Correctional Officer

What the Numbers Say About Correctional Officer

0.7% of the federal civilian workforce (2,289,472 employees total, March 2025) works in the Correctional Officer occupation (OPM code 7): 15,996 people, headcount up 1.6% 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 Correctional Officer is $72,749 per year, placing it 33.8% below the overall federal civilian average of $109,869. Salaries moved up by 1.6% from the prior period, a modest shift, consistent with routine locality pay and grade-level movement. Average length of service in this role is 9.1 years, a mid-length average tenure, reflecting a mix of career employees and those who transfer or exit mid-career.

Correctional Officer sits inside the Miscellaneous Occupations Group family (code 0), which contains 26 related occupations across the federal government. Candidates browsing USAJOBS for Correctional Officer 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.

Correctional Officer makes up 15.1% of the 105,611 employees across the Miscellaneous Occupations Group family, ranking #2 of 26 occupations in that family by headcount. Its average salary ranks in the bottom half (27th percentile) of pay among Miscellaneous Occupations Group occupations.