As an example here's a senior (1043) network engineer position with the SF Dept of Technology:
https://www.jobapscloud.com/SF/sup/bulpreview.asp?R1=PEX&R2=...
Salary is listed as:
$59.49 - $74.83/hour; $10,311.00 - $12,970.00/month; $123,734.00 - $155,636.00/year
I can tell you that a few years ago at megacorp (not FANG) my base pay for principal ops monkey was more than the top end of the 1043 and 1044 scales. We were not known for above average compensation. In general while we hired into the principal role I think the city tends to aim more for senior (1043) than principal (1044).
Here's the SF pay scale database:
Principal programmers (1064) top out at $149k. Infosys managers (1071) top out at just under $200k. That's not particularly competitive.
Megacorp also provided me with the best 401k I've seen (Vanguard with access to institutional shares), 401k match, stock options, and decent insurance.
I once asked my dental billing technician (yeah that's really a thing in the USA), "Who got the best benefits?"
Answer: "Oh, public employees are royalty."
This still matters so much more for unskilled labor. Working in tech you're already going to have access to heavily subsidized health insurance. 401k vs pension is a matter of debate. I'd prefer a defined benefit situation like a pension, but a 401k with a decent match (we got up to $7k or so) isn't really a deal breaker
The city (due to some combination of local, state, and federal laws) will dock 2% for retiree health care, and 7.5% for your pension.
http://citidex.sfgov.org/cgi-bin/dhr/findClass.cgi?class=&ti...
That's an old myth.
Because of COLA (and on top of that, pensions), the public sector in California pays more than private jobs now, aside from FANG.
I once asked my dental billing technician (yeah that's really a thing in the USA), "Who got the best benefits?"
Answer: "Oh, public employees are royalty."