Claims Assistance and Examining
Federal headcount, average salary, length of service, and pay comparison for the Claims Assistance and Examining occupation series (code 0998), drawn directly from the OPM FedScope dataset (June 2026).
The verdict
Claims Assistance and Examining is a smaller, specialized federal occupation: 925 employees (0.0% of the federal civilian workforce) in the Legal and Kindred Group family. At an average salary of $67,330 it pays below the federal average, and headcount declined from the prior period.
- Headcount change
- -1.7%
- Pay change
- -0.0%
- Avg tenure
- 18.9 yrs
- Rank in family
- #11 of 18
FedScope read on Claims Assistance and Examining (dense series)
Headcount moved down versus the prior period, a modest but trackable signal for anyone considering this specialized federal career path. Pay moved down 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.
Claims Assistance and Examining sits inside the Legal and Kindred Group family (code 09), which contains 18 related occupations across the federal government. Candidates browsing USAJOBS for Claims Assistance and Examining postings should also review these sibling occupations in the Legal and Kindred Group family. Claims Assistance and Examining makes up 0.8% of the Legal and Kindred Group family's 110,958 combined employees. Its average salary ranks in the bottom half (12th percentile) of pay among Legal and Kindred Group occupations.
Salary context · lean-pay series
How Claims Assistance and Examining pay compares to the federal average
Occupation Average
$67,330
Federal Average
$117,339
vs. Federal Avg
-42.6%
Where Claims Assistance and Examining ranks on lean federal pay
Claims Assistance and Examining earns more on average than 22% of federal occupation series (120 of 541). The highlighted bar marks where Claims Assistance and Examining sits in the federal pay distribution.
Average-salary distribution across all 541 federal occupation series; the highlighted bar marks Claims Assistance and Examining.
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 |
| Administrative Law Judge | 1,189 | $208,642 | 20.7 yrs |
Nationwide peers near this dense headcount
Two peer sets for Claims Assistance and Examining 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 (925 here).
Similar lean average salary
Nearest average salaries in other occupation families ($67,330 here).
Key takeaways
- Place Claims Assistance and Examining 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 Claims Assistance and Examining 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.