I'm in aerospace/defense. Depends what you're looking for I guess.
Friend A who graduated with me in 2018 and works on the government side just now started making what I made 3 years ago. Granted, the skills/experiences between us are not equal and the gap has only widened since then. Long term, they'll be an expert in that topic and if history holds true going forward, they'll never be out a job. Apparently the gov side also has good benefits but I'm not sure how much better it might actually be. One positive of gov work is it's more 'noble'? in the sense that it's not necessarily profit driven. Friend A gets to do work for the pure science of it whereas I don't often get to fully explore my ideas if I can't justify the return on investment.
I don't get the appeal of government, but different strokes for different folks.
I did a stint as a contractor on the government side of things and couldn't believe the things I saw. I lasted about 2 weeks before I knew I had made a mistake and I was out of there in 5 months time. I'm sure there are pockets of good in certain groups doing certain things, but I haven't seen it yet.
Industry can be just as awful with apathetic people, useless people, useless paper pushing, and general mismanagement. But, I think there is more oppportunity to find cool positions with good people doing good work. In my experience there is a lot more urgency so you're more likely to experience stress or deadlines. That will vary a lot though. Plus, as a rule, you'll get paid more than the government side. I make 70% more than I would on the government side and I'd say 30% is probably the average differential for most people just based on what i've seen.
It all depends what you're looking for and what you want to do. The hardest part is finding a good position doing good work on a good team. I find it very hard to tell 100% what you're getting yourself into from an interview so sometimes you just have to take that risk.