A civilian with the same cash to spend must earn:
Civilian Pay : $75,691
Federal tax now at 25% bracket: $14,661.50
Soc. Sec/Medicare: $5,790.36
Cash to spend Civilian: $55,239
The federal tax owed for the civilian pay listed above would be closer to $12,074.00 once the standard deduction and exemption are calculated to reach the adjusted gross income, so the amount a civilian would need to make to compare would be closer to 70K plus. Of course to be fair you would need to adjust the income of the service member as well fro a tax amount of $3443.80
Not arguing at all that the tax breaks and other incentives totals a pretty good starting salary right out of college, but it's still not all that close to the 80K plus these articles claim when looking at the average across all O1s. They do jump up a good amount when they make O2 with 2 years TIS.
No deduction for medical and dental is a big plus, of course uniform costs add a little, plus all those little things new 2LTs seem to pay for and never get reimbursed.
Still, not a bad Gig regarding pay right out of college.
The Navy does seem to have a higher average BAH since their Naval Bases seem to be in higher rent areas, not many Navy Personnel in Enterprise Alabama.
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