to attract people.

Now, if you are talking about $200k, that is a different story.

[SES1066]

Decades/Generations ago, there was the UNWRITTEN government vs. private employment compact that many felt had the proper balance between employment. Much of it boiled down to government workers had stable life-time 9-5 jobs and reasonable retirements in a small slice of total domestic employment.

Private sector employment had better pay, potential rapid merit advancement, no guarantee of job stability, little protection from workplace disruptions but lots of openings in a large employment sector.

It does not take a genius to see how radically this equation has changed. Today, it could be said that all of the advantage lies with government employment unless the person is in the class of a Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos.

What is unsaid in articles like this is the huge weight it gives, economically & politically, to the permanent government bureaucracy. From their comfortable office chairs and massive benefit packages, there is little incentive for them to vote against self interest, which is a permanent STATIST and ever-growing DEMOCRATIC PARTY government!

[Chauncey Gardiner]

VA needs to be an insurance card for healthcare.

[Blood of Tyrants]

The purpose of government is to grow government. They are a leach on society.