Fire Protection and Prevention

What the Numbers Say About Fire Protection and Prevention

As of the March 2025 reporting window, 9,509 people work in the Fire Protection and Prevention occupation (OPM code 81) across federal agencies, 0.4% of the 2,289,472-strong federal civilian workforce. Headcount moved up by 0.5% from 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.

Fire Protection and Prevention pays $67,840 per year on average, 38.3% below the $109,869 federal civilian average, after moving up 1.7% from the prior period (a modest shift, consistent with routine locality pay and grade-level movement). Employees in this role stay an average of 11.7 years, a mid-length average tenure, reflecting a mix of career employees and those who transfer or exit mid-career.

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

Fire Protection and Prevention makes up 9.0% of the 105,611 employees across the Miscellaneous Occupations Group family, ranking #5 of 26 occupations in that family by headcount. Its average salary ranks in the bottom half (23rd percentile) of pay among Miscellaneous Occupations Group occupations.