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Many FBI agents are struggling to make ends meet. Housing costs are to blame
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Re: Many FBI agents are struggling to make ends meet. Housing costs are to blame
#12>In New York, for example, starting salaries for FBI agents hover around $73,000. But a nonprofit group in the city reported people need to earn at least $100,000 to afford food, housing and transportation there. Does this hold truth? I know it's expensive city, but 73k is also median salary here, do they want to say that more than half people here cannot afford basic needs? That doesn't sound right
In NYC, you typically need to earn 40x the monthly rent in annual income to not need a guarantor. 73k / 40 = $1825/month in rent.
The median 1 bedroom apartment in NYC is $3,263 according to Zillow https://www.zillow.com/rental-manager/market-trends/new-york...
Re: Many FBI agents are struggling to make ends meet. Housing costs are to blame
#13>In New York, for example, starting salaries for FBI agents hover around $73,000. But a nonprofit group in the city reported people need to earn at least $100,000 to afford food, housing and transportation there. Does this hold truth? I know it's expensive city, but 73k is also median salary here, do they want to say that more than half people here cannot afford basic needs? That doesn't sound right
You need to be "grand fathered" into proper housing to afford it.
My theory is that the churn of workers in the metropoles due to housing costs is why there are vacant jobs which made the workers move there in the first place. A self enforcing loop.
Re: Many FBI agents are struggling to make ends meet. Housing costs are to blame
#14>In New York, for example, starting salaries for FBI agents hover around $73,000. But a nonprofit group in the city reported people need to earn at least $100,000 to afford food, housing and transportation there. Does this hold truth? I know it's expensive city, but 73k is also median salary here, do they want to say that more than half people here cannot afford basic needs? That doesn't sound right
A quick google gives me median rent of $3500. After tax, 73k comes to about 54,599. Divided by 12 is 4,546 per month. So you have about $1,000 a month for utilities, food, gas/train, etc. It seems difficult to live on.
Re: Many FBI agents are struggling to make ends meet. Housing costs are to blame
#15The problem is the FBI uses mostly the same GS pay scale as the rest of the federal government. So if the pay stinks for them, it also stinks for every other government agency. And that’s a much bigger problem then Mulder and Scully not making rent.
Yes the gs pay scale also means these agencies use more contract workers who end up costing way way more. It's a dual world that exists
Re: Many FBI agents are struggling to make ends meet. Housing costs are to blame
#16The problem is the FBI uses mostly the same GS pay scale as the rest of the federal government. So if the pay stinks for them, it also stinks for every other government agency. And that’s a much bigger problem then Mulder and Scully not making rent.
$73,000 starting salary is perfectly fine in the DC metro area. The problem is that the GS scale’s locality pay bumps haven’t kept pace with some truly insane areas.
Re: Many FBI agents are struggling to make ends meet. Housing costs are to blame
#17The problem is the FBI uses mostly the same GS pay scale as the rest of the federal government. So if the pay stinks for them, it also stinks for every other government agency. And that’s a much bigger problem then Mulder and Scully not making rent.
I ran into this when applying for the US Digital Service. Their pay scales simply weren't competitive with the private sector (and I don't even live in SV).
Re: Many FBI agents are struggling to make ends meet. Housing costs are to blame
#18The FBI is too big... hopefully this will be a disincentive to not look for jobs there. Every state already has its own police force. There's no need for a massive federal agency to do the same type of stuff.
What about crimes which transcend state jurisdiction (try getting 12 different state police forces to co-ordinate and run thousands of investigations together and see how well it goes)? Or issues like counter-intelligence? Or areas where local police forces are corrupt and won't investigate?
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Re: Many FBI agents are struggling to make ends meet. Housing costs are to blame
#19The problem is the FBI uses mostly the same GS pay scale as the rest of the federal government. So if the pay stinks for them, it also stinks for every other government agency. And that’s a much bigger problem then Mulder and Scully not making rent.
> And that’s a much bigger problem then Mulder and Scully not making rent.
It’s only a problem if you want the government to be spending even more money. They already spend approximately 1/3 of the GDP and that’s plenty big enough for many. If they want to pay people more, change the denominator.
Re: Many FBI agents are struggling to make ends meet. Housing costs are to blame
#20>In New York, for example, starting salaries for FBI agents hover around $73,000. But a nonprofit group in the city reported people need to earn at least $100,000 to afford food, housing and transportation there. Does this hold truth? I know it's expensive city, but 73k is also median salary here, do they want to say that more than half people here cannot afford basic needs? That doesn't sound right
The $150K number for a family of 4 sounds about right, but $100K for one person in NYC seems pretty far off. I have a lot of friends living in desirable neighborhoods making half that.
(The disconnect here is always around expectations: it will invariably be revealed that this includes a 1/2BR with no roommates within walking distance of the person’s workplace, when in reality much of this city has roommates and uses mass transit. Law enforcement are mere mortals like the rest of us; they can stoop to taking the subway to work.)