Just to add on, usually salary is ~3/4 of cost to the company, so ~$150k is the average salary which seems completely inline for quality talent with experience

Yep. Here at UC, the non-salary costs can be in excess of 60% of salary.

We can take that to an extreme: <br> (from 2015) http://time.com/3651697/afghanistan-war-cost/

"...the CRS (Congressional Research Service) report says the cost of keeping a single American soldier there (Afghanistan) this year is an eye-watering $3.9 million..." <br> I don't think there's too many millionaires coming back from Afghanistan.

"Each Javelin round costs $80,000, and the idea that it’s fired by a guy who doesn’t make that in a year at a guy who doesn’t make that in a lifetime is somehow so outrageous it almost makes the war seem winnable.”

- Sebastian Junger

And in the federal govt it's at least that percentage... Anecdotally, in one department within the DoD, it's ~90%, which sounds insane.

> Anecdotally, in one department within the DoD, it's ~90%, which sounds insane.

If you consider how little uniformed military personnel are paid and how high the other costs associated with them are to start with, I'm actually not all that surprised that somewhere in some specialized area in the DoD this ratio is reached.

This was interesting when I was in. I was making $25k a year as a corporal, but I was saving almost all of it because I wasn't paying for rent, utilities, health insurance, food, or the gym. My expenses were Internet, cell phone, and car insurance / gas. That was it.

I make three times as much in the civilian world, but I'm saving less.

They also probably don't include BAH and BAS as salary since they are considered reimbursements. Just as you wouldn't include cost of barracks as part of your salary if you lived there. BAH and BAS are a very large part of compensation.