They should, but government positions are to a PayScale. You get hired “as” a GS-9 or whatever. You can go and lookup what the location pay adjustment is for your city if you’re curious.

Contractors are generally paid at least double digit percentages more for the same job but can be fired/not renewed much easier. In theory.

The tradeoff was that it’s pretty hard to fire a full time employee without cause, and the pension / student loan forgiveness / etc.