Correctional Officer
Everything OPM FedScope (June 2026) reports about the Correctional Officer occupation series (code 0007): headcount, average salary, length of service, and pay comparison.
The verdict
In the Miscellaneous Occupations Group family, Correctional Officer counts 14,821 employees, a mid-sized federal occupation at 0.8% of the federal civilian workforce, and headcount edged up from the prior period; pay averages n/a, which pays below the federal-wide average.
- Headcount change
- +0.8%
- Pay change
- 0.0%
- Avg tenure
- 10.3 yrs
- Rank in family
- #2 of 27
FedScope read on Correctional Officer (dense series)
For job seekers weighing career length: 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 useful gauge for job seekers on USAJOBS trying to assess whether this role is expanding government-wide or contracting under hiring freezes and attrition. As for pay, the latest move was a small shift, within the range of normal year-to-year rounding rather than a broad pay-table change.
Correctional Officer sits inside the Miscellaneous Occupations Group family (code 00), which contains 27 related occupations across the federal government. Candidates browsing USAJOBS for Correctional Officer postings should also review these sibling occupations in the Miscellaneous Occupations Group family. The Miscellaneous Occupations Group family totals 92,278 employees, and Correctional Officer accounts for 16.1% of them. Its average salary ranks in the bottom half (0th percentile) of pay among Miscellaneous Occupations Group occupations.
Salary context · lean-pay series
How Correctional Officer pay compares to the federal average
Occupation Average
n/a
Federal Average
$117,339
vs. Federal Avg
-100.0%
Where Correctional Officer ranks on lean federal pay
Correctional Officer earns more on average than 0% of federal occupation series (0 of 541). The highlighted bar marks where Correctional Officer sits in the federal pay distribution.
Average-salary distribution across all 541 federal occupation series; the highlighted bar marks Correctional Officer.
Related Occupations in Miscellaneous Occupations Group
10 other occupations in the same family
| Occupation | Employees | Avg Salary | Avg LOS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Security Administration | 15,507 | $125,293 | 15.4 yrs |
| Police | 11,883 | n/a | 12.2 yrs |
| Emergency Management Specialist | 11,832 | $100,833 | 9.7 yrs |
| Fire Protection and Prevention | 8,848 | $74,762 | 14.6 yrs |
| Safety and Occupational Health Management | 5,704 | $117,177 | 16.3 yrs |
| Park Ranger | 5,202 | $75,210 | 10.6 yrs |
| Security Guard | 4,312 | $57,464 | 11.3 yrs |
| Environmental Protection Specialist | 4,157 | $127,481 | 15.2 yrs |
| Security Clerical and Assistance | 3,340 | $65,477 | 12.7 yrs |
| Correctional Institution Administration | 1,677 | $122,358 | 19.4 yrs |
Nationwide peers near this dense headcount
Two peer sets for Correctional Officer outside the Miscellaneous Occupations 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 (14,821 here).
Similar lean average salary
Nearest average salaries in other occupation families (n/a here).
Key takeaways
- Place Correctional Officer 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 Miscellaneous Occupations Group family occupations in the table above, or search current Correctional Officer 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.