Cartographic Technician
Federal headcount, average salary, length of service, and pay comparison for the Cartographic Technician occupation series (code 1371), drawn directly from the OPM FedScope dataset (June 2026).
The verdict
Cartographic Technician is a smaller, specialized federal occupation: 197 employees (0.0% of the federal civilian workforce) in the Physical Sciences Group family. At an average salary of $70,389 it pays below the federal average of $117,339.
- Employees
- 197
- Share of workforce
- 0.0%
- Avg salary
- $70,389
- Avg tenure
- 17.1 yrs
What the Numbers Say About Cartographic Technician
0.0% of the federal civilian workforce (1,953,300 employees total, June 2026) works in the Cartographic Technician occupation (OPM code 1371): 197 people, headcount sideways 0.0% versus the prior period, though at this small a headcount, year-to-year swings can reflect a handful of hires or departures rather than a broad hiring trend.
Cartographic Technician pays $70,389 per year on average, moving down -0.4% from the prior period (a small shift, within the range of normal year-to-year rounding rather than a broad pay-table change). Employees in this role stay an average of 17.1 years, a long average tenure, typical of career federal roles where employees stay through much of a full career before retirement.
The Physical Sciences Group family (code 13) groups Cartographic Technician together with 24 other related occupations across the federal government. Candidates browsing USAJOBS for Cartographic Technician postings should also review these sibling occupations in the Physical Sciences Group family.
Within the Physical Sciences Group family, Cartographic Technician ranks #17 of 25 by headcount, accounting for 0.7% of the family's combined 26,960 employees.
Salary context · lean-pay series
How Cartographic Technician pay compares to the federal average of $117,339
Occupation Average
$70,389
Federal Average
$117,339
vs. Federal Avg
-40.0%
Where Cartographic Technician ranks on lean federal pay
Its average salary of $70,389 is higher than 26% of federal occupation series (141 of 541). The highlighted bar marks where Cartographic Technician sits in the federal pay distribution.
Average-salary distribution across all 541 federal occupation series; Cartographic Technician ranks higher than 26%.
Related Occupations in Physical Sciences Group
10 other occupations in the same family
| Occupation | Employees | Avg Salary | Avg LOS |
|---|---|---|---|
| General Physical Science | 8,297 | $145,078 | 14.6 yrs |
| Chemistry | 4,440 | $149,099 | 14.9 yrs |
| Meteorology | 2,494 | $123,942 | 15.9 yrs |
| Physics | 2,009 | $174,005 | 15.9 yrs |
| Physical Science Technician | 1,577 | $78,820 | 13.3 yrs |
| Hydrology | 1,524 | $116,486 | 17.1 yrs |
| Hydrologic Technician | 1,356 | $76,077 | 12.9 yrs |
| Geology | 1,240 | $124,746 | 14 yrs |
| Health Physics | 746 | $146,649 | 16.4 yrs |
| Cartography | 487 | $120,890 | 16.3 yrs |
Nationwide occupation series with similar scale or pay
Two peer sets for Cartographic Technician outside the Physical Sciences Group family, on headcount and average salary axes that vary across all OPM occupation series.
Similar headcount
Nearest employee counts in other occupation families (197 here).
Similar lean average salary
Nearest average salaries in other occupation families ($70,389 here).
Key takeaways
- Cartographic Technician pays below the federal average by 40.0% ($70,389 vs $117,339 federal-wide), at the 26th percentile for pay among 541 tracked occupation series.
- A smaller, specialized federal occupation by headcount: 197 employees, 0.0% of the federal civilian workforce.
- According to OPM FedScope June 2026, Cartographic Technician ranks #410 of 663 federal occupation series by headcount (the same employee_count ordering as our occupations directory).
- Within the Physical Sciences Group family, Cartographic Technician ranks #17 of 25 by headcount, accounting for 0.7% of the family's combined 26,960 employees.
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.