You won't get rich, but at the higher levels, you can make a pretty good amount of money.
GS-15 starts around 120k for base pay, if you are a "research scientist" there's an identifier that can add 80-100k. The cost of living increase near the NSA hq is about 21 percent of base pay. I hear there's levels above GS-15, but I've never seen the pay chart for them.
There's no level above GS-15 per se, but there is a higher tier of civil servant called SES (Senior Executive Service), which is approximately equivalent to Admiral/General-level rank in the military.
I believe the pay for SES and above (e.g. appointed officials) is defined by what's called the Executive Schedule.
SES is what I was thinking of. As you noticed, I'm not that familiar with how it works, I was just aware that there is something that pays more than the standard GS payscale.
Right, it's definitely respectable, but the costs were projected to be in the millions. Generally people making 150k/year or so cannot afford this.
FYI there is a hard cap on the payscale (according to wikipedia) of 155k. After base+adjustments+modifiers, it cannot exceed level IV of the Executive Schedule or something to that effect.
GS-15 starts around 120k for base pay, if you are a "research scientist" there's an identifier that can add 80-100k. The cost of living increase near the NSA hq is about 21 percent of base pay. I hear there's levels above GS-15, but I've never seen the pay chart for them.