There was a thread on this on HN last month: "Ask HN: Has anyone worked at the US National Labs before?"[1] Most comments note how the pay is less than FAANG;

There was a thread on this on HN last month: "Ask HN: Has anyone worked at the US National Labs before?"[1] Most comments note how the pay is less than FAANG; eg the top voted comments: "Pay is pretty good by almost any standards except FAANG." And elsewhere: "The pay at a DOE lab is less than FAANG (PhD student interns might be around $80k/yr and starting staff scientists maybe $130k/yr), but the tradeoff for some people would be the research-flavor of the work, and the flexibility." etc etc [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34414527 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34414527