Fire Protection Engineering
Everything OPM FedScope (June 2026) reports about the Fire Protection Engineering occupation series (code 0804): headcount, average salary, length of service, and pay comparison.
The verdict
In the Engineering and Architecture Group family, Fire Protection Engineering counts 218 employees, a smaller, specialized federal occupation at 0.0% of the federal civilian workforce, and headcount declined from the prior period; pay averages $159,793, which pays well above the federal-wide average.
- Headcount change
- -4.0%
- Pay change
- +0.0%
- Avg tenure
- 15.4 yrs
- Rank in family
- #27 of 29
What the Numbers Say About Fire Protection Engineering
Headcount moved down 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. Pay moved up 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.
Code 08, the Engineering and Architecture Group family, is where the federal government classifies Fire Protection Engineering alongside 28 related occupations. Candidates browsing USAJOBS for Fire Protection Engineering postings should also review these sibling occupations in the Engineering and Architecture Group family. Fire Protection Engineering makes up 0.2% of the Engineering and Architecture Group family's 120,278 combined employees.
Salary context · rich-pay series
How Fire Protection Engineering pay compares to the federal average
Occupation Average
$159,793
Federal Average
$117,339
vs. Federal Avg
+36.2%
Where Fire Protection Engineering ranks on rich federal pay
Fire Protection Engineering earns more on average than 94% of federal occupation series (509 of 541). The highlighted bar marks where Fire Protection Engineering sits in the federal pay distribution.
Average-salary distribution across all 541 federal occupation series; the highlighted bar marks Fire Protection Engineering.
Related Occupations in Engineering and Architecture Group
10 other occupations in the same family
| Occupation | Employees | Avg Salary | Avg LOS |
|---|---|---|---|
| General Engineering | 27,619 | $158,941 | 16.9 yrs |
| Engineering Technical | 14,443 | $93,062 | 15.2 yrs |
| Mechanical Engineering | 12,920 | $136,601 | 11.9 yrs |
| Electronics Engineering | 12,889 | $155,270 | 16.8 yrs |
| Civil Engineering | 10,260 | $124,230 | 14.7 yrs |
| Aerospace Engineering | 8,359 | $155,848 | 14.8 yrs |
| Electronics Technical | 7,298 | $103,713 | 15.6 yrs |
| Electrical Engineering | 5,231 | $142,419 | 13.5 yrs |
| Computer Engineering | 3,753 | $160,672 | 14.2 yrs |
| Nuclear Engineering | 2,813 | n/a | 13.5 yrs |
Nationwide occupation series with similar scale or pay
Two peer sets for Fire Protection Engineering outside the Engineering and Architecture Group family, on headcount and average salary axes that vary across all OPM occupation series.
Similar headcount
Nearest employee counts in other occupation families (218 here).
Similar rich average salary
Nearest average salaries in other occupation families ($159,793 here).
Key takeaways
- Place Fire Protection Engineering 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 Engineering and Architecture Group family occupations in the table above, or search current Fire Protection Engineering 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.