Salary
Average Salary: $41,000
Expected Lifetime Earnings: $1,711,668
The lion's share of CSI jobs are government sector jobs, meaning pay depends on the GS—or General Schedule—level of the position. Don't worry about the general part, though. You won't have to go buy a khaki suit with lots of gold braid on it and practice saluting. GS-5 through GS-9 are the pay grades of most CSIs. GS-5 jobs starting pay is in the upper-$20,000s and top out in the GS-9 level, which is around $55,000. The money isn't fantastic, but you won't starve (source).
There are a few senior-level CSI jobs called consumer safety officers that pay into the GS-13 level—the mid-$90,000 range. These are base salary numbers and don't include locality adjustments. The adjustments are made based on the geographical area where you live and work because it costs more to live in large cities (source).
CSIs are paid a salary, meaning any overtime worked is usually not paid, but comp hours are earned. So, if you work forty-eight hours in a week, for example, you've banked an entire extra day off to take at some point. Your spouse will probably see this as an extra day free for you both to paint the trim or clean the gutters...but that's another issue altogether.
Of course, simple salary isn't the only thing CSIs earn for working. Government employees get excellent benefits including healthcare insurance and 401k savings for retirement. One of the best benefits of being a CSI, besides the glamour, is actual, honest to goodness, student loan forgiveness. In order to attract the best people to keep our food supply safe (or to work in a handful of other government gigs), your student loans are forgiven through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program.