Accounting

What the Numbers Say About Accounting

Federal agencies employ 13,276 people in the Accounting occupation (OPM code 510), accounting for 0.6% of the total federal civilian workforce of 2,289,472 for the March 2025 reporting window. Headcount in this occupation moved down by -0.9% versus the prior period, a useful gauge for job seekers on USAJOBS trying to assess whether this role is expanding government-wide or contracting under hiring freezes and attrition.

The average salary for Accounting is $128,789 per year, placing it 17.2% above the overall federal civilian average of $109,869. Salaries moved up by 1.9% from the prior period, a modest shift, consistent with routine locality pay and grade-level movement. Average length of service in this role is 14.9 years, a mid-length average tenure, reflecting a mix of career employees and those who transfer or exit mid-career.

Accounting sits inside the Accounting and Budget Group family (code 5), which contains 18 related occupations across the federal government. Candidates browsing USAJOBS for Accounting postings should also review these sibling occupations, since federal hiring managers often cross-post positions across closely related codes when recruitment is difficult. All figures here come directly from OPM FedScope Employment Cubes, the same official source referenced in federal workforce planning, budget justifications, and GAO reports.

Accounting makes up 10.7% of the 124,386 employees across the Accounting and Budget Group family, ranking #4 of 18 occupations in that family by headcount. Its average salary ranks in the top half (83rd percentile) of pay among Accounting and Budget Group occupations.