The Lowest Paid Federal Employees

On Monday, President Obama proposed a two-year pay freeze for federal civilian employees as one means of cutting the federal deficit. Given the broad range of federal government jobs and salaries, the pay freeze will mean different things for different government offices. U.S. News reported on Tuesday which federal agencies and departments have the highest average employee pay. Below are the ten federal offices with the lowest average pay, along with the number of employees on their rolls. The federal agency with the lowest pay is the Valles Caldera Trust, which protects and manages the Valles Caldera National Preserve in New Mexico. The trust's 59 employees average $45,794 in annual salaries. It is followed by the two international boundary commissions, which maintain the U.S.'s borders with Canada and Mexico. [See who donates to members of Congress.]

The ten federal agencies with the lowest average annual pay per employee as of September 2010 are:

Source: Office of Personnel Management*

*OPM data covers all Executive Branch agencies except the following: the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency, Foreign Service personnel at the State Department, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Office of the Vice President, the Postal Regulatory Commission, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the U.S. Postal Service, and the White House Office. Data also excludes the Public Health Service's Commissioned Officer Corps, all non-appropriated fund employees and foreign nationals overseas, and the Judicial Branch. Legislative Branch offices covered by the data include the Government Printing Office, U.S. Tax Court, and other selected commissions.

• See who is donating to your member of Congress.
• See which members of Congress get the most money from the defense industry.
• See an Opinion slide show of 5 factors complicating Obama's relationship with a GOP congressional majority.

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