Salary
Average Salary: $44,000
Expected Lifetime Earnings: $1,836,912
Federal mine safety inspectors, like other governmental inspectors, have their salary dictated by the United States General Schedule classification system (source). This catch-all formula gives you a good idea of what you can make at different points in your career.
Depending on your experience or education, you'll start at GS-7 or GS-9. That'll land you anywhere between $34,000 and $54,000 per year, which is a pretty broad range that we'll just call an average of $44,000 (source).
As a government employee, you'll also get locality pay. If it sounds like some Google Maps-based bonus, it's because that's kind of what it is. It's an extra money pile you get paid every year on top of your regular salary, adjusted based on the cost of living in your area.
For example, if you inspect the mines in the general Buffalo, New York, area, you're looking at a sixteen percent increase in your salary, while the hills of the Bay Area, California, can net you a whopping thirty-five percent on top (source).
That doesn't even get into the benefits that federal employees receive. Health care? Check. Paid vacation? Check. Retirement plans? Check. Pizza Party Fridays? Well, no, but if you really feel like it, that locality pay will get you a huge amount of pizzas.
We're talking Ninja Turtles-sized. And that's bodacious.