When we see depictions of Federal Bureau of Investigation agents on T.V. with official looking suits and badges, it would seem hard to believe that real-life agents are having a hard time making ends meet.
However, that’s just what NPR reported this week. According to the outlet, agents have to share apartments and make hours-long commutes.
“They’re having to juggle being able to afford rent and/or utilities versus being able to actually buy groceries, so it's getting to a level where it’s becoming very, very difficult to not only recruit agents into these high cost of living areas, but also retain them in those areas,” said Natalie Bara, president of the FBI Agents Association, as quoted by NPR.
Per the FBI Jobs website, the average salary for new agents ranges from $81,000 to $129,000 and supervisors can earn more. While that’s significantly above the U.S. median earnings reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (around $59,500), it still isn’t cutting it in some areas.
For example, Bara said that agents are sharing housing in New York City. NPR’s article said starting salaries for FBI agents there are around $73,000.
Though the U.S. Census Bureau lists the median salary there as $76,607, a recent analysis from SmartAsset found that an annual salary of $138,570 is necessary to live comfortably as a single person in the city. That same analysis found that an individual would need to make at least $96,500 a year “for sustainable comfort” in any major U.S. city.
“The Agents Association is pressing for a housing allowance to support those workers who pay steep rent or mortgages because they live in New York, Newark, Honolulu, San Diego, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Miami, Seattle and Washington, D.C. They're asking for $165 million to be included in the Justice Department's 2025 budget to pay for a pilot program,” said NPR.
Last April, FBI Director Christopher Wray asked for a $11.4 billion 2024 budget that included $11.3 billion for salaries and expenses to support 37,312 positions. These included 13,662 special agents, 3,215 intelligence analysts and 20,435 professional staff.
Wray said that agents and bureau staff “tackle some of the most complex national security and criminal threats every day with perseverance, professionalism, and integrity – sometimes at the greatest of costs.”
NPR said officials have been looking into the cost of living problem since 2021. This has included comparing government compensation scales against the poverty line as well as analyzing how other federal agencies and even how private sector employers pay their workers.
“There are multiple stressors that folks experience,” explained Caroline Otto, assistant director of the FBI’s Resource Planning office. “We have heard very compelling and heart-wrenching stories across the workforce in these areas.”
Some stressors are the fact that agents often join the bureau as a second career, and that they have little choice in where they are placed.
In order to deal with the challenges, the FBI has said it needs both additional funding and authority from Congress to pursue a housing allowance, NPR reported. Assistant Attorney General for Administration Jolene Lauria said federal workers at the U.S. Department of Justice face challenges as well.
“The Justice Department is supportive of innovative efforts undertaken by the FBI and is also working across its components to identify achievable and sustainable strategies that support our people in the field,” she said. “The Department is ready and willing to work with Congress on more permanent solutions.”
Whether these solutions will find support in Congress is unclear, according to NPR. Things seem especially tricky as we head towards the November election.
“Former President Donald Trump, the presumptive nominee for the Republican party in the 2024 election, has targeted the FBI workforce with steady criticism for years,” said NPR. “And at a ‘weaponization of government’ event at the conservative-leaning Heritage Foundation this week, there were new calls to ‘defund’ the bureau.”
Poll results released this week by CNBC indicated the challenges FBI agents face mirror those of many Americans. It found that 70% of respondents admit to being stressed about their personal finances these days and that 52% of U.S. adults’ financial stressed has increased in the high inflationary (and more recently, high interest rate) pandemic and post-pandemic era.