Based on archival materials and regional historiography, the article describes the main aspects of the daily life of an employee of the Verkhneudinsky city public self-government in 1917. The authors examined important criteria for assessing the quality of life of local government employees during the revolutionary period: the size of the salary, the price of food and basic necessities. The study of the material security of the municipal employee allows us to note the close relationship between the collapse and the construction of a new state apparatus and the trends that are manifested in social policy in the field of remuneration of employees of city government. Based on the above data, the authors give an analysis of the monetary content of civil servants of the Verkhneudinsky city government. Particular attention is paid not only to the size of the salary of a member of the city government and its changes over time under the influence of both internal and external political factors, but also to the possibility of a comfortable existence on their salary.