What a New Government Job Really Costs You: The Taxpayer Math Behind "Job Growth"

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Every time a jobs report comes out, the headline is the same: we created jobs. But Brian walks through what happens when a big chunk of those jobs are government jobs — because those salaries don't come from selling anything. They come from your taxes, every year, for as long as that person works.

This isn't a political rant. It's arithmetic: average salary, average tax bill, and how many taxpayers it takes to fund one position. Then the part that matters for you — what to do about it, since you can't vote your way out of your own credit card balance.

What you'll learn

• What the average government salary looks like in D.C. versus nationwide
• Why the true cost of an employee is higher than the salary on paper
• How many average taxpayers it takes to fund one government job
• Why a private-sector job costs you nothing and a government job costs you every year
• The 2023 one-in-four ratio and the shortfall it creates
• Why all of this points back to one thing: your own financial independence

The starting point: $36 to $37 trillion in debt

Brian opens with the backdrop. The federal government carries roughly $36 to $37 trillion in debt and runs a deficit every year — spending more than it brings in. That's not an abstraction. It costs you money and it chips away at your standard of living, and it keeps getting worse.

The average government job costs more than the salary

From the article Brian pulls up, a government job in Washington, D.C. averages around $124,000 a year. Nationwide it's closer to $112,000. To keep the math friendly, he rounds down to a $100,000 salary.

Then he adds the part business owners already know: salary isn't what an employee costs. Benefits and other expenses push a $100,000 salaried employee to roughly $125,000 to $140,000 a year. Brian uses the low end — $125,000 per government job, all in.

Where that $125,000 comes from

The average U.S. salary is about $68,000. Average combined federal and state taxes run around 20%, though that varies a lot by state and situation. That's about $13,600 a year in taxes per average worker.

Now the comparison. A private company makes t-shirts, sells them, earns a profit and pays its people. That job costs you nothing — not this year, not in 40 years. You have nothing to do with that business. Government, with a few exceptions like patent registration fees, doesn't sell anything. So every government job created is funded by tax dollars, every single year, until that person retires.

Divide $125,000 by $13,600 and you get the number Brian keeps coming back to: it takes about nine average taxpayers, giving up every dollar of their tax bill, to fund one government job. Every year.

The one-in-four problem

Here's where it breaks. The article Brian cites says that in 2023, one in four new jobs was a government job. One in four means three private-sector workers for every government position. Three workers times $13,600 is $40,800 in taxes. But the job costs $125,000. You needed nine payers and you got three — leaving a shortfall of roughly $85,000 per job, per year.

Brian's take: creating jobs isn't automatically good news. If a quarter of them are government jobs, the ratio is too high. In his view it needs to be 10% or less to be sustainable.

Why he's telling you this

He closes the way he always does. The government doesn't care about you. Banks don't care about you. Which means you — and only you — can take control of your financial future. Real freedom is financial freedom, and that starts with getting the debt off your back.

Key steps

1. Stop assuming a strong jobs headline means a strong economy for you — look at what kind of jobs those are.
2. Find your real number: your gross pay minus taxes is what you actually have to work with.
3. List every debt with its balance, rate and minimum payment.
4. Attack the highest-rate debt first with every extra dollar using the Debt Avalanche Calculator.
5. Build a small emergency fund so a policy shift or a layoff doesn't put you back on the credit card — see how to calculate your emergency fund number.
6. Once the high-rate debt is gone, keep going: build net worth while you pay down what's left.

FAQ

Why does a private-sector job cost me nothing but a government job costs me money?

A private business earns revenue by selling something and pays its employees out of that revenue. You're not involved. Government, outside of a few fee-collecting agencies, doesn't sell a product — it funds payroll with tax dollars. So each position it adds is funded by taxpayers every year that person is employed.

Where does the "nine taxpayers per job" figure come from?

It's simple division. Using a fully loaded cost of about $125,000 per government job and about $13,600 in annual federal and state taxes from a worker earning the average $68,000 salary, you need roughly nine of those tax bills — in full — to cover one position.

I can't change federal spending. What can I actually do?

Control what's in front of you: your interest rates and your balances. Paying off a 24% credit card is a guaranteed, tax-free return no policy decision can take away. Start with the Credit Card Payoff Calculator, then pick a method with Avalanche vs. Snowball and work the plan on the courses page.