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Hey all. For those of us who are tied to NY and would like to work in government, what are some salary baselines? Federal within NY v City v State?

For federal, you could go to OPM's website and look at the gs pay scale with NY locality pay. Of course not all agencies are on the gs scale, but it's a start.

State and City pay is pretty crap, Federal always pays better when experience is the same. You can find NY employee salaries online, check out seethroughny.net

From what I've heard, most starting City pay is around 50k-60k. Incremental raises but nothing significant

Anonymous User wrote:Hey all. For those of us who are tied to NY and would like to work in government, what are some salary baselines? Federal within NY v City v State?

Only ones I know from experience at that city atty and DAs make 68k and AAGs start at mid 70s

State judiciary and federal entry level (assuming gs-12) are pretty close to lock step.

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Hey all. For those of us who are tied to NY and would like to work in government, what are some salary baselines? Federal within NY v City v State?

Only ones I know from experience at that city atty and DAs make 68k and AAGs start at mid 70s

Yeah my understanding is NYC Law Department and DA's start around 65k, but maybe they've gotten small raises since I looked into it haha. From my limited experience with this stuff, I think other non-federal government agencies are pretty much the same as that. Feds start around 80-85k I think.

edit: Double post somehow?

What's it like living on $65k in New York?

Tiny Rick! wrote:What's it like living on $65k in New York?

Tagging because also curious.

Tiny Rick! wrote:What's it like living on $65k in New York?

Depends where you live. When I lived an hour and half north of NYC I paid $850 for a really nice 1 BR apartment close to town. I now live on Long Island where a decent 1BR will run you $1,500 + (depending how far from NYC and vicinity to coast. Buying a house is another animal all together, bought house last summer for $395,000 and it's a fucking steal, same house upstate would be in the $160-200,000 range) and your car insurance will be pretty high and area shopping is definitely inflated a bit from upstate. NYC if you want a 1BR in a nice area you're probably looking at $2,000+ (Friends in Rego Park Queens pay $2,400 for a 1BR). If you're open to roomates or a studio/crappier part of town you can go substantially lower (BIL pays $850 for a very, very small room of 3BR apartment near Columbia University). Gotta keep in mind how expensive area shopping is though and also an added city tax taken from your pay check for living in the city.

$65,000 upstate and you're living quite nicely, Long Island and NYC it gets tight.

**Did not mean to post anonymously.

Did you buy the house with that salary or has that changed since?

Most DAS offices start in the low 60's, with very small raises.

Corp Counsel which also hires new attorneys start around the Mid-60's with small raises.

AGs office, which often require prior experience, will pay a little bit more (5-10K) than an ADA at the same year level.

Fed attorney (non-AUSA) depends on years of relevant experience- since most are so specialized most start around gs11-gs12 (base ladder) with full promotion to gs14.

AUSA pay is on the AD scale, which takes into account years of experience. However the AD scale is lower than the gs scale and as such AUSAs tend to be wholly underpaid compared to their DOJ counterparts at main who are on the GS scale.

zot1 wrote:Did you buy the house with that salary or has that changed since?

I make less than that lol, but my wife works so our combined income is over $100,000 and we had significant savings. All bills considered it's still on the tighter than I'd like side, once we're in the $150,000 range I think I'll finally feel 'comfortable' on Long Island.

Anonymous User wrote:Most DAS offices start in the low 60's, with very small raises.

Corp Counsel which also hires new attorneys start around the Mid-60's with small raises.

AGs office, which often require prior experience, will pay a little bit more (5-10K) than an ADA at the same year level.

Fed attorney (non-AUSA) depends on years of relevant experience- since most are so specialized most start around gs11-gs12 (base ladder) with full promotion to gs14.

AUSA pay is on the AD scale, which takes into account years of experience. However the AD scale is lower than the gs scale and as such AUSAs tend to be wholly underpaid compared to their DOJ counterparts at main who are on the GS scale.

Thanks! Any idea if the salary increases over time?

What fed agencies in NY hire entry level attorneys (i.e. right out of law school) at GS-12? I thought GS-11 was typical starting salary for a freshly licensed attorney?

Those NY local and state salaries are horrible for NYC. It's funny because people complain about salaries being too low relative to cost of living in CA in places like SF, but NYC is basically the same salary you'd get as a public interest lawyer in rural USA, but with an even higher cost of living than SF

Anonymous User wrote:

zot1 wrote:Did you buy the house with that salary or has that changed since?

I make less than that lol, but my wife works so our combined income is over $100,000 and we had significant savings. All bills considered it's still on the tighter than I'd like side, once we're in the $150,000 range I think I'll finally feel 'comfortable' on Long Island.

What's your monthly mortgage payment (including property insurance and property taxes)? I'm impressed that you can get an $400k mortgage on a $100k combined income. In NYC, that's probably less than a $65k /year take-home for two people.

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Most DAS offices start in the low 60's, with very small raises.

Corp Counsel which also hires new attorneys start around the Mid-60's with small raises.

AGs office, which often require prior experience, will pay a little bit more (5-10K) than an ADA at the same year level.

Fed attorney (non-AUSA) depends on years of relevant experience- since most are so specialized most start around gs11-gs12 (base ladder) with full promotion to gs14.

AUSA pay is on the AD scale, which takes into account years of experience. However the AD scale is lower than the gs scale and as such AUSAs tend to be wholly underpaid compared to their DOJ counterparts at main who are on the GS scale.

Thanks! Any idea if the salary increases over time?

Salaries for AG/DA/Corp increase over time. For city employees, raises usually correspond to the NYC employee Union contract. The past few years it has been around 2-3% per year.
However it takes a long time to make a decent salary. Attorneys practicing 9-10 years make in the mid 90's at DA's and Ag's offices.
Other city agencies like DOE/DOI/DOC often have higher salaries, but less opportunity for higher pay. They will often hire experienced attorneys at 85-90k, however raises are very minimal. Senior Attorneys at DA's offices (Supervisors/deputies/chiefs) are perhaps the highest paid attorneys in NYC Government.

For the poster that asked about Fed attorney positions starting at 11/12, you are correct that most do not hire straight out of law school. They usually require prior work experience. The 11 or 12 starting was based on personal experience.

XxSpyKEx wrote:What fed agencies in NY hire entry level attorneys (i.e. right out of law school) at GS-12? I thought GS-11 was typical starting salary for a freshly licensed attorney?

Well, with the current hiring freeze 'ain't nobody getting hired at any level

XxSpyKEx wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

zot1 wrote:Did you buy the house with that salary or has that changed since?

I make less than that lol, but my wife works so our combined income is over $100,000 and we had significant savings. All bills considered it's still on the tighter than I'd like side, once we're in the $150,000 range I think I'll finally feel 'comfortable' on Long Island.

What's your monthly mortgage payment (including property insurance and property taxes)? I'm impressed that you can get an $400k mortgage on a $100k combined income. In NYC, that's probably less than a $65k /year take-home for two people.

$2,100ish. Put 10% down so it's a $360,000 mortgage at 3.625%.

Anonymous User wrote:

XxSpyKEx wrote:What fed agencies in NY hire entry level attorneys (i.e. right out of law school) at GS-12? I thought GS-11 was typical starting salary for a freshly licensed attorney?

Well, with the current hiring freeze 'ain't nobody getting hired at any level

GS-11 is generally recent grads.
GS-12 is generally for law clerks.

I also think GS-15 is attainable because those offices should have a supervisory attorney. However, you can probably get to GS-14 without competition, but would need to compete for the GS-15.

^That's my understanding too. But it seems like people on this thread are comparing apples to oranges in that a person coming out of a clerkship presumably wouldn't be paid the "starting salary" at the DA, etc.

Any PD numbers??

Anonymous User wrote:Any PD numbers??

Rule of thumb: subtract 5k from what the local DA's start at, and assume that salary raises and promotions will be rarer and inconsistent.

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Any PD numbers??

Rule of thumb: subtract 5k from what the local DA's start at, and assume that salary raises and promotions will be rarer and inconsistent.

Legal Aid is unionized and has defined pay steps. You should be able to find a copy of their contract with salary schedules online. Other PDs in the city may have less consistent raises, dunno.