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What the wage survey shows
Median for the group
$142,080
Bottom tenth
$83,350
Top tenth
$195,190
The federal wage survey has no line for diplomats, so these are the figures for political scientists, the group that covers government policy analysts: a median of $142,080 a year, with the bottom tenth earning $83,350 or less and the top tenth $195,190 or more, in the 2025 survey. Read it as the ceiling of a career, not a starting point. Foreign Service officers are actually paid on a separate published government salary schedule, and new officers enter well below this median.