My husband is an air traffic controller and I'm going to walk you through how much he originally got paid and how much he gets paid now.

My husband is an air traffic controller and I'm going to walk you through how much he originally got paid and how much he gets paid now. He started in the academy June 2021 and his academy salary was $31,597. He was only at the academy like 8 to 10 weeks and they pay for your housing there which is nice. Usually the academy is longer but this was post-COVID. When he passed the academy and got shipped off to Connecticut, he was a trainee and his trainee pay was $53,222 and this was September 2021. The amount of training time varies very much across what tower you are at really. So every January they get a presidential pay bump if the president does it. And so for that January 2022, the presidential pay bump was $54,691. The next month he certified on ground control. They have to certify in three different things: clearance and delivery, ground control, and local. He didn't get any money for certifying on clearance, but he did get more money for certifying on ground control, which bumped his pay up to $74,211. In June of every year, they get another pay bump, 1.6% that's required by the union, which bumped them up to $75,399. The next month in July, he was fully certified air traffic controller, which made his salary $80,720. Next January was time for another presidential pay bump and Biden was being very nice this year. Bumped their pay up to $84,488. And June was another contractual pay bump, $85,840. I feel like this was Trump by this point, January 2024. When does that inauguration happen? Anyways, whoever gave a nice another pay bump to $90,362. And then you got another contractual pay bump, June 2024. A medium-sized presidential bump, January 2025. The small contractual one again. January 2026, a very small presidential bump. And then this week actually his pay should be bumped up again for the contractual one, making his new pay $97,684. To be clear, this is just his base salary. He usually clears around $120,000 a year with overtime and differentials. Differentials being he gets paid more to work weekends, he gets paid more to work overnight shifts, he gets paid when he's the controller in charge, he gets paid when he trains, he gets paid extra for holidays. Air traffic controller pay really varies also on what tower you're at. So if we were to move to one of our more dream locations of like Houston or Atlanta, he would get paid a ton more. The airport he's at is a level 5 and it goes all the way up to level 12 and that's when you get paid a lot more.