Analysis of Federal Civilian and Military Compensation
"...The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) was asked to compare federal civilian and
military compensation. Total compensation can be divided into three components:
cash compensation (including pay, cash allowances, and bonuses); noncash benefits
(such as subsidized health insurance and child care); and deferred benefits (such as
pensions and veterans’ benefits.) Because of the difficulties of estimating the relative size of noncash and deferred compensation, for this analysis CBO focused on cash compensation, addressing how salaries earned by federal civilian workers compare
with cash compensation for military personnel. According to CBO’s analysis, median
cash compensation for military personnel—including the tax-free cash allowances for
food and housing—exceeds the salaries of most federal civilians of comparable educa-
tion and work experience.

In addition, according to prior studies, noncash and deferred benefits are also higher for military personnel than for federal civilian workers..."