Just a shot in the dark here, but what were your facility type selections?
Both.
They put you in a location they thought was similar to what you wanted.
Interesting theory, but then why only 2 states? Why not go with 10 states like in ASAP, or a "region" like they did a few yrs ago? Guess we can only speculate, but then we're assuming they actually put considerable thought into
each selection, in which case you'd think they'd have noticed that Pensacola is 5000 miles from Anchorage, and even further from Guam! (I also listed AZ in the comments... it was worth a shot)
I wouldn't mind getting sent to Alaska, they pay you to live there.
Yeah that's a cool perk, although it hardly makes up for the considerably expensive housing. If I was a single guy, this is a no-brainer, but being married complicates things greatly... not to mention taking her even further away from her family, etc...
Anything outside of the continental U.S. does not get locality pay. Instead they get COLA (Cost of Living Allowance). I don't know the amounts, but I believe it works on a fixed index, instead of a percentage.
Yeah I was researching that yesterday... for ANC it used to be 25% but it's supposed to drop one percent per year until 13%. It was a dated article, so if it's still accurate, it's probably around 20-22% now. It's similar to locality pay, but actually worse in the long run from my understanding.
This is a really sweet website also you guys might like ---
http://php.app.com/fed_employees/search.php you can look up salaries of controllers or any other fed employees. the lowest ANC controllers are only at 32K. Pretty pitiful when the average house is like 300K or something like that.
I have still not ruled it out, but this sure makes the decision more difficult.
Also, can you direct me to the post about the Guam guy again? I cant seem to find his information. Did anyone else not get what they put down?
And while i'm asking questions, I cant remember if the FAA helps you with moving costs to your facility? a move that far ain't cheap