Comment by metaphor

That's a significant low ball estimate relative to BLS statistics[1], which pins national median annual wage (circa May 2023 dataset) at $137,380.

For the DC locality specifically, median annual wage is $170,350 with a location quotient of 3.5 (!!)[2].

To be sure, this is just base wage, which explicitly excludes things like holiday premiums, weekend premiums, overtime, shift differentials, bonuses, etc.

This also doesn't include that oh-so-sweet defined benefit pension. The most ambitious civil service employees absolutely love gaming the shit out of this by lateral transfer to a high cost of living locality (e.g. DC metro area) for the last 3 years before retiring (at age 56) and moving to relatively low cost of living areas (e.g. Florida).

[1] https://www.bls.gov/oes/2023/may/oes532021.htm

[2] The location quotient is the ratio of the area concentration of occupational employment to the national average concentration.