Forestry Technician
Federal headcount, average salary, length of service, and pay comparison for the Forestry Technician occupation series (code 0462), drawn directly from the OPM FedScope dataset (June 2026).
The verdict
With 11,090 employees (0.6% of the federal civilian workforce), Forestry Technician ranks as a mid-sized federal occupation within the Biological Sciences Group family, and headcount declined from the prior period. Its average salary of $61,659 pays below the federal average.
- Headcount change
- -8.3%
- Pay change
- -2.8%
- Avg tenure
- 8.7 yrs
- Rank in family
- #2 of 31
FedScope read on Forestry Technician (dense series)
On pay, the move between reporting periods was a broad shift as locality pay tables and grade-level adjustments moved through the workforce. On length of service, this series shows a mid-length average tenure, reflecting a mix of career employees and those who transfer or exit mid-career. Headcount moved down 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.
Code 04, the Biological Sciences Group family, is where the federal government classifies Forestry Technician alongside 30 related occupations. Candidates browsing USAJOBS for Forestry Technician postings should also review these sibling occupations in the Biological Sciences Group family. The Biological Sciences Group family totals 67,961 employees, and Forestry Technician accounts for 16.3% of them. Its average salary ranks in the bottom half (19th percentile) of pay among Biological Sciences Group occupations.
Salary context · lean-pay series
How Forestry Technician pay compares to the federal average
Occupation Average
$61,659
Federal Average
$117,339
vs. Federal Avg
-47.5%
Where Forestry Technician ranks on lean federal pay
Forestry Technician earns more on average than 16% of federal occupation series (87 of 541). The highlighted bar marks where Forestry Technician sits in the federal pay distribution.
Average-salary distribution across all 541 federal occupation series; the highlighted bar marks Forestry Technician.
Related Occupations in Biological Sciences Group
10 other occupations in the same family
| Occupation | Employees | Avg Salary | Avg LOS |
|---|---|---|---|
| General Natural Resources Management and Biological Sciences | 23,662 | $124,641 | 14 yrs |
| Wildland Fire Management | 9,667 | $64,457 | 7 yrs |
| Biological Science Technician | 5,212 | $56,618 | 8.9 yrs |
| Soil Conservation | 4,101 | $89,391 | 13.8 yrs |
| Wildlife Biology | 1,868 | $95,468 | 16.3 yrs |
| Fish Biology | 1,629 | $116,550 | 16.2 yrs |
| Microbiology | 1,629 | $143,306 | 16.3 yrs |
| Forestry | 1,626 | $88,902 | 15.1 yrs |
| Ecology | 989 | $122,664 | 16.1 yrs |
| Rangeland Management | 692 | $88,317 | 14.6 yrs |
Nationwide peers near this dense headcount
Two peer sets for Forestry Technician outside the Biological Sciences 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 (11,090 here).
Similar lean average salary
Nearest average salaries in other occupation families ($61,659 here).
Key takeaways
- Place Forestry Technician 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 Biological Sciences Group family occupations in the table above, or search current Forestry Technician 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.