Administrative Law Judge
Federal headcount, average salary, length of service, and pay comparison for the Administrative Law Judge occupation series (code 0935), drawn directly from the OPM FedScope dataset (June 2026).
The verdict
Administrative Law Judge is a smaller, specialized federal occupation: 1,189 employees (0.1% of the federal civilian workforce) in the Legal and Kindred Group family. At an average salary of $208,642 it pays well above the federal average, and headcount grew from the prior period.
- Headcount change
- +1.3%
- Pay change
- +0.0%
- Avg tenure
- 20.7 yrs
- Rank in family
- #10 of 18
FedScope read on Administrative Law Judge (dense series)
Headcount moved up versus the prior period, a modest but trackable signal for anyone considering this specialized federal career path. Pay moved up between the two reporting periods, a small shift, within the range of normal year-to-year rounding rather than a broad pay-table change. On length of service, this series shows a long average tenure, typical of career federal roles where employees stay through much of a full career before retirement.
Code 09, the Legal and Kindred Group family, is where the federal government classifies Administrative Law Judge alongside 17 related occupations. Candidates browsing USAJOBS for Administrative Law Judge postings should also review these sibling occupations in the Legal and Kindred Group family. Administrative Law Judge makes up 1.1% of the Legal and Kindred Group family's 110,958 combined employees. Its average salary ranks in the top half (94th percentile) of pay among Legal and Kindred Group occupations.
Salary context · rich-pay series
How Administrative Law Judge pay compares to the federal average
Occupation Average
$208,642
Federal Average
$117,339
vs. Federal Avg
+77.8%
Where Administrative Law Judge ranks on rich federal pay
Administrative Law Judge earns more on average than 99% of federal occupation series (535 of 541). The highlighted bar marks where Administrative Law Judge sits in the federal pay distribution.
Average-salary distribution across all 541 federal occupation series; the highlighted bar marks Administrative Law Judge.
Related Occupations in Legal and Kindred Group
10 other occupations in the same family
| Occupation | Employees | Avg Salary | Avg LOS |
|---|---|---|---|
| General Attorney | 35,986 | $177,921 | 13.6 yrs |
| Contact Representative | 29,201 | $64,454 | 9.3 yrs |
| Veterans Claims Examining | 18,099 | $92,511 | 13.3 yrs |
| General Legal and Kindred Administration | 8,711 | $82,876 | 12.3 yrs |
| Paralegal Specialist | 5,165 | $107,719 | 15.8 yrs |
| Legal Assistance | 3,326 | $69,159 | 12.5 yrs |
| Hearings and Appeals | 3,231 | n/a | 15.9 yrs |
| Passport and Visa Examining | 2,035 | $92,682 | 11.3 yrs |
| Legal Instruments Examining | 1,261 | $73,021 | 11.7 yrs |
| Claims Assistance and Examining | 925 | $67,330 | 18.9 yrs |
Nationwide peers near this dense headcount
Two peer sets for Administrative Law Judge outside the Legal and Kindred Group family, on headcount and average salary axes that vary across all OPM occupation series.
Similar dense headcount
Nearest employee counts in other occupation families (1,189 here).
Similar rich average salary
Nearest average salaries in other occupation families ($208,642 here).
Key takeaways
- Place Administrative Law Judge pay in context with the pay-rank chart above, then compare it with another occupation.
- Turn an average salary into a grade: the GS pay grade tables show how grades and steps map to pay.
- Browse the Legal and Kindred Group family occupations in the table above, or search current Administrative Law Judge postings on USAJOBS.
OPM FedScope and Federal Workforce Data figures are federal civilian headcounts, average salaries, and length-of-service statistics - not job-quality scores, hiring advice, or a live vacancy listing. A larger or higher-paid agency is not a better employer.