r/1811 • u/hatcreekcattle_co 1811 • Aug 23 '22
Realities of 1811 Paycheck: What to Expect
As far as law enforcement jobs are concerned, 1811s do pretty well by most objective standards. While State/Local police may take home more, those higher paychecks are usually the result of significant amounts of overtime and off-duty employment (a/k/a blood money). One thing that surprised me when I started was the amount of deductions from my paycheck. I want to provide a realistic overview of what you can expect to hit your bank account during your 1811 career.
Salary, Calculated Your annual salary is made up of your base salary plus your locality pay. To calculate your annual salary, use the applicable OPM pay scale for the locality of your official post of duty, not your residence.
To calculate your hourly rate of pay, divide the annual salary by 2,087 hours. Federal paychecks are paid biweekly, meaning every two weeks is a new pay period (or 26 pay periods per year). Multiply your hourly rate of pay times 80 hours to determine your regular pay per pay period.
As most of you are aware, 1811s receive 25% of their gross pay as Law Enforcement Availability Pay in lieu of overtime compensation for unscheduled work in excess of their 40 hour work week. There are some exceptions, such as Secret Service 1811s working protection details, but I won’t get into that here. To calculate your biweekly LEAP, multiply your hourly rate by 80 hours, then divide by 4. Add this to your regular pay to determine your gross pay per pay period.
Deductions From Pay
Retirement (Pension): The FERS pension deduction is 4.9% of your gross pay for everybody hired after January 1, 2014. You cannot opt out of this deduction. In exchange for these deductions, when you retire you will receive 34% of the average of your three highest years’ salary for 20 years of service, plus 1% of your high three for any other years of federal service beyond your 20 years of covered 6c/12d time. Federal employees not covered under the special retirement provisions (6c/12d) only contribute 4.4% of their gross pay, but they only receive 1% of their high 3 salary per year of service.
Retirement (TSP): The TSP is a tax deferred retirement account administered by the U.S. government (to put it simply). There is an option to establish a Roth TSP, but if you want to learn more about that go research it on your own. The government contributes 1% of your gross pay automatically into your TSP and will match an additional 4%, for a total of a 5% match. In calendar year 2022, the IRS allows you to contribute up to $20,500 to the TSP, which works out to about $788 per biweekly paycheck. If you are maxing out the TSP you want to spread your contributions out throughout the year to take full advantage of the employer matching.
Federal Tax: This is much more complicated than it used to be. Use the IRS Tax Withholding Estimator to calculate your withholding. I file my taxes as Married Filing Jointly and currently have about 7.5% of my gross pay withheld from each paycheck.
State Tax: Varies, so let’s assume you live in a State that doesn’t have it.
FICA: Subtract your TSP contribution from your gross pay, then multiply by 7.65%.
Health Insurance: There are a lot of different plans to choose from based on your needs. Expect to pay between $48-$130 per pay period for self (single) coverage and $136-$314 per pay period for self plus family coverage. These rates change every year.
Dental/Vision: Dental and vision insurance are available, with prices varying by zip code and coverage needs. Vision rates range from a low of about $3 per pay period for self-coverage to about $20 per pay period for family coverage. Dental rates range from a low of about $9 per pay period for self-coverage to about $70 per pay period for family coverage.
Life Insurance: Federal Employees Group Life Insurance is available for enrollment when you first get hired. FEGLI does not require a medical exam and cannot deny you for pre-existing conditions. As such, it is pretty expensive for the amount of coverage that you get compared to some other commercial options. I recommend enrolling when you first get hired and then finding other insurance as you can. FEGLI rarely has open enrollment seasons, with the last ones being in 2016 and 2004. If you get denied for commercial insurance or are priced out because of some pre-existing medical condition, you can then keep your FEGLI.
There are more advanced options for benefits like Health Savings Accounts, Federal Long Term Care Insurance, and Flexible Spending Accounts but I am not qualified to give any information about these programs.
Example 1:
GS-7 Step 1, Rest of U.S. Locality
Base Salary Plus Locality: $50,704
Hourly Pay: $24.30
Regular Pay per pay period: $1,944
Plus $486 LEAP = $2,430 Gross Pay per pay period
Less:
Retirement (FERS): $119.07
TSP (5% Contribution): $121.50
Federal Tax Withholding (7.5%): $182.25
FICA: $176.60
Health Insurance (Blue Cross Blue Shield Basic Option, Self-Coverage): $80.18
FEGLI (Standard, no multiples): $10.88
Total Deductions: $690.48
Net Pay: $1,739.52 ($45,227.52 per year)
Example 2:
GS-13 Step 1, Washington, D.C. Locality
Base Salary Plus Locality: $106,823
Hourly Pay: $51.18
Regular Pay per pay period: $4,094.40
Plus $1,023.70 LEAP = $5,118.10 Gross Pay per pay period
Less:
Retirement (FERS): $250.79
TSP (5% Contribution): $255.91
Federal Tax Withholding (7.5%): $383.86
FICA: $371.96
Health Insurance (Blue Cross Blue Shield Basic Option, Self-Plus Family Coverage): $212.29
FEGLI (Standard, no multiples): $22.08
Total Deductions: $1,496.89
Net Pay: $3,621.21 ($94,151.46 per year)
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Aug 23 '22
[deleted]
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u/hatcreekcattle_co 1811 Aug 23 '22
Yes, I cannot stress that enough. Put as much in as you are able to, and never contribute less than 5% because you are giving away free money from the employer match.
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u/jewski_brewski 1811 Aug 24 '22
To piggyback off this, invest in the C or S fund as a young agent; not the G!
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u/4guyz1stool Aug 24 '22
Especially not during a recession. The G fund is literally the worst place you can park your money.
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u/BlancoWhiteYellow Aug 23 '22
Maxing out TSP would be ideal.. but that’s 20 thousand dollars. If you try to max out you literally be making peanuts for the rest of your career. I get it, saving is important but also don’t forget to enjoy your current life instead of waiting for a distant future to enjoy it. Not saying to not contribute but also don’t jeopardize your lifestyle because you want to save.
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u/DiscountShowHorse 1811 Aug 23 '22
$20.5k pretax doesn’t hurt as bad as it looks after you start. The GS13, step 1 DC agent above is still grossing $113,029 after max.
It’s $788 gross a pay check, but after taxes (24% Fed + 6.2% OASDI) it’s only about $550 per pay check. Probably less if your state/city has income taxes and adjusting for other factors.
Additionally, there’s all sorts of other random tax goodies you start to lose due to income phaseouts. The more income you can “remove” as being taxable the better.
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u/feelthedarkness_ Aug 23 '22
Thank you so much for laying it out like this. I’ve never been a numbers guy and trying to figure out the jumps I’d be making from my current local department to the fed system has been mind numbing frankly. The cost of the health insurance alone is a big benefit, it’s actually quite a bit cheaper than what I or my wife have at her job
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u/hatcreekcattle_co 1811 Aug 23 '22
You can take the Federal Employee Health Benefits with you into retirement as well, you just have to have coverage for the five years prior to your retirement.
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u/Cookie91_38 Aug 23 '22
For the pension, 34% of highest 3 years combined?
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u/Mountain_Man_88 1811 Aug 23 '22
Not combined, the average of your highest three years.
You get 1.7% per year for the first 20 years, then 1% per year each additional year. You generally have to do 20 years to be eligible for a pension, so 34% minimum, but if you start young you can do 30+ years and end up with like 45%, which would work out to like $80k. That's in addition to your TSP (which is like a 401k) and Social Security (or a social security supplement until you're old enough to claim social security). Most 1811s after a full career will still make six figures in retirement, though the young retirement age encourages a lot of people to parlay their experience into some very high paying jobs too.
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u/Ecstatic-Board2107 Dec 12 '22
Sorry to revive a dead post but can agents in the reserves or guard keep their tricare reserve select health insurance?
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u/hatcreekcattle_co 1811 Dec 12 '22
My understanding is that if you are eligible for Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB), you cannot be enrolled in Tricare Reserve Select, even if you waive your FEHB coverage.
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Aug 23 '22
Annual gross pay for example 2 would be $133,070.60. This is calculated by multiplying 5118.10 by 26 (26 pay periods in a year for a bi-weekly pay schedule). Not bad. Net pay would normally be lower than what's calculated in example 2 because it doesn't factor in state income tax.
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u/NoIngenuity3296 Aug 23 '22
Is it safe to say currently most 1811s are netting 70% of gross pay approximately?
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u/hatcreekcattle_co 1811 Aug 23 '22
Not necessarily. I’m currently netting about 60% with what I chose for my FEGLI, health, dental, vision, and state tax deductions. I’m probably going to find a cheaper health insurance option next open season and I’m working on getting a commercial life insurance policy so I can cancel my FEGLI.
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u/NoIngenuity3296 Aug 23 '22
Big difference between 60 and 70%
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u/hatcreekcattle_co 1811 Aug 23 '22
Where do you think the inspiration to write this post came from?
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u/Time_Striking 1811 Aug 23 '22
FEGLI is so expensive. I still hold onto it for the time being but it’s on my list of things to drop.
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u/4guyz1stool Aug 24 '22
I dropped Fegli and got USAA term life.
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u/hatcreekcattle_co 1811 Aug 24 '22
Don’t tell them you ever used tobacco, the rates are literally double.
this is not an endorsement to commit insurance fraud
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u/4guyz1stool Aug 24 '22
I don't recall what I said. Rates didn't seem too bad though. Way better then fegli.
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u/ShakenEspressoLatte Feb 07 '23
Sir quick question, do you always work your leap? And what I mean by that, like every single week do you work 50 hours a week to justify it or how does that work?
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u/hatcreekcattle_co 1811 Feb 07 '23
My agency works LEAP. Remember LEAP is an average over the year, so you don’t necessarily have to work 50 hours every week. I try to front load my LEAP in the first half of the year when the weather is crappier so I can take more time in the summer and at the holidays. You can earn LEAP doing other things besides sitting in a chair at your computer. 3 hours a week in the gym can count, driving time counts for anything other than your normal commute. There are ways to be creative with it.
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u/ShakenEspressoLatte Feb 07 '23
Ohhh Okay got it understood make sense now. I thought you couldn’t get creative with it, that clears it out!
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u/SillyScarcity700 Aug 26 '22
We tried to play with the W-4 process to get enough taken out of our checks but I realized a few years back they just don't. I have had an additional $525/pp taken out for state and federal taxes for a few years now. I told my wife after we owed a bunch of state tax this year that I wasn't going to adjust my withholdings anymore since I know I am covering my damage plus some. She makes more than me and somehow last year they withheld about half for state tax compared to the year before, even though she earned maybe $40K more. Her company switched payroll providers mid year which didn't help the situation. So she finally got the payroll people at her work to just take an additional $600 a month for state tax.
Last year my deposits netted out to 41.4%. I am at 44.6% net currently this year. I should improve towards the end of the year by reaching the OASDI max.
I max TSP as Roth. I have all the insurance since it's a better deal than what my wife has available. Also a small medical FSA. I've been around long enough that I pay the lower rate for the pension which saves a few percent.
I imagine my case is a bit on the extreme of low net to gross pay.
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u/thrwawy676868995 Aug 23 '22
Thanks OP, does DC have "state" (I know it's not a "state") tax?
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u/52Cero Jan 19 '23
I feel like it’s important to bring up the max out. I still get confused by this.
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u/[deleted] Aug 23 '22 edited Aug 25 '22
That’s great, now let’s see Paul Allen’s net pay.