Archives Technician
Everything OPM FedScope (June 2026) reports about the Archives Technician occupation series (code 1421): headcount, average salary, length of service, and pay comparison.
The verdict
With 1,284 employees (0.1% of the federal civilian workforce), Archives Technician ranks as a smaller, specialized federal occupation within the Library and Archives Group family, and headcount edged up from the prior period. Its average salary of $68,544 pays below the federal average.
- Headcount change
- +0.5%
- Pay change
- -0.2%
- Avg tenure
- 14 yrs
- Rank in family
- #1 of 6
FedScope read on Archives Technician (dense series)
On pay, the move between reporting periods was 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 mid-length average tenure, reflecting a mix of career employees and those who transfer or exit mid-career. Headcount moved up versus the prior period, a modest but trackable signal for anyone considering this specialized federal career path.
The Library and Archives Group family (code 14) groups Archives Technician together with 5 other related occupations across the federal government. Candidates browsing USAJOBS for Archives Technician postings should also review these sibling occupations in the Library and Archives Group family. Archives Technician makes up 39.4% of the Library and Archives Group family's 3,259 combined employees. Its average salary ranks in the bottom half (0th percentile) of pay among Library and Archives Group occupations.
Salary context · lean-pay series
How Archives Technician pay compares to the federal average
Occupation Average
$68,544
Federal Average
$117,339
vs. Federal Avg
-41.6%
Where Archives Technician ranks on lean federal pay
Archives Technician earns more on average than 24% of federal occupation series (130 of 541). The highlighted bar marks where Archives Technician sits in the federal pay distribution.
Average-salary distribution across all 541 federal occupation series; the highlighted bar marks Archives Technician.
Related Occupations in Library and Archives Group
5 other occupations in the same family
| Occupation | Employees | Avg Salary | Avg LOS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Librarian | 660 | $129,880 | 15.7 yrs |
| Archivist | 571 | $121,113 | 15.8 yrs |
| Technical Information Services | 483 | $128,567 | 16.8 yrs |
| Library Technician | 260 | $70,783 | 16.4 yrs |
| Library and Archives Student Trainee | 1 | n/a | 1.8 yrs |
Nationwide peers near this dense headcount
Two peer sets for Archives Technician outside the Library and Archives 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 (1,284 here).
Similar lean average salary
Nearest average salaries in other occupation families ($68,544 here).
Key takeaways
- Place Archives Technician 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 Library and Archives Group family occupations in the table above, or search current Archives Technician 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.